Susan Glaspell’s most memorable one-act play, Trifles (1916) was based on murder trial case that happened in the 1900’s. Glaspell worked as a reporter, where she appointed a report of a murder case. It was about a farmer, John Hossack who was killed while he was asleep in bed one night. His wife claimed that she was asleep next to him when the attack occurred. No one believed in her statement, she was arrested and was charged on first degree murder. In Trifles, the play takes place at an abandon house at a farm where John Wright and his wife, Minnie Wright lived. John was killed with a rope around his neck while his wife was asleep. The neighbor, county attorney and sheriff came to the crime scene for investigation. Along with them …show more content…
The women empower themselves through silence, particularly in the kitchen communicating and reflecting upon things around them in the limited space they were given. The men dismiss the kitchen finding nothing that is relevant to the murder case. The men keep crisscrossing through the kitchen, ignoring and not realizing they could find the vital evidence through trivial details. Even though they were having difficulty in finding clues that lead to the murder. While the women were alone looking through Minnie’s kitchen they found the most valuable evidence the “missing piece to men’s puzzle” (Holstein 283). Mrs. Hale found the dead bird strangled in the sewing box telling “Mrs. Peters-look at it! Its neck! Look at its neck!” (782). Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters recognize the bird was strangled brutally “their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension, of horror” (Glaspell 782). Both of them realized the bird was killed the same way as Mr. Wright with the rope around their neck. The strangled bird represents Minnie Foster how her freedom and joy was strangled to death. When the men came in the kitchen, the county attorney noticed the bird cage, wondering if the bird flew away, but Mrs. Hale lied and said “we think the- cat got it” ( Glaspell 782). The county attorney seek only visible evidence for murder he was wasn’t thinking critically what it may mean. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters covered the evidence keeping it between themselves for their own knowledge. They
Therefore, Mrs. Wright murdered her husband simply because he murdered her pet bird, and she did so the same way he murdered the bird, making the motive is unethical. Mrs. Hale finds a dead bird with a broken neck inside of Mrs. Wright’s sewing box wrapped in a cloth. Obviously as lonely as Mrs. Wright was the death of her bird would have been catastrophic for her. This is evidence of a motive proving Mrs. Wright killed her husband out of sheer revenge of the death of her bird, it was the last thing he was ever going to take away from her. Along with the broken cage Mrs. Peters states, “Why, look at this door. It’s broke. One hinge is pulled apart” (8). Then Mrs. Hale comments, “Looks like someone must have been rough with it” (8). This is how it happened, Mr. Wright came home from work in
In this deeper look into 'Trifles,' Karen goes through the plot and discusses what you should pay more attention too. She describes the symbolism in some of the objects as well as explain the scenes and their little details. Karen finds the difference between male and female perceptions of judgment to be central to the play. She explains that you need to follow the storyline of the women to help solve the case and discusses the differences between a man and a womans world in this time period. Karen shares that she believes the women are going about the case better than the men and she
“Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is situated in 1916 and is a one act play which incorporates essential components of what the women’s rights movement was about. After moving on from Iowa’s Drake University in 1899, Glaspell commenced her writing vocation of composing short stories and books. The play from Glaspell recounts the story of a homicide mystery involving the married couple of Mrs. Wright (Minnie) and her spouse, the murder victim, John Wright; this story also incorporates the outlook of society towards women being viewed as beneath men. “Trifles” demonstrates the unfair mentality regularly acknowledged among men towards women in 1916. In addition, it showcases the big role comradery plays for women in becoming equal represented
Accordingly, in “Trifles,” Minnie is accused of murdering her husband. The Sheriff and the County Attorney come to her house to find any evidence that may lead to the reason why she kills her husband, Mr. Wright. Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hale, also contribute a huge part in the play because of them, Minnie is noticed as her own character. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter both are having a monologue conversation throughout the play in which they also provide details of how Minnie could be the murder victim. “Well, I guess John Wright didn’t wake when they was slipping that rope under his neck.” (563) Mrs. Peter is a stationary character, she is very calm and respects the laws, in comparison to Mrs. Hale, which is a dynamic character. Mrs. Hale says what she feels to anyone and always speaks before she thinks. Both characters are left at the kitchen of Minnie’s so called "unpleasant house” due to the lack of cleaning and the solitary vibe that is felt. In this kitchen, both women find lots of evidence that might lead to the possibility that Minnie could be the suspect in the death of her husband, but both decide to hide the info from the authority towards the end of the play. “We call it—knot it, Mr. Henderson.” (567) The Sheriff and the Attorney don’t find any evidence in the house whatsoever. After marriage, Mrs. Wright became this lonely character that is seen as a crazy wife that killed her husband.
In the early 1900's Susan Glaspell wrote many works, two stand out, the play "Trifles" and the short story "A Jury of Her Peers". Trifles was written in 1920, while "A Jury of Her Peers" was written the following year. Trifles was written in only ten days. The true greatness of these works were not recognized until the 1970's.
