The Deadly Silence in Trifles While reading Susan Glaspell's play Trifles, the use of characters, descriptive language, and symbolism teaches the audience that one person's home and one person's way of living can also be an introduction to one person's private hell. Throughout the play, discoveries are made to teach the audience that maybe things are not what they seem and that sometimes people must take a deeper look into what is around them. Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters, the county attorney, and the sheriff are the four main characters of the play that introduce the audience to the crime that has just been committed. The sheriff and Mrs. Peters are married so the audience also learns from these …show more content…
Her statement expresses to the audience that sometimes we need to take a deeper look at what is around us and see if help is needed. In the play, descriptive language teaches the audience more about the surroundings than what the characters are actually saying to one another. "I've not been in this house--it's more than a year" (6), Mrs. Hale tells the county attorney. It is a very run down house, and the audience discovers there are no signs of anyone really ever being happy. The kitchen is dirty, and the women begin to feel uneasy about being in a house where there is nothing but darkness and coldness. The darkness is to signify how alone and empty Mrs. Wright was feeling while living with her husband. Mrs. Wright did not feel wanted, and she felt like all hope was lost which the audience recognizes with the help of Mrs. Hale's saying, "...he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him. Like a raw wind that gets to the bone" (11). Mrs. Hale conveys these important details to Mrs. Peters, which proves that the environment in the Wright house was dark and dreary. The audience can imagine living in house where there is nothing but solitude and misery. The solemn atmosphere makes the readers start to understand how lonely and depressing living in the house actually was. The coldness also helps convince to the audience that Mrs.
In this deeper look into 'Trifles,' Karen goes through the plot and discusses what you should pay more attention too. She describes the symbolism in some of the objects as well as explain the scenes and their little details. Karen finds the difference between male and female perceptions of judgment to be central to the play. She explains that you need to follow the storyline of the women to help solve the case and discusses the differences between a man and a womans world in this time period. Karen shares that she believes the women are going about the case better than the men and she
At the beginning of the short drama, “Trifles,” Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, is painted as timid and submissive wife. She willingly submits herself to the responsibilities she has as a wife. As the play unfolds, Mrs. Peter’s submissiveness begins to diminish. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale work together to uncover the murder of Minnie Wright’s husband. When the women find the evidence, they refuse to share it with the men. Mrs. Peter’s character transforms into a more confident individual over the course of the play.
Trifles, Susan Glaspell’s play written in 1916, reveal concerns of women living in a male dominated society. Glaspell communicates the role that women were expected to play in late 19th century society and the harm that can come of it to women, as well as men. The feminist agenda of Trifles was made obvious, in order to portray the lives of all women who live oppressed under male domination. John and Minnie Wright are two main characters who are never seen; however provide the incident for the play. In this play women are against men, Minnie against her husband, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters against their husband’s, as well as men in general.
Susan Glaspell’s one-act play “Trifles” was written in 1916. It was written based on real events. When Glaspell was a reporter, she covered a murder case in a small town in Iowa. Later, she wrote this short play which was inspired by her investigation and what she observed. Glaspell used irony, symbolism, and setting in her creation of the authentic American drama, “Trifles”, to express life for women in a male-dominated society in the early nineteen hundreds.
There are many literary elements that contribute and help to further explain the theme of Susan Glaspell’s one-act play, “Trifles”. The theme of isolation in “Trifles” can be backed up by multiple dramatic literary elements that are very evident in the story. Characters can help support the theme in many ways by difference in gender, how isolation affects the theme, and how they work together. Another literary element that is crucial to the theme of isolation is the setting of a lonely farm house back in the woods unseen by the public from the road. Lastly, the literary element of conflict relates to the theme of isolation in the many ways that conflict brings out isolation between the characters in the play. The theme of isolation in “Trifles”
Symbols are important, especially in literature. They have been known to inspire hope and life, in turn inspiring some of the most profound actions in the history of the world. Yet, humanity’s statement to symbols goes beyond us finding meaning in innominate or non-human objects. People assign humanity into objects, almost a part of themselves. This concept is clearly demonstrated in Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles. The work contains many element of symbolism that make important and relieving comments on the characters of the play and the themes of the story.
