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What are the gender roles in the story trifles
Women roles in trifles
John Wright character analysis of the play Trifles
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Does being emotionally repressed deem you worthy of being killed? Do we judge people by the way they act in the eyes of the public or do we judge them on the love in their home? Killing in an act of passion is a crime or is it justice? Determining which of the Wright’s was right and who is in the wrong, involves looking at ourselves and the world. Understanding the whole story behind Mrs. Wright’s (Minnie) actions is necessary first and foremost. Susan Glaspell’s one-act play “Trifles” centers around the murder investigation of Mr. Wright (John) in his own home. Minnie Wright is almost assuredly the murderer as when asked by Mr. Hale about his whereabouts she calmly answered that he is dead upstairs with a rope around his neck. Reacting …show more content…
Killing emotionally distant, and killing Minnie’s bird seem to be the extent of Mr. Wright’s crimes, and since he snapped the bird's neck she found it fitting to strangle him. In Exodus 20:13(King James Version), it says “Thou shalt not kill.” There are many translations of Exodus, but they all have a very clear message that killing is not acceptable even if your husband kills your bird. Defying the clearly displayed patriarchy in this play, through murder should be embarrassing for feminists. Snapping a pet bird's neck as the worst offense the murdered commits does not deserve death as a punishment. Minnie Wright is wrong, and clearly commits murder as stated “murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought” Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Title 18, Chapter 51, Section 1111 ( 1948). Minnie Wright murdered her husband in cold blood, and upon confrontation about her husband's death could barely be bothered to shed a tear or even a frown. Feeling a sense of identity with Minnie and belittled by their boorish husbands, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters have become accessory to the crime perpetrated by Mrs. Wright. If the men of this play had not been such cartoonish chauvinists and respected their wives, they could have solved the crime of Mr. Wright’s murder. Women are not only interested in trifles, or
Trifles” is a play written in 1916 by Susan Glaspell. The play’s audience consists of young adults to those in their late 50’s. Mrs. Glaspell takes a serious matter of domestic violence and uses her platform as an author to raise awareness about the issue. In the play “Trifles” a neighbor went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wright only to find Mr. Wright dead in his bed. He had been strangled to death by a rope. The neighbor questioned Mrs. Wright about the matter and her response was odd and suspicious. Mrs. Wright was taken to jail while the home is being investigated for further evidence. Mrs. Glaspell’s play “Trifles” effectively achieves the goal in raising awareness on domestic violence by the evidence of the crime and through pathos.
Mr. Hale describes Mrs. Foster as being “queer” or strange. It is know that people in highly stressful situations can behave in a manner that is considered inappropriate such as laughing at a funeral and perhaps Minnie Foster is in such a situation that mental she is struggling to believe what has happened. She may also be in a state of shock causing peculiar behavior and a lack of judgement. Furthermore, the possible motive that Minnie Foster killed her husband over him killing her bird is weak. Mrs. Hale remembers Mrs. Foster as being a normal girl who people adored and yet how could such a normal person commit murder over the death of a bird. Perhaps the bird had died and she simply had not had time to bury the bird. Minnie Foster’s behavior suggest she was in shock over the death of her husband causing her to act strange not because she killed her husband and further the weakness of the suggested motive that she killed Mr. Foster because he killed her bird jumps to a conclusion without clear
Susan Glaspell's Trifles explores the classical male stereotype of women by declaring that women frequently worry about matters of little, or no importance. This stereotype makes the assumption that only males are concerned with important issues, issues that females would never discuss or confront. The characters spend the entirety of the play searching for clues to solve a murder case. Ironically, the female characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, uncover crucial evidence and solve the murder case, not the male characters. The men in the play, the Sheriff, County Attorney, and Hale, search the scene of the crime for evidence on their own, and mock the women's discussions. The women's interest in the quilt, broken bird cage door, and dead canary, all of which are assumed to be unimportant or trifling objects, is what consequentially leads to their solving of the crime. The women are able to discover who the killer is by paying attention to detail, and prove that the items which the men consider insignificant are important after all.
