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They are portrayed as dependants on men to able to survive. As the title of the play depicts, women’s issues are considered to be minor or bear less or no important at all to the whole society, they are considered to be mere trifles; the greater roles in the society has been left for men to carry out. That why Glaspell, through her play tries to bring out the relative values of men and women in various perspectives as she develops two distinct stories on both the gender. It is not only the role they play in the society, but also how they respected or disrespected within various societal aspects.
She tries to bring into the reader’s attention how human beings believe that they know; and how well they can justify their knowledge through understanding one another and their stories. Analysis The play begins in the now abandoned farmhouse kitchen of John Write with five characters being introduced. There is murder whose cause is yet to be known, and this has established the glumly, anxious and a thoughtful mood of the play. The passionate female characters try to console the bereaved.. The whole narrative is built upon how women versus men perceive various issues, the character or behaviors they display in different scenario.
It is more of a subtle power in women to do thorough investigation on the root cause of the problem, but this has eventually led to them being devalued for their slow status. Therefore their contributions are not required in the investigation of the murder case. But ironically, through their determination and with open-mindedness, they are able to find the valuable proof and a credible narrative out of that evidence. They looked all over the room and discovered the quilt, which they decide to bring with them; however they got teased for pondering so much on it.
This is aimed to diminish their role in the investigation process. Meanwhile, through their curiosity they again discover an empty birdcage. They discover a dead bird in a box in Mrs. Wright’s sewing basket, the bird has been strangled in the same manner as Mr. John Wright. This is clear evidence that something fishy might have happened in relation with the murder case. In their big hearts they ignore the men who are out to follow the law to the latter; they hide the evidence rendering the men unable to find reasonable proof that Mrs.
Wright might have had a hand in her husband’s death-and they had a plan to prevent her from being acquitted by a future panel of judges who could be sympathetic to women. In trying to discover the cause of the murder, a big rift is created between the two genders. Male chauvinism is depicted from their talk. Attorney says “Nothing here but kitchen things”. This simply means they (men) had better things to do rather than sit with women in the kitchen so they proceed
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