Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” dwelled on the investigation of the murder scene of Mr. Wright. In the beginning of the play, Mr. Wright was found dead in the upstairs bedroom with a rope hung around his neck. Lewis Hale recalled how he discovered Mrs. Wright acting bizarrely, and that she told him that her husband was murdered while he was sleeping. Mrs. Wright’s strange behavior and body language caused Mr. Hale and the Sherriff to believe that Mrs. Wright was the main suspect in her husband’s murder. There are three significant reasons for Mrs. Wright’s strange behavior. Mrs. Wright’s relationship, lifestyle, and the patriarchal dominance during that era caused Mrs. Wright to act inappropriately.…
As Marion walks into the parlor, a close-up of the owl and raven are shown between shots of Marion as she scans the room. The black raven is both a predator and a scavenger whereas the songbirds are the targets of owls, hawks, and even ravens. As the songbirds sit next to Marion and the crow hovers eerily over her, Norman tells Marion that she “eats like a bird”. Assuming that Norman is comparing her to a songbird and not a predatory bird, Marion seems to exemplify Norman’s statement by picking at a piece of bread for the whole scene. Norman then says, “I hear the expression ‘eats like a bird’ is really a falsity, because birds really eat a tremendous lot”. Then, Norman says, “I think only birds look well stuffed because, well because they’re kind of passive to being with.” As Norman places his hand in an almost affectionate way on the smaller bird next to him, he describes how he uses his hobby of “stuffing things” to fill time rather than pass time. The small bird that Norman has his hand on symbolizes his feelings toward all women: they are better dead and inactive. As Marion stands to leave the parlor and return to her room, each shot of Marion reveals the raven’s beak pointing straight toward her neck. Audience feel a sense of threat toward Marion, but after the owl becomes associated with Norman’s mother, the tension between Marion and the birds…
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…
This was a time period when women didn’t vote and really didn’t have an opinion to men. When the men left the kitchen they commented that, “But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it!” (Glaspell, 541) The women payed attention to the details of the kitchen and could tell that she had stopped in the middle of something. Mrs. Hale talked about how Minnie Foster used to be so cheerful and sang in the choir. Mrs. Hale thought to herself, “What had interrupted Minnie Foster?” (Glaspell, 542) She remembered worrying about how she had to un-expectantly leaving her kitchen a mess. The ladies found the bird cage and noticed that it had been damaged and wondered where the bird was. Later they found the bird in the box underneath the quilt blocks. They are the ones that put two and two together about how the bird was killed and the way Minnie’s husband was…
"Trifles" is a play which was written by Susan Glaspell in 1916. The play takes place in the empty farmhouse of Mr. and Mrs. Wright. The county attorney George Henderson, the sheriff Henry Peters and his wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Hale, neighbors of Mr. and Mrs. Wright all go to the farmhouse to investigate the crime scene. Throughout the book Susan Glaspell uses a lot of symbolism. One example was the a dead bird that the women find. Hoping to find a motive for the crime the men go upstairs to the bedroom where Mr. Wright was murdered. While the women stay downstairs and look around the kitchen. The women come across a bird which symbolizes Mrs. Wright. The bird becomes the motive for Mrs. Wright to kill Mr. Wright.…
Trifles, by Susan Glaspell is a well-known play throughout the English community. It is a suspenseful murder mystery that pulls citizens of a town together to try and seek justice after a homicide has occurred. This play begins with the audience learning that John Wright, a humble farmer, has been killed while he was asleep. His wife, Minnie Wright, has a very strange way of handling this grief and becomes the main suspect. During this play five characters, two women and three men, search the Wright home for clues, evidence, and a possible motive for the murder. It ends with the women finding a shocking discovery that they choose to hide from the men.…
Wright, formerly Minnie Foster, used to sing before she married. After her marriage, she got a bird that sings. Mr. Wright, having already “killed” one form of singing, proceeds to do so with yet another form, the bird (paragraph 244). The bird is a reflection of Mrs. Wright’s pre-marriage personality, and when killed, it is essentially killing Minnie Foster again. The two women become sympathetic toward Mrs. Wright, backing up the desire to withhold the evidence of the dead bird. Meanwhile, the men are searching for evidence of motive, in order to convict Mrs. Wright. While the women are gathering belongings to take to Mrs. Wright, they discover an unfinished quilt that has some stitching that is out of place; Mrs. Hale decides that it would make Mrs. Wright happy if she fixed the stitching for her. The women also discover that Mr. Wright was murdered in the same fashion that the bird was killed. Mrs. Petersrecalls when her kitten was killed right in front of her, and remembers that she had wanted to “hurt” the person responsible, however, she was being held back. At that, she understands the emotions controlling Mrs. Wright and becomes more sympathetic to…
