“Trifles”, a play written by Susan Glaspell, is based on the bloody murder of John Hossack, a farmer from Des Moines, Iowa. According to Iowa Cold Cases, Glaspell is featured in the book, Midnight Assassin, which tells all the gory details of the Iowa cold case. At the time of the murder, Glaspell was a journalist for the Des Moines Daily News. Glaspell created a very connectable character, Mrs. Wright. She is accused of murdering her husband by strangulating him with a rope. Glaspell’s use of symbolism in “Trifles” is based on one feminine perspective. Her use of symbolism focuses on trifles, things of little value or importance, that normal male readers as well as the male characters in the play would not normally understand. This domestic …show more content…
portrayal of a female character limits her audiences full enjoyment of the implications of justice and meaning. The birdcage, the bird, and the quilt are all mundane items which are considered important to the female characters and barely significant to the male characters symbolize many things as the drama unfolds. One of the symbols in Glaspell’s play is the birdcage that is found in the Wright’s living room. The birdcage symbolizes an unhappy marriage. The motive of an unhappy wife trapped in a marriage she can’t escape is one that most men would not catch. When a man sees an empty birdcage, he normally thinks that the bird just flew away. The characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, have a discussion about the odd birdcage as well. The ladies discuss the oddity of the birdcage because Mrs. Hale cannot recall if the couple ever had a bird. Mrs. Peters states, “Why, look at this door. It’s broke. One hinge is pulled apart.” (Glaspell 1161). Additionally, Mrs. Hale responds with, “Looks as if someone must have been rough with it.” (Glaspell 1161). In this statement, Glaspell is using the birdcage as a direct symbol for the Wright’s marriage specifically Mr. Wright’s need for peace and quiet. Glaspell gives the audience a view of Mr. Wright that is seemingly hateful and uncaring. The rough treatment of a birdcage is not a coincidence. Glaspell is alluding to the fact that the relationship between the Wrights was rocky. The Wright’s were private and did not socialize as often with their neighbors. This isolation on behalf of Mr. Wright continues the idea that Mrs. Wright is caught in in a cage of her own making. The female perspectives of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters tell a story of a man who was stingy even with the heat. Glaspell writes, “Wright was close. I think that’s why she kept so much to herself. She didn’t even belong to the Ladies Aid” (Glaspell 1159). However, the male perspective comes off as indifferent at best, In the exposition of the story, Mr. Hale states, “...I thought maybe if I went to the house and talked about it before his wife, though I said to Harry that I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John-” (Glaspell 1156). Most male readers would overlook Glaspell’s attempt to symbolize a broken marriage or the need for silence. Another symbol Glaspell uses is the bird.
Mrs. Peters and Mrs Hale find the bird when they are looking in her sewing room. It had been placed in a pretty red box wrapped in a piece of silk. When they find the bird they notice that the neck of the bird has been rung. Most men would find the bird in the red box simply weird! However, Glaspell’s female characters are more insightful. The bird itself also symbolizes death in many superstitions. According to Audubon California.org, there are thirteen well-known superstitions. Number thirteen states, “A bird that flies into a house foretells an important message. However, if the bird dies, or is white, this foretells death” (Audubon California). The irony of the bird’s broken neck strongly parallels Mr. Wright’s death. Even though Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale continuously try to cover up the birds discovery, it symbolizes a harbinger of death even as Mrs.Peters tries to get it out of the house and out of the way of discovery. As a symbol of the end of the relationship and life, the bird is evidence for Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters that perhaps Mrs. Wright is guilty of strangling her …show more content…
husband. Furthermore, Glaspell also uses a quilt in the drama to show that Mrs.
Wright was nervous about an upcoming event. When they look at the quilt they notice the following: “....Look at the sewing. All the rest of it has been so nice and even, and look at this! It’s all over the place! Why it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about!” (Glaspell 1161) This statement shows how a simple break in domestic patterns, unnoticed by men, holds an importance that is seemingly insignificant. However, as it holds true with the entire play, the women use their intuition to determine that an event has occurred that caused an upset or nervousness in Mrs. Wright. The quilt is a symbol of the Wrights’ life unraveling. Everything was smooth, and then nothing seemed to come together or be quite complete. The use of the quilt by Glaspell attracts female readers to look closely at the patterns that Mrs. Wright has left. However, once again, the use of a feminine item, a quilt, leaves the male reader grasping at straws. Is the quilt a real piece of evidence, or is it once again a trifle that does not need further investigation. As the drama closes, Glaspell uses different symbols to show how and why Mrs. Wright could be the main suspect. The male characters did not find any evidence they could use against her. Therefore, they could not prosecute the case to the full extent of the law. The female characters choose not to share all the evidence. As the circle continues, one finds that Glaspell
has created men who cannot fathom the importance of domestic evidence. Glaspell’s use of symbolism in “Trifles” is based on a feminine perspective which sorely limits her audience. Works Cited "13 bird superstitions." Audubon California. N.p., 19 Oct. 2015. Web. 03 May 2017. . A Jury of Her Peers. N.p., n.d. Web. .3 May 2017. "Definition of "trifle" - English Dictionary." Trifle Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2017. . "John Hossack." Iowa Cold Cases. N.p., 18 Feb. 2017. Web. 04 May 2017. . Glaspell, Susan. “Trifles”.. Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 12th Edition, W.W. Norton & Company, 2016, New York, N.Y., pp. 1155.
