Reading 'Trifles' by Susan Glaspell: Picturing the Story like a Staged Performance
Response Paper #7
In reading “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, I would find myself periodically picturing the story as if I were staging the play as a performance. Meaning, I had a clear set design in mind as well as open positioning of each character and their surroundings. I think this helped give me a better image as to how this story was meant to be viewed. Additionally the length of the show and the brevity with which certain dialogue was handled gave me the impression that this would best be witnessed as a one-act play – performed within forty minutes. This murder mystery had everything that would make it a successful UIL competition play as a matter of fact – the main points involving things like the quickness of social status and relationship between the men and women, as well as the concise familiarity with which we get to know both Minnie Wright and her husband – without ever truly being introduced to these characters personally at any point in the script. This idea gives the viewers a strong sense of connection with the main character, just as the two women do.
In William Shakespeare’s sonnet eighteen – “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” an overwhelming feeling of romance is displayed. In breaking down the meaning of the poem Shakespeare makes it clear that he is comparing a young woman to a summer’s day. He reflects on how wonderful a day in the summertime is, but considers that there are still times that not all aspects of that particular day may be especially wonderful, such as the fact that the sun may be too hot at times, or that it occasionally is hidden by the clouds. Yet he notes that although this is true of nature, and that eventually this unique beauty shall fade, he claims that the beauty of this woman will go on forever – if not literally in this present life, then through preservation within his sonnet. These last lines honestly are somewhat unnerving to me. I know that is somewhat of an odd statement regarding a poem about love and
In reading “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, I would find myself periodically picturing the story as if I were staging the play as a performance. Meaning, I had a clear set design in mind as well as open positioning of each character and their surroundings. I think this helped give me a better image as to how this story was meant to be viewed. Additionally the length of the show and the brevity with which certain dialogue was handled gave me the impression that this would best be witnessed as a one-act play – performed within forty minutes. This murder mystery had everything that would make it a successful UIL competition play as a matter of fact – the main points involving things like the quickness of social status and relationship between the men and women, as well as the concise familiarity with which we get to know both Minnie Wright and her husband – without ever truly being introduced to these characters personally at any point in the script. This idea gives the viewers a strong sense of connection with the main character, just as the two women do.
In William Shakespeare’s sonnet eighteen – “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” an overwhelming feeling of romance is displayed. In breaking down the meaning of the poem Shakespeare makes it clear that he is comparing a young woman to a summer’s day. He reflects on how wonderful a day in the summertime is, but considers that there are still times that not all aspects of that particular day may be especially wonderful, such as the fact that the sun may be too hot at times, or that it occasionally is hidden by the clouds. Yet he notes that although this is true of nature, and that eventually this unique beauty shall fade, he claims that the beauty of this woman will go on forever – if not literally in this present life, then through preservation within his sonnet. These last lines honestly are somewhat unnerving to me. I know that is somewhat of an odd statement regarding a poem about love and