Gender Roles In Trifles

It's amazing how something that is out of all people's hands can define their entire life from what their job is, what is expected of them, and what they are treated like. This something is gender. Gender has been the root of many conflicts throughout history, and the male is often viewed as the more dominant role over the female. Susan Glaspell excels at expressing a gender based conflict in her play Trifles by presenting how these gender roles cause the women to feel belittled, but also shows that the egotistical, selfish men do not care about them. The gender conflict is evident in the characters’ dialogue and in the stage directions.

One of the most important tools that an audience uses to interpret a character’s true demeanor is through

It is easy to judge the attitude of a character by how he treats those around him. Mr. Hale, Mr. Peters, and Mr. Henderson, all of the male characters in Trifles, have absolutely no regard for women. They treat the women like significantly lesser beings and show no respect to them. In their eyes, they believe that the women are only capable of agonizing over trivial affairs, so Mr. Hale states, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (Glaspell 604). This statement is said in a sarcastic tone to emphasize the true meaning behind it. Mr. Hale affirms this because he does not believe that women worry over anything important. Blinded by his masculinity, he is convinced that the women are inferior and only fret over these so called trifles, but the high and mighty men worry about the essential aspects of things. Later on, Mr. Peters, the sheriff,

Stage directions are an author’s guide for the characters to follow; they instruct a character on where to go or how to behave. Glaspell takes advantage of this and uses the stage directions to help convey and emphasize the male versus female gender conflict. One example is, “starts to speak, glances up, where footsteps are heard in the room above. In a low voice.” There is an apparent fear contained within these stage directions that has been expertly placed in order to express the gender conflict. Hearing the men walking above them, the women feel the need to speak a soft tone in order to avoid being heard. It seems as if they are scared of any possible repercussions that may occur if they are heard. Moreover, the stage directions later say, “The men laugh, the women look abashed.” Once again the men have no respect for the opposite gender, and they laugh at what the women are discussing which causes them to feel ashamed and embarrassed. This emphasizes the blatant contempt that the men have towards the women, and manifests how lowly the women feel as a result. All in all, by following the stage directions, the characters accurately convey a conflict based on