Trifles By Susan Glaspell

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Summary Of Trifles The author describes Mrs. Hale as possessing the same qualities of "Clotho the spinner, the sister that spins the thread of life"(Glaspell). As she writes about Mrs. Hale and subliminally considers that she is involved in the death of Mr. Wright because of how she referred to his death when she says "when they was slipping the rope under his neck(79). By her saying that it flashes light on the fact that the sisters were involved in the murder and I was not just Mrs. Wright's doing. As the story develops we learn more about the way the wrights lived. Russell explains that Mrs. Wright describes her husband as a "hard man" which then we learn he kills her bird which at first seems to be the reason she kills her husband but

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  • Emotional Break-down in Susan Glaspell's Trifles

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    What further indicates the difficulty in deciding if Mrs. Wright killed Mr. Wright is the canary. Mrs. Wright shows that she loves the canary by trying to bury it in the pretty sewing box. This is not the action of someone who killed the canary. Mrs. Wright is also described as being like a bird. The reader can envision her as someone petite or slight. She is described as being sweet, pretty, timid and fluttery. It would take a lot for someone of this description to commit murder. On the other hand, Mr. Wright is described as someone who is difficult to live with. He is described by Mrs. Hale as having killed the bird like qualities in his wife. He appears to be an overbearing, unhappy person.

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  • Our Secret by Susan Griffin

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    In the play, there was a lot of foreshadowing and anaphora. The major symbols in the play that stand out to me was the bird, quilt and apron. The bird symbols as revenge and love. Mrs. Wright loved her pet bird as a child but when John Wright killed the bird, she could not think of a more fitting revenge than killing him. Mrs. Peters ' sense of empathy, as she recalls having had similar feelings many years ago when a boy killed her kitten. For these women, the pain that results from the death of a loved one is the resolute for revenge. The symbol of the quilt represents the easy way out, when Mrs. Hale said “we call it –Knot it, Mr. Henderson”. When someone is making a quilt, the “quilt” style is the longer hand detailed way of making a quilt whereas the “Knot” style is the easy, short and fast way of making a quilt. The quilt is foreshadowing the murder of John Wright and how Mrs. Wright took the easy way out from the loneliness and suffering of the emotional abuse, by tying a rope around John Wright neck into a knot. The apron is a symbol for the domestic housewives to stay in the kitchen the role that women had to play during that

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    Within the first few lines it becomes apparent that John Wright is not the most friendly man, preferring to isolate himself. Mr. Hale states how John did not want to contribute towards a neighborhood party line, and that he felt people talked too much, “I spoke to Wright about it once before and he put me off, saying folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet”. As the men go upstairs to investigate, the women go to gather things Minnie had requested. The women look around the kitchen and notice a loaf of bread not in the bread box. They assume that she was in the middle of placing it there, until she was abruptly interrupted. Mrs. Hale mentions how Minnie was more social, happy, and well-kept before she married John. When Mrs. Hale says this, it becomes clear to the reader that John didn’t care for Minnie when they were married, and how he was too cheap to buy her nice clothes. As the ladies continue to talk, they reveal a gun is kept in the house, and how it was strange Mr. Wright was by murdered by being tied up instead of shot. The women then notice Minnie’s quilt she was in the process of making. They comment on how odd it is that most of it is nice and evenly stitched until the last line, which is messy and

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  • Trifles By Susan Glaspell Essay

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    Hale and Mrs. Peters solved the crime by finding the clues better than the men did. An example of this is when Mrs. Peters found the broken bird cage. Therefore, Mrs. Peters said to Mrs. Hale, "Why, look at this door. It's broke. One hinge is pulled apart" (Glaspell 751). Then later they realized that it was Mr. Wright, who broke the bird cage. Another example from the play is the quilt that Minnie Foster had recently started to sew. In that event, Mrs. Hale said, "Mrs. Peters, look at this one. Here, this is the one she was working on, and look at the sewing! All the rest of it has been so nice and even. And look at this! It's all over the place! Why, it looks as if she didn't know what she was about (Glaspell 750). The women interpret that Minnie Foster was practicing "tying the knot" that she would then tie around her husband’s neck. These examples show that the women hold the power because the women consider the minor details in the story. The men wouldn’t even care that the sewing was a mess, but this matters to figure out the “motive” of Minnie

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  • Symbolism Of An Unfinished Quilt In Trifles By Susan Glaspell

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    Wright’s life, but for how she murdered her husband. When the women first noticed the quilt the examined the stitching and realized her nervousness was reflected in the quilt. The quilt being unfinished made the women think she was interrupted. In the play the woman suggested there could be a correlation between how Mrs. Wright’s quilt and possible ways she murdered her husband. Quilting takes a while like strangulation, but knotting is fast just as shooting a person is. Either the women don’t believe she is guilty or even in her guilt they are trying to cover for her. Mrs. Hale ironically leaves the audience in suspense by saying, “We call it-knot it, Mr. Henderson.”(Glaspell 268). This encourages the audience to think deeper about the play and draw their own

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    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

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    Mention the word feminist and most people think of the modern women's movement. Long before the bra burning of the 60’s, however, writers were writing about the lives and concerns of women living in a male dominated society. Susan Glaspell's play, Trifles, was written in 1916, long before the modern women's movement began. Her story reveals, through Glaspell's use of formal literary proprieties, the role that women are expected to play in society, and the harm that it brings not only the women, but the men as well. Character names are important in Trifles. Two characters who are never seen, John and Minnie Wright, provide the inciting incident for the play. The name "Wright" plays off the social stereotype of women seeking" Mr. Right," so they also represent the roles of men and women in the larger society. Minnie's name has a double significance, "Minnie" being "mini" or "minimized," which was descriptive of her relationship with John and in general of women's relationship with men. The taking of the husband's name is also important in the story. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are not given first names. The role that society has cast them in is one that is defined by their husbands. Mrs. Peters, who is married to the sheriff, is viewed in those terms, not as an individual. The county attorney even says "for that matter a sheriff's wife is married to the law" (Glaspell ..). Mrs. Peters herself tries to fulfill that role, saying "Mrs. Hale, the law is the law" (Glaspell ..). She tries to reinforce that identity until she is faced with the brutality of what John Wright did to Minnie. She says "I know what stillness is. The law has got to punish crime, Mrs. Hale" (Glaspell ..). The difference is that she is talking about the crime committed against Minnie, not the murder. The best example of the importance of names, especially married names, is the image of Minnie Foster. "I hear she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively when she was Minnie Foster . . ." Mrs. Hale says (Glaspell..). She talks about Minnie again on page ..: "I wish you'd seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang" (Glaspell..). The image of Minnie Foster is used to show, by contrast, what John Wright ...

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    ...h some of her own. ?Mrs. Hale symbolically claims her position as the person who spins the thread of life,? (Russell, pg. 1) relating back to Greek mythology. When the men continue to joke about Mrs. Wright?s intention ?to quilt or just knot? it evokes a defensive response in Mrs. Hale which seems to warn them not to tempt fate.

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  • Critical Analysis Of Trifles

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    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

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