Trifle’s was a play about a murder case that brings attention to how a woman’s role is often seen as a trifle. The play begins with Mr. Hale giving his account to the Sherriff about what happened when he went to visit John Wright. Mr. Hale attempted to provide a very detailed account of all the events that took place from the time he arrived at the Wrights home. The biggest thing the reader got from his description was that Ms. Wright had no alibi making her a very likely suspect but the one thing missing was the motive. While Mr. Hale was explaining this story, the Sherriff was looking around the kitchen stating how it was dirty and she must not have been a very good housewife. Mrs. Hale chimed in and said “There is a great deal of work …show more content…
Hale finished giving his testimony all the men decided to go upstairs and try to find a motive leaving the two ladies downstairs in the kitchen. Up until this point the two ladies really appeared to be in the background with little purpose. The two ladies began talking to each other and its evident Mrs. Hale will be defending Mrs. Wright. We see this when Ms. Hale ask Mrs. Peters whether or not she thinks Mrs. Wright committed the murder and when Mrs. Peters seems on the fence about it Mrs. Hale says “Well I don’t think she did” (Glaspell, 749). Mrs. Peters even says “But Mrs. Hale, the law is the law” these interactions are showing to the reader how Mrs. Hale doesn’t want Mrs. Wright to be guilty when Mrs. Peters is on the side of the law and feels it needs to be …show more content…
We see them both begin to justify themselves with Mrs. Peters discussing a story on page 753 saying “When I was a girl-my kitten-there was a boy took a hatchet…if they hadn’t held me back I would have-hurt him.” This is showing how Mrs. Peters is beginning to understand how someone could feel angry enough to murder someone. We also see Mrs. Peters say on page 754 “Wouldn’t they just laugh!” She is talking about how the men would just laugh at them like they had done all day therefor the evidence is probably insignificance. Mrs. Hale justifies protecting Mrs. Wright through feeling guilty that she was not a better friend to her. We see her thought page 754 say things such as “I might have known she needed help” and “I wish I had come over here once in a while!” She even stated to Ms. Peters that her husband sucked the life out of her. The last justification we see is when Mrs. Peters says on page 754 “Wouldn’t they just laugh!” She is referring to how the men would just laugh at them like they had done all day therefor the evidence is probably insignificance. This shows the audience how she now felt she had to protect this other woman from the injustices of being married to an abuser. She took the bird out of the red tin can and then placed it in Mrs. Hales apron. The actions that these women took by hiding the bird will cause the courts to have a hard time
The character Mrs. Wright is portrayed as a kind and gentle woman. She is also described as her opinion not being of importance in the marriage. It is stated by Mr. Hale that “ I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John” .(745) Her neighbor, Mrs. Hale, depicts her as “She─come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself─real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and─fluttery. How─she─did─change”. (752) It appears that Mrs. Wright is a kind and gentle woman, not capable of committing a murder. But, with the evidence provided and the description of Mr. Wright’s personality it can also be said that the audience will play on the sympathy card for Mrs. Wright. She appears to be caught in a domestic violence crime in which she is guilty of, but the audience will overlook the crime due to the nature of the circumstances. By using pathos it will create a feeling that Mrs. Wright was the one who was suffering in the marriage, and that she only did what she felt necessary at the
It is no surprise the police have arrested Mrs. Wright, especially since Mr. Wright was killed right next to her. Her nonchalant attitude towards his death and how she cares more about her personal items, like her apron and canned fruits. The sheriff sees through her lies and that's why he arrested her as the primary suspect. Mr hale
The unfortunate death of John Wright was a mystery to all. A team of individuals consisting of the sheriff, county attorney, Mr. Hale, and Mrs. Peters were on a mission to find the purpose of the murderer. At this point, Mrs. Wright is the primary suspect. Mrs. Hale was asked to join the party in order to give Mrs. Peters, the sheriff s wife, some companionship. In the story, Mrs. Hale leaves cues of guilty feelings. As an example, the narrator states, Martha Hale had a moment of feeling that she could not cross that threshold. The reason being given that she had been too busy to come by but now she could come (Glaspell 2). Another instance to be noted is a conversation between her and the young attorney. During this conversation, he asked if they were friends since they were neighbors. Her answer was sympathetic, I’ve seen little enough of her late years. I ve not been it this house-it s been morethan a year. Then she goes on to explain, I liked her well enough. Farmers wives have their hands full, it never seemed a very cheerful place (Glaspell 6). At this point, Mrs. Hale s empathy toward Mrs. Wright is apparent.
