Trifles Motive For Murder Essay

In Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles, John Wright is a farmer who has been murdered by an unlikely suspect, his wife, Mrs. Wright. The County Attorney, Sheriff, and Mr. Hale thoroughly scour for evidence of a motive to prove Mrs. Wright’s guilt. But little did the men know that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters had already uncovered the key evidence they were looking for. In Trifles, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover what seems to be trivial evidence but when connected, reveals Mrs. Wright’s true motive for murder.
To begin with, the symbol of the messy kitchen appears trivial, yet reveals Mrs. Wright was under emotional distress. In the opening scene, Susan Glaspell notes how the kitchen was “left without being put in order-unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the breadbox, a dishtowel on the table” (1386). These disorganized things are inconsistent with the life of a Farmers’ wife. Mrs. Hale stated that “There is a great deal
Wright’s abusive behavior. When she married, Mrs. Wright led a quiet life as a Farmers’ wife and had no children. On the other hand, Mrs. Hale recounts Mrs. Wright as “Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang” (1394). The only joy and companionship Mrs. Wright experienced were that of her pet bird. As the women collected Mrs. Wright’s sewing things, they stumbled across a box with her dead bird wrapped in a silk cloth. After looking at each other in horror, Mrs. Peters confirms “Somebody-wrung-its-neck.” (1393). Before Minnie Foster became Mrs. Wright, her life was vibrant and full of life, now the only joy she possessed was killed by her husband and Mrs. Hale insists, “She used to sing. He killed that, too.” (1393). Though Mr. Wright appears to be an upstanding citizen, his heartless killing of Mrs. Wright’s bird intensified her reasoning’s for murdering