Trifles By Susan Glaspell Research Paper

Michael Cooper
LITR201-1403A-02 Literature: A Reflection of Life
Phase 4 Individual Project
August 3, 2014

The title of the Susan Glaspell play, “Trifles,” is a very important implication of the aggressive struggle that contributes to the tension of a very severe situation that is everything but trifling. A man has been murdered by his wife; however, the gentlemen of the town who are investigating the crime are unable to solve the mysterious murder through standard criminal justice procedures and logic. Alternately, a group of women who visit the home where the murder took place are unintentionally unable to “read” a set of clues that the men can’t see because all of the clues are set in around the house items that are more likely to be used by women.
Glaspell’s use of setting promotes the point of the play by exposing weaknesses of gender bias.
The kitchen setting was crucial to the play because all of the conversations between the characters take place there. As the men try to sort through the mess in the kitchen they totally look over the importance or meaning of the tangled room. They think the mess is a result of poor housekeeping instead of realizing its symbol as a breakdown within the couple’s home. Upon looking around the rest of the house, they observe that it is not messy. The closet was so organized that Minnie was able to tell Mrs. Peters exactly where to find her apron in it. The women in the play begin to notice through Minnie’s incomplete chores that something has gone terribly wrong in her
world.
George Henderson, the county attorney is a young man. He is very professional, but he frequently dismissed females and he criticized Mrs. Wright for what he called a lack of homemaking skills. Henry Peters was the middle aged sheriff of the town, and the husband of the character, Mrs. Peters. He came to the Wright’s home to examine the crime scene. Lewis Hale was a neighbor of the Wright’s. He owned a farm. He came to the Wright house to ask John about a telephone. That’s when he found out about the murder. He makes the statement, “Women are used to worrying about trifles.” The men seemed to be the antagonists in the play because the play seemed to be a battle of the sexes. The male characters weren’t aware that this was the kind of battle taking place.
Mrs. Peters was a newcomer to the town. She never knew Mrs. Wright until John married her. Mrs. Peters is described as a slight, wiry woman with a thin, nervous face. She is the sheriff’s wife and she abides by the law. Mrs. Peters completely understood how it felt to be lonely, and the life of a female housewife. Mrs. Hale is the wife of Lewis, the neighboring farmer. She is described as a heavy set woman who dislikes the patronizing attitude shown to her by men in town generally, and Henderson specifically gave her attitude because she was a female and a domestic. She knew Mrs. Wright from when they were young, and she feels sorry for her She felt like if she went to visit Mrs. Wright, maybe she could have helped her get rid of her cheerless life. I think Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters were the protagonists in the play.
John Wright was a local farmer. He was considered a good man by the town but he was also known for being hard. He neglected his wife and made her unhappy. He didn’t pay any attention to her opinions and would not allow her to sing. These choices are what the playwright centers as motive for Mr. Wright’s murder. Mrs. Wright was a happy, lively girl that used to sing in the choir. After she married John, her life quickly became unhappy. She is the main suspect in her husband’s murder because of how unhappy he made her.
The sheriff, his wife, the county attorney, and the neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Hale, enter the kitchen of the Wright residence. Mr. Hale began to explain how he paid a visit to the Wright’s house on the day before. When he was there, Mrs. Wright spoke to him, but she was acting strange. After a few minutes, she told Mr. Hale that her husband was upstairs dead.
Mrs. Wright claimed that she was asleep while someone murdered her husband and exited their home. It seems very obvious to the male characters in the play that Mrs. Wright killed her husband. She was arrested as the prime suspect.
The attorney and sheriff of the town decide that all of the things in the kitchen were unimportant. This is the beginning of many comments in the play that sort of minimized the importance of women in society. The men then began to criticize Mrs. Wright and her housekeeping skills because the kitchen was untidy. This bothered Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale.
The men left the kitchen to go upstairs to analyze the crime scene. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale stay behind in the kitchen. The ladies began to talk to one another. While talking, they begin to notice important details that the men didn’t notice. Fruit preserves were ruined, bread out of the box, an unfinished quilt, the table was messy, and the birdcage was empty. The ladies quickly put the clues together to uncover Mrs. Wright’s weakened emotional state as a result of her husband’s neglect.