Susa Trifles Feminist Analysis

The Struggle of Women from 19th Century till now Regardless of cultures, era and time, women have always been receiving fewer rights than men do. Despite they have a lot of moral obligations and duties at home, church and in the community, they however had very limited or almost no political and legal rights in the country. Their main role would be for be married for political purpose, productive, social status and reproductive. Most of the time men do not appreciate what women do, they were also seen as a merchandise to enhance their own social status. Their situation has not been improved until the mid 19th century, where a several brave, outspoken women sparked the fight for social reform, justice, prostitution, and slavery. The force of Feminist then rose to fight for the equality for the oppressed.
Susan Glaspell, who was born in that era of the early twentieth century, has written the play Trifles to express her point of view. Trifles has spoke up for women and shown sympathy for the situation of women generally, regardless of the action they did afterwards. Trifles has provided an insight of how women think back in the 19th century and their role back then, in the play they were oppressed and always get discredited; Even in the 21st century we thought the table has turned or improved, however the situation has not been really changed yet. Women are slightly better off today, however they are still in a disadvantage when it comes to status quo or the role in our society in general and far from being equal with men. Trifles is a play written by Susan Glaspell in 1916.
It has five main characters and it is about a murder case solving scenario where the detectives were trying to solve it and women attempted to hide the truth from the men because of various reasons. There are two main female characters in Trifles. Mrs. Peters, the wife of the detective and Mrs. Hale. They are neighbor and when they go and collect something from Mrs. Peters' house they discover the dead body of Mr. Wright. While the whole cast of characters will have their lines in the play, the Wrights would be only explained through lines but no actual role. The story goes while they discovered the dead body in the house, they were looking for pieces of evidence in the house. The question would whether Mrs. Wright is responsible for this or not. Throughout the play we also can sense the relationship between both couples are not so well. Towards to end they discovered some crucial evidence which could prove that Mrs. Wright was the killer of her own husband. However they then think of the unhappy marriage they had and decided to hide the evidence as a revenge to their husband so they can never solve this
murder. The writer depicted men and women very differently in this play. Men are just over-confident, ignorant and do not pay attention to details. "Well, women are used to worrying over trifles." (1156). This line is said by Mr. Hale, it clearly states how men in this play are arrogant and have pay so little credit to the women's opinion. While one is solving a crime case, playing attention to the smallest detail will always be beneficial due to the fact that there always are traces and evidences; Whereas women in the play would have a smart image where they will not give up on any tiny evidence that can be found on the crime scene. For example when they first go into the house, the detective looked at the kitchen and tell the others "Nothing here but kitchen things"(1155). This just reveal how careless this man is, on the other hand since the women in the spent a lot of time in the kitchen they would know if the killer would left some trace and would start investigating. When they mentioned the apron that Mrs. Wright wanted, the men would have been searching for a little bit before they can find it. However because for Mrs. Hale, who's duty is in the kitchen like every other women is, she found the evidence at the first try then allowed them to further analyze the case(1157). Then when the men exit, heading upstairs to investigate what is upstairs, the women stays in the kitchen because they know that if the killer is the wife she would have left traces in the kitchen(1157). Later the play then they found bread that has been left out of its box, quilt, messy table top and an empty bird cage. Which are crucial evidences of solving the case. It was a big mistake by the men in the play to make because the women in the play found the most fundamental evidence in the case, which helped explain the motive of the killer. Misappreciation is the theme that weave through the whole play. The murder would be an act of revenge, it is because the unhappy marriage Mrs. Wright had where her husband did not treat her right also how Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale at the end had their revenge towards the men because the misappreciation they receive. In the article written by Linda Ben-Zvi, she also suggests that without a doubt this play men has portrayed themselves as tough detectives, however the fact is they did not find any evidences are more significance then the women has discovered; The attitude of men towards women also has cause women to be defensive, to bond. The bonding did not just happened between Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, they also show empathy towards Mrs. Wright because they understand the pain and suffer Mrs. Wright was in. In the story she had a bird and they were thinking the bird maybe cheering her up (Murder 157). As the story goes they were looking for a scissors then they found the dead bird body in the box with a string strangle around her neck. They panicked so they hid the dead body of the bird. They realized the husband probably did not like the bird and wrung it, which the bird was a symbol the desire of freedom and happiness for Mrs. Wright. Mr. Wright did not appreciate that obviously and destroyed the last little hope that his wife had. After Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter found out the truth and cause of the death, the decided not to tell their men about their discovery. Where Mrs. Hale put the box with the body of the bird inside her coat pocket to keep this away from the men of this little "trifle" that they have discovered (1162). Another theme in the play would the decision between the law and sympathy, we can clearly see this with the role of Mrs. Peters. She shows great sympathy towards Mrs. Wright and meanwhile she is described as "married to the law"(1154). However at the end of the play Mrs. Wright chose sympathy over the law because she could understand the pain Mrs. Wright was going through therefore she decided to stay loyal to her own sex. In the matter of fact, at that split second they would probably have the thought of end their husband's life in the fashion too while they were being a rebel against their husbands. Women's right back in the early 20th century is treated differently from today. In the play, both Mrs. Hales and Mrs. Peters are treated as mindless worthless puppets almost, where they main role is to serve their husband and serve them well. Historically, "Trifles" is ground in a double - focused historical context: Iowa of 1901 and the Provincetown of 1916, the two periods leaving traces and providing many of the tension and fissures that produce play we have now. Both cases are showing how women's role is shifting there it gave the stage for Glaspell to write about little a women's role has changed through time (Murder 161). Women were portrayed as silent, delicate and demure, where they are fit to the domestic world rather than the world outside of the house. Women back mainly work in textiles, factories, workshops, farms, and tin mines. Also according to the census which conducted in 1911, it stated that women are the largest