The Sheriff, Attorney, and neighbour Mr. Hale look for evidence while the women Mrs. Peters and Hale are left to their own devices in the kitchen. Condescendingly, the men mock the women’s concerns over Mrs. Wright’s stored preserves, its stated: “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.” (Hale, act 1) It’s inferred that women- who care only of trifles, something of little or no importance, must be trifles themselves. Ironically, these said trifles: the quilt, preserves, a little bird- which will be discussed later, are what solves this mystery. A major concern expressed by all the characters is motive; why would Mrs. Wright kill her husband? While discussing the marriage and disposition of the victim, its stated: “Yes--good; he didn't drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him. (Shivers.) Like a raw wind that gets to the bone.” (Mrs. Hale, act 1) Abuses, which have been hinted at all throughout the play are finally spoken of in these lines. Audiences find, that Mrs. Wright- “real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid” - would murder her
Devising the perfect murder is a craft that has been manipulated and in practice dating back to the time of the biblical reference of Cain and Abel. In the play, “Trifles” exploration is focused on the empathy one has for a murderer who feels they have no alternative from their abuser. As a multifaceted approach, the author Glaspell gives her audience a moral conflict as to whether murder should be condemned based on the circumstances rather than the crime. Presenting Mrs. Wright as the true victim of the crime of domestic abuse rather than a murderer gives Glaspell a stage which shows her audience the power of empathy.
In the play “Trifles,” Susan Glaspell deconstructs the marginalization of women in a world dominated by male ideology. Glaspell evokes the reader to question the value of men and women’s perspectives by creating a suspence filled drama that unfolds through the development of their two distinct narratives. As the investigation takes place, Mrs. Wright is not present or able to speak for herself. In this way she is marginalized, as we rely on Mr. Hale’s testimony of their conversation as well as any evidence that remains in the home where the murder took place.
Susan Glaspell's play Trifles explores male-female relationships through the murder investigation of the character of Mr. Wright. It also talks about the stereotypes that women faced. The play takes place in Wright's country farmhouse as the men of the play, the county attorney, the sheriff, and Mr. Hale, search for evidence as to the identity and, most importantly, the motive of the murderer. The attorney, with the intensions of proving that Mrs. Wright choked the husband to death, was interviewing Mr. Hale on what he saw when he came in to the house. The women, on the other hand, were just there to get some clothing for the wife who was in jail for suspected murder of her husband. However, the clues which would lead them to the answer are never found by the men. Instead it is their female counterparts who discover the evidence needed, but they choose not to tell the men what they found since the man were degrading them the whole time. After searching the house several times, tow of the men choose to stop and they leave while the attorney stays behind to find any sort of clue that could convict Mrs. Wright of the murder. The women withhold all the evidence they find, therefore getting back at them men for all the stereotypical and degrading comments they said. Thus allowing the attorney to attempt to find his own evidence and ending the play. Gaspell's play represents the misjudgment and stereotypes the women faced and how they dealt with those issues.
Hale and Mrs. Peters find and withhold evidence that could convict Minnie Wright of murder. The women are reluctant to admit that they have found proof of motive for Wright’s murder; Mrs. Peters repeats “We don’t know who killed him,” to Mrs. Hale (502). The very last sentence of the story, spoken by Mrs. Hale, “We call it—knot it, Mr. Henderson,” plays on the women absolving Mrs. Wright of any guilt for her crime, deciding that she is “not it” and not guilty (504). With that in mind, readers may question what right Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters have to pardon Mrs. Wright from her crime. As Bendel-Simso states, “while the women can seek Justice for other women, the men in charge of the case . . . can seek Justice only for men (their peers), and can only impose Law upon women.” Without understanding what women of the time were going through, how could the men in the story judiciously decide a punishment for Minnie Wright or even determine her
... society. The murder of Mr. Wright is used to portray the anger she has with men and how they degrade the intelligence of women (Mael 2). Glaspell believes that women are just as smart if not smarter than men, but do not actively voice their opinions due to male’s dominance throughout society. The feminist theme is drawn by the characters, the title, the role women had throughout the play, and the conflict. They all worked together to show how women were oppressed by men and thought to be less important to society. The women discuss seemingly insignificant items such as the sloppy corner of the quilt, the broken bird cage door, and the dead bird. These things gave the women enough information and knowledge about the situation to come up with a motive for Mrs. Wright to kill her husband, while the men consider these things to be trivial and unimportant to the case.