We then come to the part where the ladies are talking about Mrs. Peter’s interactions with the other women in town. Mrs. Hale said she was not part of the Ladies’ Aid (which seemed like the thing for the women to do in that town), she dressed shabbily which she never did before becoming Mr. Wright’s wife. Mrs. Hale also clearly states that she does not believe that Mrs. Wright killed her husband whereas Mrs. Peters is struggling with this, saying that the Attorney thinks it looks bad because she did not wake up when her husband was being killed in bed right beside her. Mrs. Hale takes the view I would by saying don’t blame her because obviously he didn’t wake up either or maybe he would be alive or at least maybe he could have awakened her in his struggle.
Mrs. Hales feels that her husband has a habit of getting mixed up on the story and she’s worried about that. In comparison, this detail is emphasized through his ramblings in Trifles, which sound like a two year old. It shows in both versions that their interaction with each other is taxing on their relationship. The Peters have a similar relationship to the Hales, but it is more deftly revealed. The sheriff is a a heavy man with a big voice, who was particularly genial with the law-abiding, as if to make it plain that he knew the difference between criminals and non-criminals.
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.
When Mr. Hale stops to try to convince Mr. Wright to install phone service he discovers Mrs. Wright in the kitchen and the finds Mr. Wright's dead body upstairs. Mrs. Wright is taken into custody. The next day, the Sheriff with his wife, the County Attorney (Young Henderson) along with Mr. and Mrs. Hale return to the farm house to look for evidence and the women were to get some things for Mrs. Wright to wear while being held in jail. They were to wait the go ahead by the Sheriff as not to destroy evidence. As the men looked for evidence, the ladies sat in the kitchen and observed several things that only a woman would probably noticed.
In fact, when Mrs. Hale comments that Mrs. Wright was not one for housekeeping, Mrs. Peters replies by saying “Well, I don’t know as Wright had either.” (748). The disheveled state that the house is in, as well as the fact that Mr. Wright is characterized as a hard man who is unwilling to share his part expresses the idea that their marriage was unhappy, and in turn, Mrs. Wright could have motive to harm him. Likewise, when the men leave the women to find clothes for Mrs. Wright, the two discover more possible evidence that the men will shrug off. For example, Mrs. Hale examines some quilt work that Mrs. Wright was working on, and notices that the most recent square is very sloppy compared to the rest of the work on the quilt. Moreover, the fact that they believe she crafted it by knotting is very significant (750). This correlation times closely with Mr. Wright’s time of death, and could indicate as a stressor, which the women can pick up on. Since the men laugh at their seemingly trivial observation, they are close to solving the crime on their
I. Article Summary: Suzy Clarkson Holstein's article, “Silent Justice in a Different Key: Glaspell's 'Trifles'” evaluates the play Trifles and how the difference between the men in the play mirror how a woman's perspective is very different from a man's. Trifles is about two women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, who show up at a house with their husbands and the county attorney to investigate a murder. The entire time the men are looking for evidence to implicate the accused wife, Minnie Wright, of killing her husband. Meanwhile, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are there to gather up some items to bring Minnie Wright in jail. While doing so, the women uncover evidence that would prove the wife is culpable but decide to hide it from the men in the last moments of the play. Trifles is evaluated on how the women are able to come up with the evidence unlike the men because they didn't approach it like a crime scene but rather a home, “By contrast, the women arrive at a home. Although neither they or the men realize it, they too are conducting an investigation” (Holstein 283). Holstein also notes they are able to find evidence because they use their own life experiences to relate to the accused murderer, Minnie Wright as shown here; “But the women do not simply remember and sympathize with Minnie. They identify with her, quite literally” (285). Holstein finishes the article by noting the women decide to hide the evidence because of the solidarity they feel towards Minnie Wright; “From Mrs. Hale's perspective, people are linked together through fragile, sometimes imperceptible strands. The tiny trifles of life –a neighbor's visit, a bird's song, the sewing of a quilt –have profound reverberations” (287).