I. Article Summary: Suzy Clarkson Holstein's article, “Silent Justice in a Different Key: Glaspell's 'Trifles'” evaluates the play Trifles and how the difference between the men in the play mirror how a woman's perspective is very different from a man's. Trifles is about two women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, who show up at a house with their husbands and the county attorney to investigate a murder. The entire time the men are looking for evidence to implicate the accused wife, Minnie Wright, of killing her husband. Meanwhile, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are there to gather up some items to bring Minnie Wright in jail. While doing so, the women uncover evidence that would prove the wife is culpable but decide to hide it from the men in the last moments of the play. Trifles is evaluated on how the women are able to come up with the evidence unlike the men because they didn't approach it like a crime scene but rather a home, “By contrast, the women arrive at a home. Although neither they or the men realize it, they too are conducting an investigation” (Holstein 283). Holstein also notes they are able to find evidence because they use their own life experiences to relate to the accused murderer, Minnie Wright as shown here; “But the women do not simply remember and sympathize with Minnie. They identify with her, quite literally” (285). Holstein finishes the article by noting the women decide to hide the evidence because of the solidarity they feel towards Minnie Wright; “From Mrs. Hale's perspective, people are linked together through fragile, sometimes imperceptible strands. The tiny trifles of life –a neighbor's visit, a bird's song, the sewing of a quilt –have profound reverberations” (287).
Born in 1867, Susan Glaspell was raised in rural Davenport, Iowa during a time where young ladies were expected to marry and raise a family. Glaspell never conformed to this expectation; instead graduating from Duke University, becoming a reporter for Des Moines Daily News, and becoming a successful author and playwright. During her years as a reporter, she covered the story of Margaret Hossock, a farm wife in Iowa accused of murdering her husband. This would later serve as her inspiration for Trifles. Glaspell was a woman who bucked societal expectations but was not blind to the plight other women faced. (Ozieblo) Trifles shows how silencing a person’s soul can be just as dangerous as taking the song out of a caged canary; stealing
Wright’s decision to kill her husband. This is why the story ends with Mrs. Hale saying that she’d decided to “knot” it instead of “quilt” it. Quilting it would have been symbolic of Mrs. Wright’s passiveness and continuing to live as though things were okay. Knotting it is both symbolic of Mrs. Wright standing up to her husband, and of the manner (rope, strangling) in which he was killed. This is suggested after Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover the dead bird, who had been strangled at the hands of Mr. Wright. This ties back to the questions Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters had when they observed the “messy” part of the quilt, and the “interrupted” kitchen, because it is now suggested that Mrs. Wright left things in this order in a fit of anger when she found he’d killed her
In their discussion of supposedly unimportant items, such as the ill-stitched quilt, broken bird cage door, and dead canary, the women are able to collect important evidence and know enough information about Mrs. Wright to give her a motive for murdering her husband. The men, though, are clueless as to who killed Mr. Wright and why, even after they thoroughly search the house for clues. They believe that they possess superior intelligence and knowledge of the world in comparison to women, but cannot find enough evidence to convict Mrs. Wright. Even if the men did uncover the same clues as the women, it is highly unlikely that they would understand how that would make for a motive for Mrs. Wright, as they simply cannot relate to her as a female. Glaspell's Trifles shows how women reveal basic truths about life by paying close attention to detail, and shows the true importance of the things which men generally find to be trivial.
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.
In “ A Jury of Her Peers”, when the county sheriff and attorney go to the Wright house to investigate a murder. They search for clues to incriminate Mrs. Wright but find nothing. They discover Mr. Wright strangled in his bedroom and saw Mrs. Wright completely unaffected. Although Mrs. Wright claims to have been asleep while the murder occurred, the women conclude she choked her husband, Mr. Wright, as evidenced by the broken bird cage, the strangled canary, and the errant quilt patch.
Glaspell’s decision to present "Trifles" as a play instead of its short story original form (titled :"A Jury of Her Peers) gives the reader an opportunity to "see" the action better than usual, and therefore get a clearer understanding of the author’s meaning.
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.
