The physical world of the play in interior with a natural setting. Trifles takes place in the abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, the man that was murdered. Most of the events and conversations of the characters were held in the kitchen of the farmhouse. Time stood still, over the course of one day the play took place. The characters were able to put together clues to discover the murder over a fairly easy-going amount of time. There were references made back to the discover of John Wright's murder and his wife's past. Overall, time moved in a cyclical day to night routine. "I knew they must be up, it was past eight o'clock"(Glaspell 206). It was extremely cold, "When it dropped below zero last night I thought I's better send frank out this morning to make a fire for us"(Glaspell 206). The play is dark, the farmhouse was described as "gloomy". It was stated that Mrs.Hale regreted never visiting but the house it weren't cheerful. John Wright was a serious man who seemed to create an unwelcoming affect for neighbors. "No, I don't mean anything. But I don't think a place'd be any cheerfuller if John …show more content…
Hale telling everyone what happened yesterday morning. Throughout the day the weather gets colder and the sun starts to go down. As the men split up and went upstairs to look for clues the women were told to stay downstairs and do the same. The woman had discovered a bird cage inside of the farmhouse. They were unsure if Mrs. Wright owned a bird because, John Wright wasn't very accepting to those ideas. While searching for items to bring Mrs. Wright the women discovered a dead bird inside of Mrs. Wright's box. They were aware that Mrs. Wright did not have any other animals. "Well, Henry at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to- what is it you call it, ladies"(Glaspell 211). Mrs. Wright had tied a rope around her husband's neck as she did the bird's
Mrs. Wright, however, justified killing her husband due to Mr. Wright trapping her inside the house and how Mrs. Wright job is only to be domestic wife. When Mrs. Hale (farmer’s wife) and Mrs. Peters (sheriff’s wife) discovered a dead bird with her neck bruised all over, they start to put the pieces to the puzzle together and ...
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.
The actual order of events began yesterday, when Mr. Hale and his oldest son, Harry stopped by the Wright’s place to talk to Mr. Wright about interest in getting a telephone, but instead of speaking with him, they speak to his wife; Minnie and learn that John Wright is dead! After getting no cooperation from Mrs. Wright, as she sat in her rocker, wringing her apron, Mr. Hale had Harry go and retrieve the authorities, which brings us today. “Martha! Don’t keep folks waiting out here in the cold,” said her husband with an impatient voice (Susan Glaspell 586). Martha Hale had to drop everything she was doing, leaving her kitchen in disarray, just so that she could accompany her husband to the scene of John Wrights’ death to keep the sheriff’s wife company; and to help collect some belongings for the accused Mrs. Wright. And so the investigation begins.
When Mr. Hale stops to try to convince Mr. Wright to install phone service he discovers Mrs. Wright in the kitchen and the finds Mr. Wright's dead body upstairs. Mrs. Wright is taken into custody. The next day, the Sheriff with his wife, the County Attorney (Young Henderson) along with Mr. and Mrs. Hale return to the farm house to look for evidence and the women were to get some things for Mrs. Wright to wear while being held in jail. They were to wait the go ahead by the Sheriff as not to destroy evidence. As the men looked for evidence, the ladies sat in the kitchen and observed several things that only a woman would probably noticed.
Mr. Wright was a cruel, cold, and heartless man. He was also a very unsociable man. He abandoned his wife's contentment and paid very little attention to his wife's opinions. He even prevented her from singing. This is revealed about Mr. Wright during the conversations between Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters when they find the dead bird with a twisted neck in Mrs. Wright's sewing basket. Mrs. Hale points out, "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" (Glaspell 1267). Mrs. Wright used to be a very high-s...
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
In Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles Mr. Wright’s murder is never solved because the two women in the story unite against of the arrogance of men to hide evidence that would prove Mrs. Wright as the murderer. The play Trifles is about the death of farmer Mr. Wright and how the town sheriff and attorney try to find evidence that his wife Mrs. Wright killed him. As the play progresses the men’s wives who had come along were discovering important pieces of evidence that prove the men’s theory but chose to hide from them to illustrate the point that their ideas should have been valued and not something to be trifled. The very irony of the play comes from its title trifles and is defined as something that isn’t very important or has no relevance to the situation that it is presented to. In this play the irony of the title comes from the fact that the men find the women’s opinions on the case trifling even though the women solve the crime which ends up being the downfall of the men as they would have been able to prosecute Mrs. Wright if they had listened which made the women’s opinions not trifling. Glaspell was born in an age where women were still considered the property of men and they had no real value in society in the eyes of men except for procreation and motherhood. This attitude towards women was what inspired Glaspell to write the play Trifles and to illustrate the point that women’s attitudes should be just as valued as men’s and to let women have a sense of fulfillment in life and break the shackles that were holding them only as obedient housewives. Trifles was also inspired by a real murder trial that Glaspell had been covering when she was a reporter in the year 1900. Glaspell is a major symbol of the feminist movement of l...