Mrs. Hale’s keen wit and patience contributes to her embodiment of The Fate sister Clotho the Spinner, which is even more evident in her correcting of Minnie Wright’s improper stitching (Russell). Mrs. Peters begins the process of investigation deeply devoted to keeping the law. She doesn’t want any disruption in the house, saying, “I don’t think we ought to touch things” (Glaspell p. 666) when Mrs. Hale began searching for clues. Upon finding the dead canary, Mrs. Peters view on the situation changes drastically, and she decides with Mrs. Hale to hide the tiny dead bird from the men. They both figure that if the dead canary was discovered, Mrs. Wright would be thought to be a mad woman, though it was likely Mr. Wright who killed it.
In the play Trifles, written by Susan Glaspell, a small number of people are at the Wright house trying to figure out why and how Mr. Wright was murdered. Mrs. Wright is already the suspect, and all that is needed for the case is evidence for a motive. The jury needs something to show anger or sudden feeling so that they can convict her for murder. The men, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Peters, and Mr. Hale are there to find the evidence. The women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, are there to pick up a select few items for Mrs. Wright. While the men are going about business and looking for evidence to build a case against Mrs. Wright, the women are looking over what Mrs. Wright left behind and intuitively trying to understand what happened. They are also trying to fathom why Mrs. Wright would be compelled to perform such an act of violence. As the story goes on, it constructs each of the characters in slightly different means. Susan Glaspell presents Mr. Wright and Mrs. Hale as having contrasting and comparable characteristics. While Mrs. Hale and Mr. Wright differ in terms of emotions, they are similar in their cleanliness and are well respected by others.
Mr. Hale found his neighbor, John Wright, strangled upstairs in the Wrights’ house with Minnie Wright, John’s wife, sitting calmly downstairs. With John Wright dead and his wife in jail, Mr. Hale, the sheriff, their wives, and the county attorney all crowded into the Wright’s house to try to find clues about the murder. While the men go upstairs, they leave the women downstairs “.worrying over trifles.” (“A Jury of Her Peers” 264) Unbeknownst to the men, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find clue after clue that would convict Minnie Wright of the murder. Instead of telling the men about the clues, the women hide the clues and the men have no idea what the women have found.
Wright’s life and the way that the women help in sewing up the loose ends. Mrs. Peters is at first concerned that Mrs. Hale is going to take out the stitches and re-stitch them correctly. She asks, “Oh, what are you doing, Mrs. Hale?” (881). Mrs. Hale replies that she is “just pulling a stitch or two that’s not sewed very good” and that she will “just finish up this end” (881). This is ironic because the women end up sewing up her defense the way they sewed up her quilt. It is ironic that the two women end up being in charge of Mrs. Wright’s fate when they are not in charge of their own. Mrs. Peters is another example of the situational
Wright was described as a beautiful women filled with such joy and life until she married John Wright. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale feels sorry for her because her husband treated her so bad. Due to female bonding and sympathy, the two women, becoming detectives, finds the truth and hides it from the men. The play shows you that emotions can play a part in your judgement. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale felt sorry that Mrs. Wright had one to keep her company no kids and she was always left alone at home. “yes good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debt. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters just to pass the time of day with him. Like a raw wind that goes to the bone. I should of think she would have wanted a bird. But what you suppose went with it?” Later on in the play the women find out what happens to the bird. The bird was killed the same way Mrs. Wright husband which leads to the motive of why he was killed. Mrs. Wright was just like the bird beautiful but caged no freedom not being able to live a life of her own. Always stuck in the shadows of her husband being told what to do and
Most of the actions take place in the kitchen setting which demonstrates the author’s deliberate move to show the important details about the wifely role. The women hold their conversation in the unkempt kitchen, a domestic sphere that reveals everything about the lives of women. While the men were busy searching for clues around the farmhouse, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale see some evidence in the trifle that Mrs. Wright had left in the kitchen. The women can deduce that the messy kitchen with dirty pans gives a signal of incomplete work. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter spend most of their time in the messy kitchen that significantly reveal Mrs. Wright’s state of confusion (Manuel 61). Mrs. Hale understands Mrs. Wright’s experiences of loneliness and desperation from the male-dominated circumstances. The female characters sympathize with her situation by acknowledging the forces in her life that made her take the roles including that of murdering her husband. The men overlook the evidence that the women can trace in the house, and their dialogue suggests lack of sympathy towards women as noted from their humiliation and sarcasm towards women. For example, the women can relate the death of the canary to the murder scene. The attorney shows how woman’s concerns are unimportant, instead of sympathizing with Mrs. Wright for what has befallen her, they portray their women