While Mrs. Wright is helped by her friends to confiscate the weapon she used to kill her husband, Mary is bold enough to cook the frozen leg of lamb she had used to hit her husband at the back of his head. She further invites the Noonan, the police, and his friend “to eat the dinner she had fixed for her husband”. As Peters and Hale are searching for evidence at the Wright’s house, Mrs. Peters supposes that Mrs. Wright “slipped a rope around his neck that choked the life out of him.” The investigators in both stories are certain that the crime was committed by a person from inside the house, but they lacked the necessary information to link the…
Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters clearly did not have respect for the law. They both kept the evidence that Mrs. Wright killed her husband a secret. These two women put themselves in Mrs. Wright shoes. They understood why Mrs. Wright killed her husband. They both knew that if their husband had treated them the way Mr. Wright treated Mrs. Wright that they would have probably done the same thing. They also snuck Mrs. Wright things in prison that they were aware she was not suppose to have. “Mrs. Peters is governed by this dogma, until she remembers the silence in her own house after the death of one of her children. This memory produces a powerful bond between her and Minnie 's experience of isolation and loneliness, so powerful, indeed, that Mrs. Peters herself attempts to hide the box with the dead canary in it—fully aware that this action goes against everything society and her husband expect her to do, not only on legal grounds but also because, as a wife, Mrs. Peters is not supposed to act against her husband” (Brown 2011 ). These two women were not close to Mrs.Wright but illegally hid evidence in this case in her favor.…
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…
Susan Glaspell was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, actress, novelist, and journalist. Glaspell wrote the play Trifles which tells the story two investigations being conducted over murder of John Wright. While the male characters of the play conduct an “official” investigation the female characters find themselves inadvertently conducting their own “unofficial” investigation. However this is not a run-of-the-mill murder mystery play, in which the focus lies solely on discovering the culprit and the culprit’s motive. Glaspell uses her story to also present a unique perspective of a controversial issue during her time, including the theme of female identity, primarily between women. During the time period in which Glaspell lived, the idea of fighting for women’s…
In 1916, a woman’s place was in the kitchen. That is the setting for Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles. The set is described as gloomy with faded wallpaper. Glaspell is painting a picture of the life of the absent Minnie Wright. Throughout the play, the reader discovers, along with the female characters, that Minnie lived a lonely life of neglect and abuse. As this was written before the passing of the nineteenth amendment, women had little to no rights. According to Isabel Marcus, “Prior to the divorce-law reforms of the second half of the twentieth century, women seeking divorce from an abusive husband were required to demonstrate ongoing serious abuse before a court would grant a divorce on the grounds of cruelty.” Women were essentially considered…
Throughout the story, they find several motives for why Mrs. Wright would kill her husband and sympathize the pain she goes through. As they look through Mrs. Wright’s closet to find clothes to give to her in jail, the two women observe how rugged and old her clothes appear, showing that Mr. Wright must not have been financially stable enough to provide her with the items that she desires. This extremely upsets Mrs. Hale, for she had known the unmarried Mrs. Wright, who was widely known to be beautiful, lively, and one of fashion. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters also examine the kitchen of the house and find everything in a mess and every chore half-finished. While the men degrade her for not fulfilling her duties as a wife, the women support her and exclaim that “farmers’ wives have their hands full” (207). The stove in the poor conditioned kitchen is also used as a metaphor to Mrs. Wright’s relationship with her husband when the two women find it to be broken. The story states that Mrs. Hale thinks “of what it would mean, year after year, to have that stove to wrestle with, and Mrs. Peters replies, “A person gets discouraged—and loses heart” (210). This clearly exemplifies the…
Hale and Peters cover-up. Holstein asserts that the two women were not just mindlessly helping a fellow woman, but instead were reliving her [Mrs. Wright] sad and seemingly abusive life (Holstein). Holstein brings the reader’s attention to the mundane details that in the dialogue between the women such as describing Mr. Wright as a “raw wind” (Glaspell 1723). The two wives more than just empathize with Mrs. Wright, they “identify with her.” Holstein brings the reader’s attention to the fact the both women defend the messy farmhouse against the two investigators showing they understood what Minnie was going through than previously shown (Holstein). Holstein’s critical essay has presented a different view compared to my view of Trifles and gives many more examples that I have time to…