Henderson,” the ending of the story was a significant part. These couple of sentences changed the relationship between men and women. It made women superior, by reversing the roles of gender. Throughout the story men were busy solving John Wrights murder in the farmhouse. Continuing this further, The main suspects were Mr.Hale and his wife, suspected of strangling him. The police were not paying attention to the, “Trifles,” that women were worrying about. Interestingly, the title is ironically called trifles too, it is relevant to the short story. It can take on another meaning, women are treated like trifles as well. The women found all the evidence rather than the men because men did not spend their time in kitchens. Where women spent most of their time , due to isolation. As well as, female and male roles. While Mrs.Hale and Mrs Peters had all the evidence and the choice to hand it in or keep it to themselves. At the end the men were clueless to what they were up to. They figured out that the reason she killed her husband, was because of the endless neglect and emotional abuse she felt towards her husband, Mr.Wright. As they too can relate to her circumstances, all it took was one look and they instantly acted. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters hid the evidence of the dead canary. Taking a stand, and standing up to men by breaking the law. The central conflicts of the short story is equality, justice and
The setting of Trifles is at farmhouse kitchen in the Midwest. Instead of modern appliances, there is a hand pump at the sink for water, and a wood-burning stove for warmth and for cooking. From the kitchen, there are three doors: one to the parlor, one to the upstairs, and one to the shed and then on to the outdoors. In the middle of the room is a rustic dining table and chairs. The room has not been cleaned up and looks as if someone was interrupted in the midst of cooking a meal. Dirty pans are stacked under the sink, a loaf of bread is sitting outside the b...
The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is type of murder mystery that takes place in the early 1900’s. The play begins when the sheriff Mr. Peters and county attorney Mr. Henderson come to attempt to piece together what had happen on the day that Mr. Wright was murder. While investigating the seen of the murder, they are accompanied by the Mr. Hale, Mrs. Hale and Mr. Peters. Mr. Hale had told that Mrs. Wright was acting strange when he found her in the kitchen. After taking information from Mr. Hale, the men leave the women in the kitchen and go upstairs at seen of the murder. The men don’t realize the plot of the murder took place in the kitchen.
Setting a makes up a good portion of determining a theme in a piece of literature. Physical location and time are the key points of the setting. Helping to progress the plot along with the details of the setting and the morals and attitudes of the characters throughout the piece. There are many hidden ideas demonstrated throughout this work of literature from the setting. Trifles effectively displays many underlying points from locations and using many different props from the play. While conveying the thoughts and emotions of the writer, the setting can also provide more information about the conflict of the work. The details of the setting of Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles provide clues for solving the murder of John Hossack, and give vivid details about what women were going through during this time period of suffrage.
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.
Hale and Mrs. Peters are quick to aid the defense of Mrs. Wright. Specifically, when the County Attorney is talking about how badly she keeps her home. “Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies,” in which Mrs. Hale retourts “There's a great deal of work to be done on a farm.” Later on when the men are off looking for evidence, that is when the ladies discover the bird with the ringed neck. Glaspell (1916) writes “But, Mrs. Peters — look at it! It's neck! Look at its neck! It's all — other side to. Somebody — wrung — its — neck.” The ladies then discuss who they think may have done it. Mrs. Hale is quick to blame Mr. Wright, identifying him as the the person who wrung the birds neck: “No, Wright wouldn't like the bird — a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too,” and when Mrs. Peters says they do not know who killed the bird, Mrs. Hale replies “I knew John Wright.” In the end the county Attorney asks them what they collected for her, and they end up hiding the bird from the Sheriff and attorney. They most likely realized that the bird would provide a motive into the killing of John, something they desperately need if they will convict
The title of this drama "Trifles" demonstrates how men have the assumption that women and their respective actions are seemingly unimportant. Trifles can be used in two forms in the English language. In verb form, trifle means to treat someone or something as unimportant or non-essential. The word trifle in noun form means something of little value or importance. Both definitions of this word yield an idea in this story that women are seen as trivial and are not worthy of respect by men. This idea is conveyed throughout the entire story by the belittling assumptions and attitude the men use toward the women. For example Hale says, " Well, women are used to worrying over trifles" (1003). Typically, a kitchen represents women's work and the idea of domesticity. In Glaspell's eyes, men tend to assume that nothing of importance occurs in the kitchen and this can be related to the idea that women are insignificant. As Glaspell writes,
“Trifles” is based on a true chain of events that happened on a farm in Iowa. Early in the morning of Dec. 2, 1900, John Hossack was killed in his bed by two blows to the head from an axe. His wife, Margaret, claimed to have slept through it. She was arrested for murder on the day of the funeral, tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. However, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned the life sentence, and a second trial resulted in a hung jury, so she went free. Susan Glaspell was a reporter for The Des Moines News and was one of the only female reporters who covered the trial. Being inspired by her experiences and observations, she wrote the play “Trifles” 16 years later after the murder trials. Shortly after writing the play, she