...g to conceive to her audience by proving all opinions matter no matter whose it is. By looking in the past the audience can see that the story shows some significant similarities to the time it was written in. Glaspell shows women how a united cause can show the world that women should have just as much rights as men do. The theme of the story is expressly told through how and why Mr. Wright is murdered and Mrs. Peters transformation at the end of the story. Film adaptations that changed the title of Trifles to A Jury of Her Peers probably did it to appeal to the male audience and include a double meaning of how a jury can hold bias even with evidence directly given to them.
In Trifles, the play takes place at an abandon house at a farm where John Wright and his wife, Minnie Wright lived. John was killed with a rope around his neck while his wife was asleep. The neighbor, county attorney and sheriff came to the crime scene for investigation. Along with them came their wives, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters; they were told to grab some belongings for Mrs. Wright that she may need while she’s in custody. Once they all entered the home the men dismissed the kitchen finding it as unimportant. The three men focused more on legal regulations of the law. The play was mostly revolved around the women, discovering the motive through “trifles” and other symbolic things that had significance to Minnie’s guilt. When Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters understood the reason behind the murdering they hid the evidence from their husbands, and kept quiet. Many readers would visualize this play as a feminist point of view due to women’s bonding in discovering Minnie’s oppressive life after marriage. However Glaspell, provokes two ethical paradigms that have different perspectives of justice. Glaspell uses symbolism to characterize women’s method in a subjective way, by empowering themselves through silence, memories of her and their own lives as well as having empathy about her sit...
The bird and the cage are the two most important symbol in this play because it symbolizes the oppression of Minnie Foster, and it can also mean the death of her husband (Mr. Wright). Minnie Foster is sometimes compared to the bird by Mrs. Hale saying that she was real sweet, pretty, and that she like to sing just like the bird, but then Mrs. Hale asks: “How she did change?”(1074). The bird symbolizes Minnie Foster before she got married, but everything changed about her after she got married with Mr. Wright. The reader can clearly see how abusive Mr. Wright was to Minnie Wright to completely change the way she is. For example, one way that Mr. Wright kept Minnie Foster oppressed is by preventing her from singing. As the reader knows Minnie really liked to sing, but Mr. Wright hated a “thing” that can sing ,as a result, he didn’t let Minnie to sing anymore.
Instead of focusing on the men and their quest to solve the case, Glaspell concentrates on the women in the kitchen. It is at this point, when the men leave the kitchen and go upstairs, that the women begin to, perhaps inadvertently, find out for themselves who had killed John Wright. I believe the rising action of this play begins when the men leave the women alone in the kitchen. Without even knowing it, the women are using the tactics that a trained detective would use: asking many questions and making inferences. They engage in small talk and comment on how the kitchen was left after the murder. For example, when Mrs. Peters was looking through the cupboard, she discovered that Mrs. Wright had a bread set. Mrs. Hale then concludes that "she was going to put this in here," referring to a loaf of bread beside the breadbox. Another example is when Mrs. Peters noticed that Mrs. Wright had been "piecing a quilt." As the two women are wondering whether she was going to "quilt it or knot it," the men come down the stairs and overhear them. The Sheriff repeats out loud what he had heard them say and the men all laugh, obviously making fun of the women. This situation is interesting because the men have no idea that the women were actually making valuable conclusions. I think the next line that Mrs. Hale says is very important:
In the play Trifles, Susan Glaspell brings together three women through a crime investigation in the late nineteenth century. Glaspell uses symbolism, contrast of sexes, and well-constructed characters to show that justice for all is equally important to finding the truth. Perhaps the most prevalent literary device in the Trifles is the rich symbolism. Each of the women in the play are equally important, but come together to become more powerful. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters directly bond, while Mrs. Wright indirectly contributes from jail by leaving them small clues.
In Susan Glaspell’s 1916 play, Trifles, apparent evidence points to Minnie Wright as the murderer of John Wright. Signs include the fact that Minnie slept undisturbed while someone strangled John to death with a rope. Moreover, that Minnie was emotionless regarding John’s death. In addition, through the omission of Mrs. Hale, John and Minnie Wright rarely had visitors, due to the Wright’s rather depressing and lonely farmhouse (Glaspell, 1916).
Wright was described as a beautiful women filled with such joy and life until she married John Wright. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale feels sorry for her because her husband treated her so bad. Due to female bonding and sympathy, the two women, becoming detectives, finds the truth and hides it from the men. The play shows you that emotions can play a part in your judgement. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale felt sorry that Mrs. Wright had one to keep her company no kids and she was always left alone at home. “yes good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debt. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters just to pass the time of day with him. Like a raw wind that goes to the bone. I should of think she would have wanted a bird. But what you suppose went with it?” Later on in the play the women find out what happens to the bird. The bird was killed the same way Mrs. Wright husband which leads to the motive of why he was killed. Mrs. Wright was just like the bird beautiful but caged no freedom not being able to live a life of her own. Always stuck in the shadows of her husband being told what to do and