What Is The Mood Of Trifles By Susan Glaspell

“Trifles” is an interesting unique play that was written by Susan Glaspell in 1916. This brief drama piece is filled with many elements: comedy, irony, as well as tragedy. It also cleverly uses certain literary techniques such as plot, action, climax and dialogue. The play's setting takes place in a bleak, untidy kitchen in a rural farmhouse. There are seven characters in this play, they are: George Henderson, Henry Peters, Lewis Hale, Mrs. Peters, John Wright, Mrs. Hale, and Mrs. Minnie Wright. In the first few lines in the scene, two characters are introduced who quickly establishes the claustrophobic mood of the play. The sheriff, Henry Peters, is the first to enter the farmhouse, followed by George Henderson, the attorney prosecuting the
Instead of focusing on the men and their quest to solve the case, Glaspell concentrates on the women in the kitchen. It is at this point, when the men leave the kitchen and go upstairs, that the women begin to, perhaps inadvertently, find out for themselves who had killed John Wright. I believe the rising action of this play begins when the men leave the women alone in the kitchen. " I think maybe that's why she kept so much to herself...Do you think she did it," (Glaspell). Without even knowing it, the women are using the tactics that a trained investigator would use: asking questions and making inferences. They engage in small talk and comment on how the kitchen was left after the murder. For example, Mrs. Peters states, "She had bread set," (Glaspell). Both Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale thinks it is peculiar circumstances. This situation is interesting because the men have no idea that the women were actually making valuable conclusions. The bread, the quilt, and other things are small but very important. The next discovery that they made signifies the climax of the play: A box in the sewing basket contained the dead bird, which had its neck wrung. Both women have accidentally found out who the killer is Minnie Wright. The scene of the murder replayed in their minds: Mrs. Wright had been sewing in the kitchen, when Mr. Wright, who hated birds, came into the kitchen. This explains the nervous sewing by Mrs. Wright who didn't
The idea of the play is to pay attention to small things (trifles). The play exposes secrets about the characters. The complex drama was influenced by many things, including Glaspell’s work ethic. Glaspell’s career first started as being a reporter, and then she later became a freelance writer. During her time as a reporter she covered a news story on a murder in Iowa. “From 1899-1901 Glaspell worked as a reporter for the Des Moines News, where she covered the murder trial of a farmer’s wife, Margaret Hossack, in Indianola, Iowa. Hossack was accused of killing her husband, John, by striking him twice in the head with an ax while he slept,” (Britannica). “Trifles” is based on actual events. Glaspell wrote 26 articles on the murder mystery, and later she decided to incorporate it into a drama. The cultural context of the drama is presented through the men’s behavior. “…the men virtually ignore the women’s world, they remain blind to the truth before their eyes,” (Britannica). In the nineteenth century women were treated as