Susan Glaspell's Trifles

The excerpt to be analysed belongs to Trifles, a play written by Susan Glaspell. In her plays, Glaspell used a diversity of dramatic techniques. In the case of Trifles, Glaspell used the stark realism. This play was first performed by the Provincetown Players, the company created by her husband, George C. Cook and herself.

This extract can be found at the end of the play. In it, we can see how Mrs. Hale explains that women are not different from each other and how she sympathises with Mrs. Wright’s suffering. In the meantime, Mrs. Peters feels relieved because their husbands have not heard them when they found the dead canary, killed by Mr. Wright. Both women think that the dead bird is not relevant for their husbands to prove that Mrs. Wright killed Mr. Wright, but it is actual evidence.

But in this passage, there are two main themes: empathy and protection and female identity. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find out that Mrs. Wright has killed her husband. Because they see themselves identified with Mrs. Wright (“We all go through the same things – it’s just a different kind of the same thing.”), they decide to not tell the truth and protect her (“My, it’s a good thing the men couldn’t hear us.”)

As the whole play does, this extract takes place in the kitchen of John Wright’s farmhouse, a female space. The setting shows the psychological state of Mrs. Wright and her depression. It is a cold and empty place.

There are two characters in this passage: A is Mrs. Hale and B is Mrs. Peters. Mrs. Hale is a static character because since the beginning she challenges men but in a very subtle way. Mrs. Hale does not change throughout the story as Mrs. Peters does. Mrs. Peters is dynamic because as the sheriff’s wife, she follows the law. But then, she changes her mind and decides to protect Mrs. Wright and go against the