Trifles by Susan Glaspell: Women’s Silent Voices 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.

In today's society, we generally view upon everyone as equal beings who deserve equal rights. At the turn of the 20th century, this particular view didn?t exist. Men clearly dominated almost every aspect of life and women were often left with little importance. The Wright?s embody this view of roles in Susan Glaspell?s play Trifles. Mrs. Wright was a typical woman who suffered the mental abuse from her husband and was caged from life. In Trifles, a mixture of symbolism of oppression illustrates Mrs. Minnie Wright?s motives to kill her husband and to escape from imprisonment.

Throughout history, sexism has been an ongoing conflict for women and still occurs even today. Constant fights over equal pay, the right to vote, and the right to work has become a major issue for women all over the years. In Susan Glaspell’s one-act play, Trifles, she explores the stereotypes and differences between the genders. The play was written and takes place in 19th century during the time where women were not treated the same as men. Written during that period, Trifles, deals with the rights of women and assumptions about women in society during that time. This feminist drama surrounds the murder of, John wright, who was found strangled in his house. Throughout the play, the audience recognizes that the women solve the murder mystery of Mr. Wright. While the men are oblivious to the truth because of their assumptions. Glaspell not only questions the women’s roles in society, but the knowledge and aspect that are valued within the specific contexts. Trifles utilizes irony to present the life problems faced by women during that time.

Susan Glaspell’s one-act play, Trifles, weaves a tale of an intriguing murder investigation to determine who did it. Mrs. Wright is suspected of strangling her husband to death. During the investigation the sheriff and squad of detectives are clueless and unable to find any evidence or motive to directly tie Mrs. Wright to the murder. They are baffled as to how he was strangled by a rope while they were supposedly asleep side by side. Glaspell artfully explores gender differences between men and women and the roles they each fulfill in society by focusing on their physicality, their methods of communication and vital to the plot of the play, their powers of observation. In simple terms, the play suggests that men tend to be assertive,

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

“Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is a play that is largely based on stereotypes. The most prevalent one is the inferiority of women over men, though the play also explores the differences between genders in general.

Susan Glaspell uses a variety of symbols in her play to demonstrate the stereotypical view and treatment of women by men during the start of the twentieth century. She intricately portrays the female characters in her story as intelligent, but passive due to the fact that males dismiss their ideas and conversations as unimportant. The play, Trifles, uses multiple symbols to show how men fail to recognize the intelligence of women, and oppress the feminists’ way of thinking throughout society.

The men in this story are mocking the women, because they do not expect the women to know anything of importance, and to only know their “womanly” duties, which are deemed unimportant. Another similarity between the two works are the changes that the women undergo towards the end of the plays. In “Trifles”, the women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, are stuck with the choice of aiding a murderer that was in an abusive relationship, or to tell their husbands what they have found:

“Trifles” a play by Susan Glaspell, emphasizes the thought that women were kept in their homes and their contributions to the home and family went unappreciated and unnoticed. The play gives readers a view of how women were view and treated during the 1900’s. As a female analyzing the play, Mrs. Wright’s motive for killing Mr. Wright was quite clear. Susan Glaspell gives her readers a feminist approach, to demonstrate how Mrs. Wright’s murdering of her husband is justified.

Trifles is a one act play written by Susan Glaspell. It consists of eight characters; George Henderson, Henry Peters, Lewis Hale, Mrs. Peters, John Wright, Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Wright. Within the eight characters that the story consists of there are many gender differences between them that are very noticeable. The one act play begins when the six characters step inside the house that John Wright was gruesomely strangled and murdered in. Henry Peters whom is the sheriff and George Henderson whom is the county attorney come to the now abandoned house to investigate the murder along with the witnesses Lewis Hale, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Hale.

The men in Trifles are portrayed in the play as aggressive and extremely egocentric. The women are more observant and careful and do not speak to the men in a rude way. In the play, when Mrs. Peters is worried about Mrs. Wright’s fruit the sheriff stated, “Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin’ about her preserves” (1158). The sheriff does not understand the time it takes to prepare fruits and making sure the fruit do not freeze because he does not have to tend to a woman’s role as a wife. The men did not take the women seriously in the play because they made a lot of jokes out of things they would say. For example, When the women were talking about the quilt the sheriff said, “They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it!” (1160). This showed that they really did not care for what the women had to say about things, and the men laughing made it seem as if they did not know what they were

=Seemingly irrelevant until taken into context, the title of the play aids in highlighting one of the fundamental themes of the play. A “trifle” is defined as a matter, affair, or circumstance of trivial importance or significance. (Webster) Therefore, once the definition is known to the reader or audience, it becomes evident that the play must contain some amount of insignificant thoughts. In the play, Mr. Hale says, “Well, women are used to worrying about trifles.” (Glaspell) The tone reflected from this statement provides an insight in the thoughts of men during the early twentieth century. Ironically, however, Susan Glaspell disproves this “idea” by making the “trifles” that the women are distressing about a compulsory element in resolving

The play is based towards the end of the 19th century during the winter season in a traditional rural America farming town. The setting is "the kitchen in the now abandoned farmhouse of John Wright" where "signs of incompleted works" (Glaspell, 1916, p. 5) appear as "signs of incompetent" housekeeping to the men but as signs "of a disturbed consciousness" to the women (Noe, 1995, p. 39). The kitchen is described as

Falling in love, getting married, and raising a family used to be the life girls knew they would live when they grew up. Susan Glaspell wrote and interesting play of a woman whose husband slowly took everything away that she loved in life. In return, she ends up taking his life while he sleeps, by slowly killing him with a rope. The male and female gender dynamic of the story plays a significant aspect in the roles of the characters and their behavior. The men expect the women to live a domesticated lifestyle and fulfill the roles of a good wife and housekeeper. The women embrace the roles; however, they understand the struggles that come with being a wife. Since they can sympathize with Mrs. Wright, they understand how she feels and it explains why they react the way they do with the men in the play. Trifles opens your eyes to an interesting view of how being a housewife could affect a woman.

Susan Glaspell's Trifles explores the classical male stereotype of women by declaring that women frequently worry about matters of little, or no importance. This stereotype makes the assumption that only males are concerned with important issues, issues that females would never discuss or confront. The characters spend the entirety of the play searching for clues to solve a murder case. Ironically, the female characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, uncover crucial evidence and solve the murder case, not the male characters. The men in the play, the Sheriff, County Attorney, and Hale, search the scene of the crime for evidence on their own, and mock the women's discussions. The women's interest in the quilt,