Gender And Gender Roles In Susan Glaspell's Trifles
Gender and gender roles play a center role in Trifles as they dictate how the characters behave, emphasizing the differences between men and women in this time period. The men are labeled as the workers/investigators who are dominant in this society while the women are subordinate/lower status individuals that are confined to the home and feminine concerns. Mr. Hale even claims that he “didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much of a difference…” when referring to Mr. and Mrs. Wright (1108 Trifles). Mr. Hale is blatantly stating that a woman’s opinion and practically all women as individuals do not matter in this male dominated society. As a result, the men are overly arrogant and believe that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are too fixated on
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trifles or things of little importance that will not be useful in the investigation. Ironically, the overlooked women eventually become the delicate detectives who actually discover all the clues that point Mrs. Wright to be the murder while sorting through the so-called trifles. Thus, the theme of gender shapes the outcome of the play as the women, who now relate to why Mrs. Wright killed her husband and want to break free from the patriarchal society, are able to take advantage of the men’s dismissal of their trifles and gender discrimination in a manner that allows them to reverse the roles of subordinate women and dominant men as they effectively cover up the murder. Right from the start, the men disregard the kitchen as a place of interest as the sheriff says there is “[n]othing here but kitchen things” (1109). This statement is seen as an indication of how the men view the kitchen; it’s the woman’s domain, and as it being in the woman’s territory it regarded as unimportant even though the kitchen holds all the answers as to why Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. As the men proceed through the kitchen, they continuously patronize the women for worrying over rotten fruit and mock the fact that Mrs. Wright is “[h]eld for murder and worryin’ about her preserves” (1109). The men also emphasize Mrs. Wright’s role as the housekeeper; likewise, the role of all women in their eyes, and feel as if they have the right to judge her for failing to keep a tidy kitchen. By doing so, the men are reinforcing the idea that women are subordinate to their husbands as well as emphasizing a woman’s place is to be in the kitchen/house where she may serve her husband. As the men leave the kitchen, the women gradually begin to uncover evidence that points to Mrs.
Wright being the murder as well as why she committed such an atrocity. The women find three clues as to why Mrs. Wright killed her husband. The first being the quilt with the poor knotting indicating Mrs. Wright’s nervousness of being found guilty of her crime. Next is the broken birdcage, and finally the dead bird that show the motive Mrs. Wright had for murdering her husband as he had practically killed her last source of happiness (the bird). The women now understand what happened and why it happened regarding the murder, but instead of rushing to their bigot husbands to tell them the truth, they take and even alter the evidence to protect Mrs. Wright. Through the whole twisted ordeal, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters begin to recognize and acknowledge the pain and strife Mrs. Wright has been forced to go through with her husband and even being to relate her struggles to their own considering women “all go through the same things – it’s all just a different kind of the same thing” (1116). In Mrs. Wright’s strangled bird, the women begin to connect their own strangled lives, but they understand it is impossible for them two alone to change society. In an act of defiance, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters quietly rebel against the patriarchy by seizing the evidence. The men, lost in their own egos and self-absorbed natures, are clueless to the fact that these women are apprehending all of the evidence as they believe the women are taking trifles back to Mrs. Wright to make her feel more comfortable during her time in prison. The country attorney even states that “Mrs. Peters doesn’t need supervising. For that matter, a sheriff’s wife is married to the law” (1117). The attorney fails to see that Mrs. Peters, as are all the other women, is her own person and not some object that a man is married
to.
Time and time again these men fail to see that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are actually independent, intelligent individuals. The men only see the women as their little play things who are only caught up with the trifles in life. They don’t understand that gender does not classify a person’s character and intellect, and due to their own arrogance, unknowingly let these women dominant them which allowed them to walkout with all the evidence that could have put a killer behind bars.
trifles or things of little importance that will not be useful in the investigation. Ironically, the overlooked women eventually become the delicate detectives who actually discover all the clues that point Mrs. Wright to be the murder while sorting through the so-called trifles. Thus, the theme of gender shapes the outcome of the play as the women, who now relate to why Mrs. Wright killed her husband and want to break free from the patriarchal society, are able to take advantage of the men’s dismissal of their trifles and gender discrimination in a manner that allows them to reverse the roles of subordinate women and dominant men as they effectively cover up the murder. Right from the start, the men disregard the kitchen as a place of interest as the sheriff says there is “[n]othing here but kitchen things” (1109). This statement is seen as an indication of how the men view the kitchen; it’s the woman’s domain, and as it being in the woman’s territory it regarded as unimportant even though the kitchen holds all the answers as to why Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. As the men proceed through the kitchen, they continuously patronize the women for worrying over rotten fruit and mock the fact that Mrs. Wright is “[h]eld for murder and worryin’ about her preserves” (1109). The men also emphasize Mrs. Wright’s role as the housekeeper; likewise, the role of all women in their eyes, and feel as if they have the right to judge her for failing to keep a tidy kitchen. By doing so, the men are reinforcing the idea that women are subordinate to their husbands as well as emphasizing a woman’s place is to be in the kitchen/house where she may serve her husband. As the men leave the kitchen, the women gradually begin to uncover evidence that points to Mrs.
Wright being the murder as well as why she committed such an atrocity. The women find three clues as to why Mrs. Wright killed her husband. The first being the quilt with the poor knotting indicating Mrs. Wright’s nervousness of being found guilty of her crime. Next is the broken birdcage, and finally the dead bird that show the motive Mrs. Wright had for murdering her husband as he had practically killed her last source of happiness (the bird). The women now understand what happened and why it happened regarding the murder, but instead of rushing to their bigot husbands to tell them the truth, they take and even alter the evidence to protect Mrs. Wright. Through the whole twisted ordeal, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters begin to recognize and acknowledge the pain and strife Mrs. Wright has been forced to go through with her husband and even being to relate her struggles to their own considering women “all go through the same things – it’s all just a different kind of the same thing” (1116). In Mrs. Wright’s strangled bird, the women begin to connect their own strangled lives, but they understand it is impossible for them two alone to change society. In an act of defiance, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters quietly rebel against the patriarchy by seizing the evidence. The men, lost in their own egos and self-absorbed natures, are clueless to the fact that these women are apprehending all of the evidence as they believe the women are taking trifles back to Mrs. Wright to make her feel more comfortable during her time in prison. The country attorney even states that “Mrs. Peters doesn’t need supervising. For that matter, a sheriff’s wife is married to the law” (1117). The attorney fails to see that Mrs. Peters, as are all the other women, is her own person and not some object that a man is married
to.
Time and time again these men fail to see that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are actually independent, intelligent individuals. The men only see the women as their little play things who are only caught up with the trifles in life. They don’t understand that gender does not classify a person’s character and intellect, and due to their own arrogance, unknowingly let these women dominant them which allowed them to walkout with all the evidence that could have put a killer behind bars.