The short story and the play are both written by Susan Glaspell. She wrote two different forms of literature that have the same plot, setting and characters. Susan Glaspell first wrote Trifles and then later on translated in to a short story “A Jury of Her Peers.” Her writing express how she viewed of how the women were treated at the turn of the century. When trifles was first written in 1916 it was a briefer and more mood evoking production of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discovery of Minnie’s motive for murder. The stories based on the murder of John Hossac. The compare and contrast between “Trifles” and “A Jury of Her Peers” they are extremely similar to one another in almost everything, but they also have different changes throughout the
Trifles was written in the early 1900's by Susan Glaspell. This occurred far before the women's movement. Women were generally looked upon as possessions to their husbands. Their children, all wages, and belongings were property of their husbands. In Glaspell's story it is easily depicted as to what role the men and women portrayed in society at this time.
The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is type of murder mystery that takes place in the early 1900’s. The play begins when the sheriff Mr. Peters and county attorney Mr. Henderson come to attempt to piece together what had happen on the day that Mr. Wright was murder. While investigating the seen of the murder, they are accompanied by the Mr. Hale, Mrs. Hale and Mr. Peters. Mr. Hale had told that Mrs. Wright was acting strange when he found her in the kitchen. After taking information from Mr. Hale, the men leave the women in the kitchen and go upstairs at seen of the murder. The men don’t realize the plot of the murder took place in the kitchen.
The play Trifles takes place in a rural area and centers around a woman, Mrs. Wright, who has been accused of killing her husband by strangling him. The act starts off in Mr. and Mrs. Wright’s home on a cold, winter morning the day after Mr. Wright’s body was discovered by the neighbor; the county attorney, the sheriff and his wife and the neighboring farmer and his wife are all inside the
A trifle is something that has little value or importance, and there are many seeming "trifles" in Susan Glaspell's one-act play "Trifles." The irony is that these "trifles" carry more weight and significance than first seems to be the case. Just as Glaspell's play ultimately reveals a sympathetic nature in Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, the evidence that the men investigators fail to observe, because they are blind to the things that have importance to a woman, reveals the identity of the murderer and are, therefore, not really "trifles," after all. Thus, the title of the play has a double-meaning: it refers, satirically, to the way "trifling" way some men perceive women, and it also acts as an ironic gesture to the fact that women are not as "trifling" as these men make them out to be. This paper will analyze setting, characters, plot, stage directions, symbolism, themes and genre to show how Glaspell's "Trifles" is an ironic indictment not of a murderess but rather of the men who push women to such acts.
Susan Glaspell one-act-play “Trifles” taken place in the 1900s. Since this play was written in the 1900s, it falls within the Modernism Period of American literature. Before she became Mrs. Wright her name used to be Minnie Foster but was referred only to Mrs. in the play trifles and was describe as a woman who used to sing in the church choir, dress nice and was once known for her lively personality, but when she got married and became Mrs. Wright, her husband John Wright who was known to be and abusive husband who killed her dream because he didn’t like for he to sing or do anything that was fun or made her happy. This one-act play is “Inspired by a true story of Margaret Hossack, an Indianola, Iowa farm wife who was charged with the murder
Trifles by Susan Glaspell is a short play built around the murder of John Wright. One might say that this play is dull and boring. However, that is far from the case. There are numerous entwined themes and ideas throughout the play. With closer examination of Glaspell’s work it is clear that there is a far greater plot in action. Mrs. Minnie Wright has been arrested for the murder of her husband while the investigation is active. Interestingly enough the murder is not the focused of this play. The focus is how two wives Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters identify with the accused. Throughout the play the wives uncover several seemingly insignificant clues which provide insight on the daily life Mrs. Wright before the death of her husband. Although both women ultimately end up identifying themselves with Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Hale appears to only aid Mrs. Wright due to the overwhelming guilt and shame she feels after learning of the circumstances Mrs. Wright life.
Trifles a play about the death of a woman’s soul. She is overwhelmed by her controlling husband and in the end killed him for choking her spirit. Glaspell personifies male types in a different way than females. The men of this play act like a man would in 1916. The men are governing and have very little real admiration for their women. In 1916, Glaspell opened the door for the women’s rights movements. This story displays how the male and female types relate with each other and how the women are the ones who solve and understand the murder of Mr. Wright.
“Trifles” by Susan Glaspell takes place in the early nineteen hundreds, the play was loosely based off of the notorious murder of John Hossack who was murdered by his wife. “Trifles” begins with the sheriff, the county attorney and Mr. Hale followed by their wives walking into to home of Minnie Wright to investigate the murder of her husband. The men were there with the intention of finding evidence as to who murdered Mr. Wright, while the women only came along to gather things to bring to Minnie Wright. It turns out that the women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, are the ones that find the critical evidence that proves Minnie Wright to be guilty, but they decide to stay loyal to their gender and not disclose the information that would make Minnie Guilty.
"Trifles" is a play with a unified plot. Although there are verbal flashbacks to the events of the day of the murder of John Wright, the play's entire plot begins and ends in a span of one day. The author also extends the unified plot to create a single setting (the farmhouse kitchen). The plot centers on John Wright's murder. Mrs. Wright is the main suspect; an investigation is taking place as to the motive or reason for the crime.