Mrs. Hale is offended by the men’s negative actions and attitudes towards the women throughout the play. The male characters express their attitudes by saying criticizing things like, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.” (Glaspell, 925) Men believe that women are always concern with things that seem less important or valuable. The attorney and officer carelessly didn’t look through the kitchen because it was “nothing here but kitchen things.” (924) This shows that men underestimate the importance of women in society because the kitchen is where women spend most of their time. Ironically, women are the ones that figure out the murder because they are looking at the trifles surrounding them. This proves that women in society aren’t …show more content…
always considered a weaker sex because they can be smarter than you think and become more than just a housewife. Also, the women and men were separate within their own gender groups during the investigation. The officer and attorney pushes the women aside from this case and leave them in the kitchen where they usually belong. Back in the day, women spend most of their time in the kitchen, expected to clean, cook, and prepare meals for their husband. The explanation of the men leaving the women in the kitchen shows us that men believes that the only thing women are good at is cooking and cleaning. Mrs. Hale sees that these men still treat women unfairly and assumes that Mr. Wright could of done the thing same to Mrs. Wright during their marriage. Mrs.
Hale was able to sympathize and understand Mrs. Wright’s position and how difficult it is to be a farmer’s wife during this time period. Minnie’s life before marriage used to be quite different and have changed dramatically after she became Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Hale remembers the young Minnie Foster (Mrs. Wright) as an outgoing person who was known for always dressing up nicely and enjoys singing (926). At that time, she had the freedom to do whatever she wants without being under controlled by someone. During her marriage, she lived in a farmhouse that wasn’t so cheerful that was located down in a hollow and far away from the roads (929). She believed that something about that place made her feel unwelcome, which explains why she and everyone else choose to stay away from it. The abandoned farmhouse wasn’t the main reason why people stayed away from. They were actually afraid of Minnie’s husband, John Wright because he was demanding, controlling and abusive. Mrs. Wright didn’t participate in any activities because there is always work that needs to be done in the farmhouse. Mrs. Hale learns what kind of person Mrs. Wright is marrying to and realizes that she or any other women shouldn’t deserve this type of …show more content…
treatment. Mrs.
Hale knows how much Mrs. Wright suffers from being alone and isolated during her years of marriage. Mrs. Wright lives in a farmhouse where it wasn’t so cheerful and unwelcome, which means she didn’t have any visitors. Mrs. Wright couldn’t talk to her husband because he was careless, abusive and controlling. She also didn’t have children to take care of. The only thing that brought her joy in her married life was the canary to keep her company and relieved her loneliness. However, her husband took away her only happiness by strangling and killing the canary. After Mrs. Hale realizes what happened, she is guilty and regret not visiting her childhood friend, Minnie Foster (Mrs. Wright). If Mrs. Hale would of visit Mrs. Wright more often, everything would of change and none of this would of happened. Mrs. Wright would feel less lonely and miserable if she had someone to talk to and be by her side when she needed it. Mrs. Hale basically makes it up to her by covering the evidence to defend Mrs. Wright in the
end. Mrs. Hale made the right decision to take sides with Mrs. Wright. She clearly understands what Mrs. Wright was going through and what it is like to be a woman in that time period. After all, the men in the play were treating the women unfairly by criticizing them as weaker sex. Every piece of evidence that Mrs. Hale finds in the kitchen brought to her attention that Minnie has been living in an isolated life. Mrs. Hale knew that she has suffered and they did not want her to suffer anymore by handing over the evidence to the police, therefore they defend her in the end.
Hale states “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (561). The same trifles he states women are worried over, are the trifles that if men paid attention to they would have plenty of evidence against Minnie Wright. In “A Jury of Her Peers” Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter basically decided the fate of Minnie. In “A Jury of Her Peers” Glaspell shows how there is criticism of a legal system that denied women the change of a fair trial by an all-man jury. They found evidence that the men could not find and decided “not to turn it in. All of this held a significant role in the story, but they are the ones that solved the case. In the play the sheriff mocks Mrs. Hale “They Wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it” (563). He also said something in “A Jury of Her Peers” on page 575 line 159. There are not many changes between the play and the short story. Most of the changes happen in the opening of the story when it is more detailed, as to where the play is all about action. If you are watching the play it is much better than the story because you can see all the action and
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.
Hale and Mrs. Peters reflect on their past experiences with Mrs. Wright, saying she wasn’t a very cheerful person. Mrs. Wright’s house was very gloomy and lonely. The ladies believed her unhappiness with her marriage was due to not having any children to fill her home. Also, the bird symbolized joy in Minnie’s world. The ladies believed that the bird lightened up not only her home, but her spirits. “Mrs. Hale says, I wish you'd seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up in the choir and sang. [A look around the room.] Oh, I wish I'd come over here once in a while! That was a crime! That was a crime! Who's going to punish that?” (976.) Mrs. Hale feels guilty for not visiting Minnie as much as she should have, and wondering if it would have changed things. Mrs. Hale knew women are better joining forces, than being left to fend for
The Wrights home was a poor, lonely type of home. The trees that surround the house grew in a sad state. The road that led up to the farm was an unoccupied path. Minnie Wright is the woman who lives on these lonely grounds. She is friendless and mostly keeps to herself. There is no one for her to talk to, her husband died recently, thus, she lives out her life as an outcast. In hindsight, Mrs. Hale, a woman who knows Mrs. Wright, explains to her friend, “'But I tell you what I do wish, Mrs. Peters I wish I had come over sometimes when she was here I wish– I had.’ I [too] wish I had come over to see Minnie sometimes.’” Since no one takes the time out of their busy schedules to visit Mrs. Wright, Minnie feels unwanted.