Throughout the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters visit the Wright home after the murder of Mr. Wright to help look for evidence. They come across an empty bird cage and notice that Mrs. Wright once owned a song bird. The women then observe the cage and realize the door has been broken partially off of the hinge. Mrs. Hale assumes that someone was “rough with it” and suggests this to be the motive of the crime that took place. When the two women discover the dead canary wrapped up in a piece of fine silk in Mrs. Wrights sewing box, they piece these clues together and discover the reason why Mrs. Wright committed this cruel act.…
The bird represent the joyful life Mrs. Wright wants and use to have, and for Mr. Wright it represents his cruelty and abuse. The bird sings and provides warmth and joy for Mrs. Wright. The bird is a sign of cheerfulness in a bleary home. Mrs Hale states, "He didn't drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him--." She stopped, shivered a little. "Like a raw wind that gets to the bone." Mr. Wright strangles the bird, once again neglecting his wife, trapping his wife in a bleary place, and being cruel and abusive.…
Sylvia’s great understanding of the animals comes from her love for nature and wild creatures. Sylvia knows a lot about many different types of birds. 'So Sylvy knows all about birds, does she?' The hunter exclaimed, as he looked at the little girl who sat, timid but extremely sleepy in the moonlight. The hunter finds out that Sylvia knows a lot about birds and that she may be able to help him find a white heron for his bird collection. Sylvia's love for the outdoors is also very obvious when she says that she would have liked to have her home to be outside rather than in doors because of its beauty and peace. Sylvia said, this was a beautiful place to live in, and she never should wish to go home. It is obvious that Sylvia is happier living in nature, rather than in a humid house. She also likes to watch the animals in their natural environment.…
The play begins with a criminal investigation taking place at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wright. Mr. Wright was found dead in their bed with a rope around his neck, with his wife being the largest suspect. Mr. Henderson, the county attorney, Mr. Peters, the sheriff, and Mr. Hale, a neighbor and friend to Mr. Wright, gather around discussing the matter, while Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale stand off to the side, patiently waiting to be a help to personal connection if the men see fit (1362). Throughout the story, the men make light of any problem or important matter that the women may have, or have to offer. They initially notice how dirty and untidy Mrs. Wrights home is, and because this is very unordinary for the women of that time period, 1916, that made Mrs. Wright that much more suspicious. The men also bring up that though Mrs. Wright is held for murder, she is too busy worrying about her perseveres, an unimportant matter to any of the men (1365). Glaspell connected her title with the theme of her story with a comment made by one of her male characters, Mr. Hale, "Well, women are used to worrying over trifles". As though any problem, or worry a women may have is unimportant and exaggerated compared to any "real" issue, that a man might have. Near the end of the story, the women feel sympathetic towards Mrs. Wright for they know how it feels to be a women and they feel that perhaps her actions were justified, for her husband did strangle her beloved bird. Though they have gathered much evidence to close the case, the men do not feel as if their input will be worthy of solving the…
The play “Trifles” is a murder mystery, which takes place in the kitchen of the Wrights home. In the beginning of the story, Glaspell sets the murder scene in the audiences mind by having Mr. Peters and Mr. Henderson interview Mr. Hale on his discovery of Mr. Wright’s body. Mr. Hale then begins to talk about the condition of Mr. Wright, and then continues on and talks about the behavior of Mrs. Wright…
References: Glaspell, S. (1916). Trifles. In D.L. Pike and A.M. Acosta 's (Eds.) Literature: A world of writing stories, poems, plays, and essays [VitalSource digital version] (pp. 139-145). Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions.…
Birds represent a class of animals who are vertebrates and live in nature. They have the ability to fly and roam all over the wilderness and the sky. The story the bird in the house manifests a theme of entrapment. This theme represents confinement which is experienced Vanessa’s father. This theme is perpetuated by her grandmother, MacLeod who is believed to love…
The bird is symbolized to be motivated in the first part of the poem when he is stated to be standing up for what he is going through. “But a caged bird stands on the grave of his dreams/his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream/his wings are tied so he opens his throat to sing” (Angelou 26-29). This shows that even though his feathers are clipped and his feet are tied, he is still standing up on behalf of his imprisonment and singing for freedom. The bird is also symbolized to be rebelling when he is stated to be expressing for freedom. “When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that sends his heart’s deep core, But a plea that upward to Heaven he flings” (Dunbar 17-20). This shows that the bird is symbolized to be rebelling against him being caged. This is related to the theme as it shows that the soul will rebel against the obstacle they are facing. This is how the bird is symbolized to be motivated and rebelling in the end of the…