Susan Glaspell's Trifles

702 Words2 Pages

The short play, Trifles, by Susan Glaspell is set in the early 1900s and is about the ongoing investigation following an apparent murder in a gloomy farmhouse. However, this play delves into a much deeper, more universal problem which is the view of women’s roles in society. It is evident that the men in this play believe women are solely dependent on their men. However, Glaspell challenges this status quo through her use of irony and indirect characterization. Trifles is filled with irony; the irony is extremely effective in demonstrating Glaspell’s disbelief in the status quo that women cannot exist independently. In the play, the men do not value the women’s opinions and thoughts in the least. They do not believe that they are capable of solving complex problems, like investigating an apparent murder, but rather are more adept to …show more content…

Wright is mocked for caring about the wellbeing of her preserves. Furthermore, when the men overhear Mrs. Hale ask, “I wonder if she was goin’ to quilt it or just not it?” they burst into a mocking laughter. However, the irony becomes apparent as the women begin to discover more about the husband’s death through their close inspection of “trifling” matters than the men who cannot find anything to aid their investigation. The women uncover the first clue when they are looking at an unfinished quilt. Mrs. Hale proclaims, “All the rest of [the quilt] has been [sewed] so nice and even. And look at this! It’s all over the place! Why, it looks like she didn’t know what she was about.” Immediately, the two women realize that their interpretation of the quilt could implicate Mrs. Wright. By pondering something as trifling as a quilt pattern, the women were able to decipher Mrs. Wright’s mood which was that of frustration and nervousness. Furthermore, the women are able to discover a clear motive for Mrs. Wright to kill her husband. While searching through Mrs. Wright’s sewing box for patches, the women