(Glaspell 4) Hesitantly explaining the seeings of the crime scene, Mrs.Hale joins Mrs.Peters, Mr.Peters, Mr.Hale, and Minnie to investigate the crime. The people that Mrs.Hale joined criticizes the Wrights’ home and sees it as dirty and unkempt, but with Mrs.Hale being a farm wife as well, she understands why the house looks the way it does. “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm,” says Mrs.Hale defensively. (Glaspell 6) With Mrs.Peters, the sheriff’s wife, not being familiar with Minnie Foster, Martha repeatedly points out how uncheerful the home is. “But i dont think a place would be any the cheerfuller for John Wright’s bein’ in it,” says Mrs.Hale. This quote emphasizes that Martha knows Mr.Wright and recognizes it is impossible for an individual to be happy if living with him. Outside that home people see him as a good man, but personally he is the opposite of well-behaved. As the others observe the house critically, Martha does so sympathetically. Trying to help Mrs.Peters create a connection with Minnie Foster, Mrs.Hale gives a brief description of the young Minnie Foster…
Wright as a victim at various points through the story by depicting the male gender as belittling and irreverent. Portraying these qualities through the characters of Mr. Hale, Mr. Peters, and the county attorney, Glaspell displays how men were often dismissive of women during the time period of this story. This is demonstrated in the text when Mr. Hale makes the comment “But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?” (10). The attitude that the men show towards the women is a perfect example of how it was typical for a man to belittle the female gender during the time frame of the story. Ironically, it turns out that the women are the only ones who discover any clues for solving the case. Glaspell also presents the idea that women’s work was unappreciated by the male gender. While inspecting the dirty kitchen of the Wright’s home Mr. Henderson states “Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?” (9). Being completely oblivious to what Mrs. Wright might have been dealing with at the time, Mr. Henderson makes a disrespectful comment that demonstrates the men’s insensitivity. This attitude that the men convey can be seen as a reflection of the way males treated women during this time period and also prompts the further analysis of the marriage between Mrs. Wright and Mr.…
Being a farms wife, she is bound to these difficult and repetitive tasks in which little to no reward or recognition is given. This gives her and Mrs.Peters reason to help Mrs. Wright and keep details away from their husbands and the sheriff. They feel bad for Mrs.Wright on the personal level understanding how agonizingly…
in is Dickson County. The time that Trifles is set in is the late 1800’s.…
Mr. Peters describes her disposition as “unconcerned”, reverting the reader to seeing Mrs. Wright as the antagonist and her late husband as the protagonist. This idea that Mrs. Wright is a villain, establishes boundaries between who is the hero and villain. This places the reader on the side of the woman. This shifts considerably as the plot thickens. While in the home, the men begin to comment on the display of the kitchen- complaining of its filth, and labeling Mrs. Wright as a bad housewife. The women quickly come to her defensive, but are shut down as worrying about trivial things. Mr. Peters even exclaims, “well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worrying about her preserves!” (4). At this point in the plot, I got the sense that the men hold a great deal of power over the affairs of the women, and that they have little respect for their duties. Although it bothered me that the men made a mockery of the women, I still saw Mrs. Wright as the villain of the story. Flashing forward a couple scenes: the men now have exited the kitchen, leaving Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale alone to gather some supplies for an incarcerated Minnie. They discuss her as a child as well as who she is currently, both having positive remarks for who she is.…
Women have been treated as lessors to men in the past, feminine equality is a new concept that has only been around for about a century. In both plays “Trifles” and “A Doll’s House” they address stereotypes of women during these time periods. “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell explores the mysterious death of Mr. Wright (Mrs. Wrights husband). As the play progresses the audience gets insight to Mrs. Wright’s life, and how Mr. Wright treated her. Mr. Wright was known to be a brash, and unruly man. The women in this play (Ms. Hale and Mrs. Peters) both know the kind of man Mr. Wright was, The men may have known this too, but the time period the play takes place in, domestic violence toward women was not highly looked into. The text “Portable Literature: Reading, Reacting. Writing” explains that Glaspell’s main force behind the play “Trifles” was to shed light on the treatment of women. The text states that “Women…
Diction is very important in the given passage from Trifles, it contributes to characterization and plot in multiple ways, making for a better piece of literary work. By using diction in this passage the writer was able to portray the characters very well due to the images of the characters that are clearly formed in the readers’ minds. Through diction and characterization we are able to get too know Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters and realize that they are two very different individuals. We can see that Mrs. Hale is much more laid back and innocent where Mrs. Peters is more blunt and to the point. Mrs. Hale seems to be much more concerned with children, and how Mrs. Wright used to constantly sing, but her husband took that away from her.…
Mrs. Peters was introduced as a frail woman who submitted to every condescending remark said by a man. She seemed to be dependent on other people because the men that surrounded her made her feel she was inferior and not able to do tasks other than household duties. This dependent attitude is shown when she asks Mrs. Hale to accompany her to the Wright's house even though they hardly knew each other. An example of how the sheriff viewed her was when he said, "The sheriff came running in to say his wife wished Mrs. Hale would come too--adding, with a grin, that he guessed she was getting scary and wanted another woman along" (Glaspell, "A Jury" n.p).…