"Trifles" by Susan Glaspell is a one-act play that explores the theme of the gender roles and social positions of men and women in early twentieth-century America. The play is loosely based on the true event of the murder of John Hossack which Glaspell reported on while working as a news journalist in Iowa. Years later, she used her experiences and observations to create the play. "Trifles" is about solving the murder case of farmer John Wright. While Mr. Wright was asleep in the night, someone
Author of Trifles Susan Glaspell said, “Whether Margaret Hossack or Minnie Wright committed murder is moot; what is incontrovertible is the brutality of their lives, the lack of options they had to redress grievances or to escape abusive husbands, and the complete disregard of their plight by the courts and by society. Instead of arguing their innocence, Glaspell concretizes the conditions under which these women live and the circumstances that might cause them to kill.” (Ben-Zvi 38). Glaspell accurately
time, inequality between genders was the most obvious thing that characterized the society. Women’s role was guided by men and was simply related to their domestic environment; nothing but a caring wife and a busy mother. Unlike now, men looked at women as machines that had to provide comfort and mind relax to their husbands even if their husbands did not provide that to them. To be specific, society in that time took the women’s right away from them; they cannot be what they want to be. However
always adapting to new cultural and always changing. What stems from the feminism theory is feminist literary criticism “feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforces or undermines the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women” (Critical Theory Today, 4 Feminist Criticism, pg. 79 Tyson, Louis). This theory shows us how patriarchal our society is and that’s how Susan Glaspell’s shows her work in her life time where women
English 101LC J. Buriel 26 Nov. 2014 Trifles: A Story of Gender Differences Gender is referred to as the social or cultural distinctions associated with being male or female. Scholars generally regard gender as a social construct, meaning that it does not exist naturally, but it is instead a concept that is created by culture and social norms. In society there is a divide between the two genders. Growing up most of the friends kids make are the same gender as them; a girl’s best friend will most
Trifles: A Dramatic Examination of Gender Role Trifles is a dramatic one act play written by American female playwright Susan Glaspell. The play examines through the framework of a murder mystery how rigid gender role dynamics in the early 20th century not only shaped people 's thinking, but blinded them from seeing what would otherwise be clear as day to someone else. During the time the play was written the women 's liberation movement had yet to take place. Women were strongly stereotyped and
primarily of a domestic nature. Trifles by Susan Glaspell indicates that a man’s perspective is entirely different from a woman’s. The one-act play, Trifles, is a murder mystery which examines the lives of rural, middle-aged, married, women characters through gender relationships, power between the sexes, and the nature of truth. The play, written in the early 1900s, long before the women’s movement and while men considered women their possessions. In the story of Trifles, it is easy to recognize the
Trifles In Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles a man has been murdered by his wife, but the men of the town who are in charge of investigating the crime are unable solve the murder mystery through logic and standard criminal procedures. Instead, two women (Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters) who visit the home are able to read a series of clues that the men cannot see because all of the clues are embedded in domestic items that are specific to women. The play at first it seems to be about mystery, but it abruptly
is silly, right? Worrying about the little, mundane things is pointless and a waste of time. In Susan Glaspell’s one-act play Trifles, she demonstrates how being sensitive to the subtle details can be vital to solving a mystery. Throughout the one-act play, Glaspell highlights the theme of gender roles through the women’s worries, irony, and symbolism. Glaspell develops the theme of gender roles by what Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters fret about at the crime scene. For instance, the first concern that Mrs
Trifles, the one-act play by Susan Glaspell takes setting in the early 1900’s, at a farmhouse that now serves as a crime scene. Although this murder mystery is seen by many to be a story focused on revenge or isolation, the title itself, the setting of the play, and the male characters’ arrogance are aspects that influence the central theme of gender discrimination. The sheriff, his wife, and the county attorney accompany Mr. and Mrs. Hale at the late John Wright’s house. It now serves as a crime