Compare And Contrast Trifles And A Jury Of Her Peers

Susan Glaspell, author of the play “Trifles”, and author of short story, “A Jury of Her Peers,” was born in 1876, and is a well-known feminist whose stories did not become popular till later in life. Men believe they are superior to women, and Susan Glaspell shows through her short stories how this belief has affected women throughout history. In this case, the women was driven to kill her husband because she was in desperate need of freedom. Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles”, and short story, “A Jury of Her Peers,” compare and contrast changes between the two writing such as, plot change, character change, and theme change.

To begin, the first change between the two stories is the plot. One way the plot changes between the two different types

of writing is when the climax peaks. When watching a play, such as “Trifles”, the climax of a story is more noticeable because of the dramatic action taking place.

In addition, when watching a play the climax come more quickly due to the fact the play is being acted out. However, downsides to the play “Trifles” is there are not enough details for the audience to grasp onto, to give them a deeper understanding. On the other hand, both stories have the same climatic excitement, for example, when Glaspell talks about the bird cage in both pieces of writing, they both bring the same perception to the audience. In like manner, both stories conclude that Mrs. Wright, aka, Minnie Foster committed the crime of killing her husband. This theory is backed up when both of Minnie’s friends start covering for her while the men are searching for evidence. One example of this would be when Mrs. Hale tempers with the stove in the Wright’s house, “The law is the law- and a bad stove is a bad stove” (575). Another way the plot changes with both stories is the dialogue within the play

“Trifles.” Since there is not detail within a play, like there is in a short story, Glaspell has to make up for that somehow by making the dialogue help guide the story. It seems the dialogue in the play is meant for the actors and actresses to help guide their actions and facial expressions, but it is also helps the reader understand the play in more depth. By doing this throughout the play, the action is portrayed making what the authors vision is come alive. On the downside, some important parts of the play are simply put in stage directions such as, [Mrs. Hale slips box under quilt pieces, and sinks into her chair.] (565). As a result of dialogue and stage directions, the extra detail and elaboration between characters is not understood as well as a short story will portray. Even with the dialogue in the play, both writings portray what Susan Glaspell was trying to show. In “A Jury of Her Peers” when Mrs. Hale slips the box under her quilt to hide the evidence, the same situation happens in “Trifles”, bringing the same important element to both writings. Finally, the plot changes in both stories with what tense the stories are told in. The short story, “A Jury of Her Peers” is told in third person through Mrs. Hale’s point of view making the story easier to follow along with than the play “Trifles.” One reason for this would be determined by the amount of details in the short story since it cannot be acted out. With the extra details, they enhance the overall purpose of the writing. For example, when Mrs. Hale is thinking about what she perceives of a certain room in the Wrights house, “… the stark coldness of that shut-up room was not a thing to linger in” (573). In this case, knowing Mrs. Hales perspective of the room helps bring the reader a better understanding of the true meaning for this short story. On the contrary, the plot stays relatively the same throughout both stories. For one, the scene of the crime and location stayed the same. Also, the order of events that happen throughout both of Susan Glaspell’s writings stay relatively the same. Overall, the plot changes some between the play and the short story, but both end up at the same result.
Secondly, a change that happens between “Trifles” and “A Jury of Her Peers” is character change.

One way character change occurs between the two stories is through Mrs. Wrights behavior. When Mr. Hale is explaining what he saw on the day Mr. Wright was murdered, he explains that Mrs. Wright was behaving strangely in the play “Trifles.” He goes on to say that, “Well, as if she didn’t know what she was going to do next. And kind of done up” (559). On the contrary, when he explains what he saw in “A Jury of Her Peers,” Mrs. Wright is behaving odd, but has a calmer sense to herself. Mr. Hale explains that, “Why I don’t think she minded” (570), when asking if he could come into the house. Another character change that occurs between the two writing is with Mrs. Hale. This character change is one of the more significant character changes within the story because in the play she is just another character, but in the short story her point of view is being shared. The character Mrs. Hale is more built up in the short story giving the reader not only a broader understanding of the situation, but more factors that play into the story. The foundation of Mrs. Hale’s character stays the same through both writings, the difference is in the short story her character is better understood. When Mrs. Hale explains, “locking her up in town and coming out here to get her own house to turn against her” (575), gives the impression that Mrs. Hale has unresolved feelings of her own. Knowing the

extra detail, and what a character is thinking helps build what the reader thinks. Obviously, Mrs. Hale had known that Minnie was not happy with her living situation. Finally, the last character change through these two stories is the two men searching the house for evidence. There characters do not change much between the two stories, but understanding how Mrs. Hale felt about her husband saying potential things that could hurt her friend changes the idea behind the two men . Overall, they both stayed similar to the roles they played in the play “Trifles” and the short story “A Jury of Her Peers.”
Furthermore, the last change incorporated between “Trifles” and “A Jury of Her Peers is theme. One way the theme changes over these two stories is by giving the reader different perceptions. The theme of isolations is prominent in the short story, “A Jury of Her Peers.” While understanding that Mrs. Wright was just a woman in desperate need of freedom, the short story portrays Mrs. Wright as another person when talking about Minnie Foster. Understanding that both of these women, are the same person, symbolically they are not. Mrs. Wright is a woman who got married to a man that now controls her life, and the only way she felt would get her out of this situation was to kill him. On the other hand, Minnie Foster was a free spirit with the intentions of any young girl to have an adventurous life while cherishing the privilege of being single. At last, Mrs. Hale mentions how Minnie Foster is not the same women she used to be, after 20 years of marriage, “It came into Mrs. Hale’s mind that that rocker didn’t look in the least like Minnie Foster- the Minnie Forster of twenty years before” (570). Equally, there are similarities in the moral aspect when it comes to the overall themes of Susan Glaspell’s writings. The theme of women being mistreated in during this time, stays the same. Another way the theme changes is by the types of themes the reader can get from the writings. In the play “Trifles”, the obvious themes that stick out are crime, death, and freedom. Unfortunately, the depth of the themes stops there, not truly being able to see all of the underlying theme, because of lack of detail. When it comes to Glaspell’s short story, the story deals more with the morality and deeper meanings behind her writing. Since it focuses, on the morality of what is right and wrong, the tone of the story changes. For instance, reading through “A Jury of Her Peers,” Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter’s cover a lot of evidence for their friend Minnie Foster. Throughout the story this might seem like a permissible act because they found out that their friend was in such a desperate place, but the reader might find these acts as breaking the law in need of punishment. This point of view gives the reader the chance to think for him or herself. Finally, the theme changes between the two stories with the depth of the stories. In the short story, all of the themes involved have deeper meanings than compared to the play. In “A Jury of Her Peers” the reader learns how the author has a feminine point of view while writing the story, making the theme of suppression. This theme fits into the story because Mrs. Wright is undergoing suppression of society and her husband. Unlike the play, the short story gives enough incite to figure out the deeper meaning to the theme. On the other hand, the play gives superficial themes that can only be implied from a surface level. The theme in the play “Trifles” is only provoked from the acting and dialogue within the story. Since this is the only way to understand the whole meaning of the story, the play fails to meet anything greater than superficial themes.
Three changes that happen throughout the entirety of Susan Glaspell’s writing are plot change, character change, and theme change. Even through these changes the author keeps the core of the story the same by presenting the same key elements. By doing this, even though the story is written in two different ways, the key elements help guide the story in the same direction. Through this, Glaspell presents and overall theme for both stories explaining her true meaning for them. In the end, both stories explain that women can feel trapped when bound to a man or society that changes her whole lifestyle. Consequences from this can lead to frustration and a burning desire of freedom, ultimately leading to death in one way or another.