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.
You notice this to be so because Mrs. Peters is struggling against what she is hearing the men say versus what she feels herself. When Mrs. Hale tells Mrs. Peters that she would hate for the men to be in her kitchen snooping around and criticizing, Mrs. Peters responds by saying "Of course it’s no more than their duty". This reflects to me a lady who has been so brain washed by the manly view of her time that she can’t even see the simple feelings that women feel for and between each other.
We see verbal irony in the words exchanged between Hale and the County Attorney. Hale showed how he felt about the women with his statement that “Well, women are used to worrying about trifles” (878). The County Attorney whom is a smarmy politician tries to smooth hurt feelings by saying “And yet with all their worries, what would we do without the ladies?” (878). This is said in a somewhat sweet voice, but one that is obviously somewhat sarcastic. The Sheriff also partakes in sarcasm. When he comes in and the women are discussing the quilt he shows how little he thinks of the competency of the two women with the statement “They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it” (881). This is met with an abundance of laughter by the men and “abashed” (881) expressions by the women. The quilt’s point in this is also a little
The power of women is different than that of men. Women display a subtle and indirect kind of power, but can be resilient enough to impact the outside world. In Trifles, Susan Glaspell delivers the idea that gender and authority are chauvinistic issues that confirm male characters as the power holders, while the female characters are less significant and often weak. This insignificance and weakness indicated in the play by the fact that the women had the evidence to solve a murder, but the men just ignored the women as if they had no value to the case at all. This weakness and inability of the female to contest the man’s view are apparent. According to Ben-Zvi, “Women who kill evoke fear because they challenge societal constructs of femininity-passivity, restraint, and nurture; thus the rush to isolate and label the female offender, to cauterize the act” (141). This play presents women against men, Ms. Wright against her husband, the two women against their spouses and the other men. The male characters are logical, arrogant, and stupid while the women are sympathetic, loyal, and drawn to empathize with Mrs. Wright and forgive her crime. The play questions the extent to which one should maintain loyalty to others. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale try to withhold incriminating evidence against Mrs. Wright, and by challenging the reader to question whether
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
Minnie Wright was isolated from almost everyone throughout the course of her marriage. The main time Minnie was isolated is during the day while her husband was working. “‘Not having children makes less work,’ mused Mrs. Hale, after a silence, ‘but it makes a quiet house-and Wright out to work all day’” (Glaspell 511). Being the only person ever inside of a house is very lonely, and it was rare for a woman to ever even leave the house. “Furthermore, [John] refuses to have a telephone; and, as we also learn, he has denied his wife access to even the minimal contacts that town life might afford women at that time, such as the church choir in which Minnie had sung before her marriage. Minnie Wright’s emotional and spiritual loneliness, the result of her isolation, is, in the final analysis, the reason for her murder of her husband” (Hedges 94).
This provides the reader with the knowledge that the relationship between the Wrights was not a good one. On page four of the story Mrs. Hale says “ I heard she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that-oh, that was thirty years ago.” This quote demonstrates how before Mrs. Wright was married she was a cheerful, outgoing woman who used to sing in the church. This also shows how she represents the songbird.
Mrs. Hale had known Mrs. Wright for 20 years prior to her marriage with Mr. Wright. According to Glaspell’s story, Mrs. Hale is almost the impact to the story. It’s almost mistaken due to her lack of intentions that staggers across evidence that connects Mrs. Wright to the Murder. She didn’t want to look for evidence against Mrs. Wright. She came to the Wrights home to pack up a few personal things and be done with it. Mrs. Hale’s nosiness and wonder ascended when she found items in the Wright’s home that seems strange.
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,
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
At the time of when this play was written the women weren’t considered equal to the man. So a lot of men felt superior over the women causing them to be belittled. We can tell this from the setting of the play the men gather up near the fire to keep warm and the women are in the back shadowing the men. Also when they begin to talk about women and how they worry about little trifles. Showing that they feel that there is no importance in a women everyday task. So instead of them taking out time to search the whole they only search the parts of the house that was more male dominate which cause the detectives to do a partial investigation. The men are so blinded by their cold emotionless investigation prejudiced believing that nothing important can be found in areas in the house where the wife spent most of her time. Stated in the play in this line “I guess we’ll go upstairs first- and then out to the barn and around there. You’re convinced that there was nothing important here-nothing that would point to any motive? Nothing here but kitchen things.” (446) When the down stairs area where Mrs. Wright spent most of her time was where the answers to all their unanswered question was. Their mind is clouded to the point that they disregard the main important clues as just a women’s trifles. “well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worrying about her preserves.” (446). The men are so stuck on men being more dominant and the women being