Mrs. Hale describes Minnie as formerly singing “real pretty herself” (Glaspell p666). The connection between Minnie and the canary is established here, and in the bird’s physical death parallels Minnie’s emotional death (Russell). Mrs. Hale’s keen wit and patience contributes to her embodiment of The Fate sister named Clotho the Spinner, which 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. Mrs. Peters sympathizes with Minnie remembering back to an old memory of her childhood, where a menacing boy killed her small kitten with a hatchet (Russell). Mrs. Peters then realizes that the justice to be served is to conceal evidence and find the answers for themselves. These
Trifles, written in the early 1900’s by Susan Glaspell, is a one-act play illustrating how women can overreact to their own emotions, allowing these emotions to cloud their judgment. This is shown by describing the feelings of two women who are willing to defend a suspect, blame the victim, and go so far as to hide evidence, to protect another woman from being charged with murdering her husband. Mrs. Wright is the suspect in the murder of her husband, who was strangled in his sleep, found with the rope still around his neck. The sheriff and an attorney are examining Mrs. Wrights home for evidence. Mr. Henderson, the attorney, speaking of Mrs. Wright says, “Here’s a nice mess, ..Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?” (Kirszner & Mandell 1166) Mrs. Hale, the suspects neighbor, defends Mrs. Wright immediately saying, “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm. Those towels get dirty awful quick. Men’s hands aren’t always as clean as they might be.” (1166) She says this even though she hardly knows Mrs. Wright. She admits this when she says, “I’ve not seen much of her of late years. I’ve not been in this house – it’s more than a year.” (1166) Even so, Mrs. Hale feels protective toward Mrs. Wright and defends her. Mr. Peters, the sheriff, and Mr. Henderson, go upstairs to look for a motive. Mrs. Hale is left talking to Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, and they begin to put themselves in the shoes of the suspect.
In the two stories, the wives are provoked by the uncaring habits of their husbands. While Mrs. Wright kills her husband after he kills her pet, Mary kills her husband after he announces a plan to divorce her. Dahl (2002) writes how Patrick explains to Mary about the divorce, “So there it is…and I know it’s a kind of bad time to be telling you, but there simply wasn’t any other way”. The excerpt shows that Patrick did not consider his wife’s feelings before making the decision to break the shocking news. On the other hand, Mrs. Wright revenges on her husband after he kills the pet bird. In addition, Mrs. Hale explains that the family was not a cheerful one. At one point, Mrs. Hale admits that she did not visit Wright’s family, even though they were close friends. She proceeds to say, “I’ve not seen much of her of late years. I’ve not been in this house- it’s more than a year… it never seemed a very cheerful place” according to Glaspell (2014) In this regard, the two murder cases were facilitated by a family
Although fictional and nonfictional topics contain different arguments, they can both demonstrate a universal case, gender discrimination. The fictional text, Trifles by Susan Glaspell displays the same issues about the effects of gender stereotypes found in the nonfictional texts, Philosophical and Political Issues Surrounding Gender and I Want a Wife by Judy Brady. In Trifles, a crime case is introduced to three men and two wives, in which it exhibits the diverse views and opinions each gender develops. The article, Philosophical and Political Issues Surrounding Gender, discusses issues about gender that includes how people have different attitudes toward women and men, how gender has limitations and different privileges, and how sexist language
Looking at this essay by Susan Glaspell “ Trifles”, I found this essay very unusual where we see a very strong story about a couple, where John Wright is murder in his house by Minnie Wright. This is a case where I can say it is very unfamiliar, where it reflect the crime scene of revenge from Minnie, based on the fact that John write murder her wife canary and living the bird on the kitchen. This could be the reason or the main purpose on why she murders her husband John; this is a very weird or unusual crime scene. This scene make me think why and how this could be a reason to snap and drive that person to the limits in order to kill someone, but in this case to murder a member of their own family. Later on this case I understand that Mrs.
Susan Glaspell’s Trifles explores the unequal relationship between men and women in the early 20th century. How do you think the power relationship between the two genders was reversed at the end of the play? In the 20th century females were just meant to be at home, taking care of the house, making sure everything ran smooth. Women weren’t allowed to vote. They couldn’t go out alone. A women’s place was behind her husband and making sure he looked good, in every aspect. Weather it was political or not. The way they weren’t supposed to dress was extremely different, they weren’t allowed to go out showing skin. At the start of the play we see how the detective states that the house isn’t as clean as it should be. The jars in the kitchen