Susan Glaspell’s one act play “Trifles” is based on an actual murder court trial that she remembered covering from her days as a newspaper reporter in Iowa. She wrote at a time when women were supposed to be submissive to men and especially to their husbands. This play takes a look at a common social problem during the early 1900s when Americans wanted to keep all of their relationship problems private. Many married couples would do anything to keep their lives free from scandal, and this murder mystery examines the necessity of appearances and reputation of having the perfect marriage that was typical during that time. This was done to protect the married couple from being scorned by family, friends and community if their secrets were ever turned into a scandal. It is an incredible play that may be better understood by those who have experienced the same situation at some time in their lives. This play/production is a good definition/example of a problem play because it aims to draw attention to a /the social problem, such as of emotional abuse.
When a woman marries she is expected to give up her family, her last name, and her virginity. In other words she is expected to give up the life she knew. Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles tells the story of a woman that gave up her all to please society and her husband. The story examines a woman who sacrificed her tranquility, her talents, and her individuality. In the end, the woman even gave up her freedom.
Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, shows the importance of staging, gestures, and props to create the proper atmosphere of a play. Without the development of the proper atmosphere through directions from the author, the whole point of the play may be missed. Words definitely do not tell the whole story in Trifles - the dialog only complements the unspoken.
Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles accentuates women’s tendency to make use of the small details that help shed light on the larger problem. This attention to detail unravels the bigger problem. These women are solving a puzzle; because they use the small pieces to solve it they are able to see the bigger picture. The men are unable to do this because they work from the big picture and try to find the small pieces, essentially the opposite of the women. The men do not notice the women are essentially solving the murder by trifling. Although the focus is on one main choice by Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, to tell or not to tell why Mrs. Wright killed her husband, Trifles is thematically intricate. It emphasizes the problem of justice and more contemporary
The play Trifles takes place in a rural area and centers around a woman, Mrs. Wright, who has been accused of killing her husband by strangling him. The act starts off in Mr. and Mrs. Wright’s home on a cold, winter morning the day after Mr. Wright’s body was discovered by the neighbor; the county attorney, the sheriff and his wife and the neighboring farmer and his wife are all inside the
In the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, she develops Mr. and Mrs. Wright who do not appear on stage by using symbolism. As the reader learns about the characters and their environment they are able to observe how the various symbols in the play “Trifles” play key roles in solving the mystery of who killed Mr. Wright. Some of the significant symbols used by Glaspell are the canary, its being wrapped in the box, the disorder of the kitchen, and the quilt. The disorder of the kitchen allows the reader to feel the way Mrs. Wright felt depressed.
A trifle is something that has little value or importance, and there are many seeming "trifles" in Susan Glaspell's one-act play "Trifles." The irony is that these "trifles" carry more weight and significance than first seems to be the case. Just as Glaspell's play ultimately reveals a sympathetic nature in Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, the evidence that the men investigators fail to observe, because they are blind to the things that have importance to a woman, reveals the identity of the murderer and are, therefore, not really "trifles," after all. Thus, the title of the play has a double-meaning: it refers, satirically, to the way "trifling" way some men perceive women, and it also acts as an ironic gesture to the fact that women are not as "trifling" as these men make them out to be. This paper will analyze setting, characters, plot, stage directions, symbolism, themes and genre to show how Glaspell's "Trifles" is an ironic indictment not of a murderess but rather of the men who push women to such acts.
The Sheriff, Mr. Hale and the County Attorney are introduced first to the audience. They are investigating the crime scene. The women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, accompany the men to gather whatever of Mrs. Wright's belongings that she needs in jail. This exposition turns ironic when the women end
Susan Glaspell's Trifles explores the classical male stereotype of women by declaring that women frequently worry about matters of little, or no importance. This stereotype makes the assumption that only males are concerned with important issues, issues that females would never discuss or confront. The characters spend the entirety of the play searching for clues to solve a murder case. Ironically, the female characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, uncover crucial evidence and solve the murder case, not the male characters. The men in the play, the Sheriff, County Attorney, and Hale, search the scene of the crime for evidence on their own, and mock the women's discussions. The women's interest in the quilt,