A Jury Of Her Peers And Zora Neale Hurson's Sweat
738 Words | 2 Pages
Minnie Wright, John’s wife, is the main suspect. This time, Sheriff Peters asked to bring his wife Mrs. Peters, the county attorney George Henderson, and his neighbors Martha and Lewis Hale to the crime scene. He intended for Lewis Hale, Mr. Henderson and him to solve the case. While Lewis Hale tells the group the details of how John Wright was found, Mrs. Peters and Martha Hale begin looking around the house to judge the state of the crime scene. Before even looking for evidence, Lewis Hale says “Oh, well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (160) to the dismay of Martha Hale and Mrs. Peters. Martha Hale notices that the Wrights’ house was unkempt and sad-looking, which was strange because Minnie Wright used to be a cheerful and meticulous homemaker. Again, Lewis Hale dismisses this as an inconsequential detail, stating that Minnie was just not a good homemaker, even though his wife Martha already told Mr. Henderson that “farmers’ wives have their hands full” (160). A few moments later, the men explore the house, but not before Mr. Hale ironically questions “But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?” (161). The women began to
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Pathos In Trifles
740 Words | 2 Pages
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
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Susan Glaspell's A Jury of Her Peers
991 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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Susan Glaspell's Trifles
1167 Words | 3 Pages
At the start of the play, all of the characters enter the abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, who was recently hanged by an unknown killer. The Sheriff and County Attorney start scanning the house for clues as to who killed Mr. Wright, but make a major error when they search the kitchen poorly, claiming that there is nothing there ?but kitchen things.? This illustrates the men?s incorrect belief that a kitchen is a place of trivial matters, a place where nothing of any importance may be found. Mrs. Peters then notices that Mrs. Wright?s fruit froze in the cold weather, and the men mock her and reveal their stereotype of females by saying ?women are used to worrying over trifles.? The men then venture to the upstairs of the house to look for clues, while the women remain downstairs in the kitchen where they discuss the frozen fruit and the Wrights. Mrs. Hale explains that Mrs. Wright, whose maiden name was Minnie Foster, used to be a lively woman who sang in the choir. She suggests that the reason Mrs. Wright stopped being cheerful and active because of her irritable husband.
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Repression of Women Exposed in Susan Glaspell's Trifles
954 Words | 2 Pages
The coldness felt in the house as the sheriff and court attorney entered the house symbolized the same coldness brought about by Mr. Wright. For the house to be cold and gloomy and everything else outside the total opposite, was much more than just coincidence. It was as if when you entered the house a cadaver, cold and clammy, had embraced you in its arms. “ I don’t think a place’d be any cheerfuller for John Wright’s being in it”, Mrs. Hale told the court attorney (11). Mrs. Hale knew perfectly well what kind of personality Mr. Wright had, which is why she specified that she wished that she had gone to visit Mrs. Wright when only she was there. “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm”, says Mrs. Hale, yet they are seen as mere trifles because it is the women who take on these tasks.
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A Comparison of Mrs. Hale and Mr. Wright in Trifles, by Susan Glaspell
1069 Words | 3 Pages
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.
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Symbolism Of An Unfinished Quilt In Trifles By Susan Glaspell
736 Words | 2 Pages
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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Theme Of Irony In Trifles
1010 Words | 3 Pages
Susan Gable’s Trifles is focused on discovering the killer of a local farmer in the twentieth century. In this play the amount of irony is abundant and the irony always relates to solving the murder. The two types of irony that are most easily discerned in Trifles are verbal and situational irony. Irony is when an author uses words or a situation to convey the opposite of what they truly mean. Verbal irony is when a character says one thing but they mean the other. This can be seen in the way the men dismiss the women. Situational irony is when the setting is the opposite of what one would think it would be for what the play is. This is seen through the setting being in a kitchen and various other aspects of the
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Gender Differences in Susan Glaspell's Trifles
1046 Words | 3 Pages
Susan Glaspell's play, "Trifles", attempts to define one of the main behavioral differences between man and woman. For most of the story, the two genders are not only geographically separated, but also separated in thought processes and motive, so that the reader might readily make comparisons between the two genders. Glaspell not only verbally acknowledges this behavioral difference in the play, but also demonstrates it through the characters' actions and the turns of the plot. The timid and overlooked women who appear in the beginning of the play eventually become the delicate detectives who, discounted by the men, discover all of the clues that display a female to be the disillusioned murderer of her (not so dearly) departed husband. Meanwhile, the men in the play not only arrogantly overlook the "trifling" clues that the women find that point to the murderer, but also underestimate the murderer herself. "These were trifles to the men but in reality they told the story and only the women could see that (Erin Williams)". The women seem to be the insightful unsung heroes while the men remain outwardly in charge, but sadly ignorant.
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Justice In Susan Glaspell's Trifles
972 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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Stereotypes In Trifles
1223 Words | 3 Pages
The play opens in the kitchen, notoriously thought of as being a woman’s place, with the men walking in first and the women after, symbolizing the idea that men come before women and the women should follow their lead. Even before the play gets very involved, “The males’ dominance is immediately apparent from the play’s opening as the three men barge into the Wright’s house confidently ahead of the women” (Grose). As the play progresses, comments made by the character Mr. Hale such as “…talked about it before his wife, though I said to Harry that I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much a difference to John,” (Trifles, 9) point blank states that the thoughts of females carry little value to the men. They essentially have no voice and are suffocated by the
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Trifles Title Analysis
1511 Words | 4 Pages
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
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Susan Glaspell's Trifles
527 Words | 2 Pages
Susan Glaspell’s play trifles, was written in 1916, and reflects the time in America when women were treated like object. The plays revolved around six main characters and a mysterious setting. The play mainly portrays the distinct difference between the man and women’s world in the 20th century. Trifles show the tragic view of women’s life, when they were neglected, ignored treated with no respect. It also referred to men’s view of women as trifles and.
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Trifles By Susan Glaspell Feminism Essay
890 Words | 2 Pages
In the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell the theme of feminism is showed through Minnie and Mr.Wrights relationship, women and their domestic role in this era, and how the women in the play are belittled. Minnie and Mr.Wright did not have a happy marriage, and the townspeople that knew them, knew that. Mrs.Hale, the neighboring farmers wife said
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Gender Roles In Trifles
767 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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Susan Glaspell's Trifles

A Jury Of Her Peers And Zora Neale Hurson's Sweat

Pathos In Trifles

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