Trifles By Susan Glaspell Research Paper
Destiny Wallace
Mrs.Bickham
English 102-114
23 April 2015
A Feminist Play Susan Glaspell was born 1876 in Iowa, to a conservative family with a modern income. Later on in her life, she got her degree from Drake University and right after became a reporter for the Des Moines News. Trifles, written in 1916, was one of her most famous plays. Trifles is reflected off the sex roles and gender play in the 1900s. In Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, one important hidden theme is feminism. Feminist criticism is concerned with "the ways in which literature reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson). Feminism is symbolized throughout this story in many ways. There are plenty symbols that can related …show more content…
For example, Trifles “demonstrates how an avowedly feminist play… still served to reinforce dominant gender ideology” (Stephens 48). The men had little to no respect for the women at all. The plays show how the men felt as if the women were below them. The men had all the power and they were the dominant gender. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter played a big role throughout the play. In the story, the two women “concealed evidence that would implicate another farm wife in the investigation of her husband’s murder” (Stephens 52). The men wouldn’t thought that the women would be able to solve the mystery and gather up the clues together before they did. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter kept it a secret that they had solved that Mrs. Wright was the killer of Mr. Wright. The decided to keep it from their husbands for the simple fact, that the men were know it all’s anyway, as they begin to solve the case they realize how much they relate with Mrs. Wright. Men thought of women as worthless, simple minded puppets with no thought of their own during this time. Mr. Hales says for himself that “Well, women are used to worrying about trifles” (Glaspell). The play criticize women, but the Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter were able to solve the case, even without the proper training their husband had have. The view men had for women really shows how feminism is expressed throughout
Mrs.Bickham
English 102-114
23 April 2015
A Feminist Play Susan Glaspell was born 1876 in Iowa, to a conservative family with a modern income. Later on in her life, she got her degree from Drake University and right after became a reporter for the Des Moines News. Trifles, written in 1916, was one of her most famous plays. Trifles is reflected off the sex roles and gender play in the 1900s. In Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, one important hidden theme is feminism. Feminist criticism is concerned with "the ways in which literature reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson). Feminism is symbolized throughout this story in many ways. There are plenty symbols that can related …show more content…
For example, Trifles “demonstrates how an avowedly feminist play… still served to reinforce dominant gender ideology” (Stephens 48). The men had little to no respect for the women at all. The plays show how the men felt as if the women were below them. The men had all the power and they were the dominant gender. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter played a big role throughout the play. In the story, the two women “concealed evidence that would implicate another farm wife in the investigation of her husband’s murder” (Stephens 52). The men wouldn’t thought that the women would be able to solve the mystery and gather up the clues together before they did. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter kept it a secret that they had solved that Mrs. Wright was the killer of Mr. Wright. The decided to keep it from their husbands for the simple fact, that the men were know it all’s anyway, as they begin to solve the case they realize how much they relate with Mrs. Wright. Men thought of women as worthless, simple minded puppets with no thought of their own during this time. Mr. Hales says for himself that “Well, women are used to worrying about trifles” (Glaspell). The play criticize women, but the Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter were able to solve the case, even without the proper training their husband had have. The view men had for women really shows how feminism is expressed throughout