Trifles Essay

Trifles, Susan Glaspell’s play written in 1916, reveal concerns of women living in a male dominated society. Glaspell communicates the role that women were expected to play in late 19th century society and the harm that can come of it to women, as well as men. The feminist agenda of Trifles was made obvious, in order to portray the lives of all women who live oppressed under male domination. John and Minnie Wright are two main characters who are never seen; however provide the incident for the play. In this play women are against men, Minnie against her husband, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters against their husband’s, as well as men in general.

The men made a few remarks that seemed a bit sexist. Hey seemed to label women as housewives that have to keep the house clean. George Henderson, the county attorney, Henry Peters, the sheriff, and his wife Mrs. Peters, and Lewis Hale, the neighboring farmer and his wife all went to John Wright 's abandoned farmhouse to search for evidence. The house was filthy. The County Attorney said, “And yet, for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies? Not much of a housekeeper, would you say ladies?” meaning women should be considered maids or housekeepers. The County Attorney also mentioned that the towels were

Wright’s defense, the men all head upstairs to go over the crime scene to search for clues. The women; Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters knew they were in the center of all the clues. “Women are used to worrying over trifles” Mr. Hale said, and because of that, the women uncovered all the clues that would lead to motive and the men would remain clueless. As for the messy kitchen that the attorney did notice but just chalked up to Mrs. Wright not being a good house wife, the ladies noticed that she was in fact in the middle of cleaning up. That half the table was wiped clean and the other half left as if she were interrupted. They also noticed that the towel that the attorney thought to be just thrown across the room was in fact covering a loaf of fresh bread that was to later be put in the bread box. They also knew that the dirty towel roller was probably that dirty from the man they sent to start the fire in the stove that morning so that the house would be warm by the time they arrived. The ladies were to gather some things to take to Mrs. Wright to the jail. They found her sewing basket under the corner table and were admiring the bright pieces and the log cabin pattern. They wondered if she was going to quilt it or knott it. The men thought this was funny and made fun of them. Unbeknownst to them that the ladies had just found what could be the evidence of Mrs. Wrights’ frame of mind. The ladies noticed that most of the

These lines also show a departure from the assumption that women are subservient to their men in that they lie to them. In line 411 one can see more evidence of the almost sisterly bond between women.

Hale, and Mrs. Peters. Mr. Hale was the first one to visit the Wright home after the murder, so the sheriff immediately questions him. Because this is a play the actors have to talk to each other, so the audience knows what’s going on. Another way that the play goes into an action way is the aloofness of Mrs. Wright. Whenever Mr. Hale was being questioned he mentioned his encounter with Mrs. Wright saying that he would ask where her husband was, and she wouldn’t respond and just sit there in her chair and knit. The men then go on to criticize Mrs. Wright’s housekeeping, after the men leave the women say, “I’d hate to have men coming into my kitchen, snooping around and criticizing” (561). The short story has the same sentence except the short story surrounds that statement with an explanation of some of Mrs. Hale’s thoughts. For example, Mrs. Hale is described as having felt a strange feeling “then, as if releasing something strange, Mrs. Hale began to rearrange the dirt pans under the sink” (573). The play cannot provide description of emotions but shows them through action. “A Jury of her

Mrs. Hale continues to inspect the house and notices that Mrs. Wright left work half-done lying around. Upon seeing a

Hale says that he came to speak to Mr. Wright about getting a telephone. Mr. Hale says that maybe Mrs. Wright would like Mr. Wright to get a telephone. Mr. Hale says “’[…] though I said at the same time that I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John—‘” (190). By saying this, Mr. Hale is pointing out that men of that time did not care what their wives thought—that the men made all the decisions of the household.

In the kitchen, the dishes are dirty, bread is sitting out on the counter, and everything is in disarray. The County Attorney is disturbed, because the kitchen is not clean. The men assume that Mrs. Wright must have not been a very tidy person. In this time era, men expected women to keep the house tidy and clean, cheerful, and decorated according to the County Attorney in Trifles; he states, “It’s not cheerful. I shouldn’t say she had the homemaking instinct” (1031). Men during this era think that women should only be in the house worrying about what the inside of a house should look. In the County Attorney’s mind, the house should have been warm, clean, organized, and presenting a happy feeling. This is a demonstration of how hard a woman’s life is when she is expected to be when a man’s views think of how a woman should be in the household, for example a slave to cooking, cleaning, and sewing. As shown in the beginning of the play, the men leave the women in the kitchen to gather some of Mrs. Wright’s items she requested as if this is where these women belong. The men go upstairs and out to the farmhouse to investigate for clues for a motive to prove that Mrs. Wright is guilty of the murder of her husband. The men never investigate the kitchen for any clues since they feel there is no significance in the kitchen. The kitchen is an area for women to do cooking and cleaning, which makes them feel there is nothing important in this area. Men

Peters has a helpful thought when it comes to Mrs. Wright. She came along to gather items as requested, by Mrs. Wright. As she finds the chest and apron Mrs. Peter’s stumbles upon her unfinished quilt. Mrs. Hale speaks as if she knew something was worong and she should have been a better neighbor visiting Mrs. Wright often. Mrs. Peter’s does her best to easy the mind of Mrs. Hale by saying “well, you mustn’t reproach yourself.”

One critic, Leonard Mustazza, argues that Mrs. Hale recruits Mrs. Peters “as a fellow ‘juror’ in the case, moving the sheriff’s wife away from her sympathy for her husband’s position and towards identification with the accused woman” (494). Though this is true, Mrs. Peters also comes to her own understanding. What she sees in the kitchen led her to understand Minnie’s lonely plight as the wife of an abusive farmer. The first evidence Mrs. Peters reaches understanding on her own surfaces in the following passage: “The sheriff’s wife had looked from the stove to the sink to the pail of water which had been

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters both understand and get to know each other by piecing together the crime scene and also looking at Mrs. Wright’s empty house. By the women noticing details and Mrs. Wright’s living conditions, they can see how sad and what little enjoyment Mrs. Wright had in her home. Mrs. Hale says, “It never seemed a very cheerful place," and later on she says, "But I don't think a place would be any the cheerfuller for John Wright's bein' in it.", she is revealing the atmosphere that the home had (Glaspell 5). The home was certainly not cheerful, but not

The men?s prejudice is blatant and although it was easy for Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters to pick up on it, they react to it in a variety of ways. Defensively, Mrs. Hale, replies rigidly to the County Attorney?s remark by stating that "there?s a great deal of work to be done on a farm," (958) offering an excuse for Minnie?s lapse in cleaning. Later, he brushes her off when she explains that John Wright was a grim man. To the County Attorney, the women are just there to collect personal items for Minnie, they are not going to give him any valuable insight into the murder. To their credit, the women do not force their thoughts or feelings on the men when biased statements are made in their direction. They hold back and discuss the remarks later after the men go upstairs. Mrs. Peters observes that "Mr. Henderson is awful sarcastic in a speech and he?ll make fun of her sayin? she didn?t wake up" (960). The fact that she believes the men would laugh if they heard the two women discussing the dead canary reveals how sure she is that the men think of them as concerned with the

     Detectives are always looking for little pieces of evidence when investigating a crime. After all, it is this evidence that can turn a trial around, whether be it for the good or bad. This is especially the case in Susan Glaspell's Trifles. When Mrs. Hale comes across little pieces of evidence, she passes them off as being "trifles", hiding them from the detective. She is the sole reason that very little evidence is collected that would convict Mrs. Wright, and can be believed to have some sort of involvement in the murder of John Wright.