Trifles by Susan Glaspell - Essay Example

The play ‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell strongly portrays the strong character of women in a male dominant society where they are often forced to playsubservient role. The play was written in 1916 when the women’s role was confined largely to the kitchen and their opinions or views on relevant issues were neither sought nor considered. The author has dextrously used the background setting to showcase the frustrations and monotony of women’s existence. It highlights the gender-based investigation of a murder which was subtly conducted by the two women characters whose opinions were not thought to be essential.

The author has used various literary elements like strong plot, setting, character, gender conflict, symbolism etc. to focus the plight of women and to question the validity of a judicial system where the evidence of crime as confirmed by men is enough to charge the prime suspect of the crime. The protagonist of the play is Mrs Wright whose husband’s murder is being investigated by Peter Hale, the Sheriff and County Attorney who visit the sight of crime along with the wife of Sheriff and Mrs Hale.

Mrs Wright becomes the prima facie accused and Sheriff’s wife and Mrs Hale go to her house to collect her clothes. While menfolk look for evidences and clues through the house, women become busy in the kitchen and look around for inconsequential things that may leave a jarring note or lacks coordination with the rest. The women’s perspective helps interpret events in ways that would take into considerations the human frailty and emotions that could have led to the commitment of the crime.

Glaspell has used symbols and motifs like dead canary, sewing box and quilt whose pattern gives inkling about the state of the mind of the person who was knitting it to provide inkling to the motives of crime. The play becomes pertinent within the wider context of crime investigation because women’s point of view and interpretation of the events provide conclusive evidences of the crime. The two women are diverted by a block of the quilt that was very different as if ‘the distracted thoughts of the woman who had perhaps turned to it to try and quiet herself were communicating themselves to her’ (Glaspell, 2006:1901).

Both the women interpret it as the work of emotionally disturbed Mrs Wright, the accused. Noe (1995: 39) believes that these inconsequential items have helped to ‘establish the presence of disturbed consciousness’. The caged canary has also been a symbol of the trap which reflects Mrs Wright’s life in the kitchen. While the song of canary echo the protagonist’s desire for life, the bird is also seen as ‘child-substitute for the solitary Minnie; the canary’s voice was to displace the silence of a coldly authoritarian husband and replace the sounds of the unborn children’ (Makowsky, 1993: 62).

This is hugely pertinent observation that gives insight into the cold life of the Wright couple in a farm that was situated in an isolated place. The dead canary in the sewing box is the final clue to the crime. The two women hide the evidence that would have irrefutably implicated Mrs Wright because they believed that Mrs Wright was forced to commit the crime and knew that she would be denied justice if the men find the evidence. Holstein asserts that women’s point of view is hugely important because their flexibility allows them to interpret circumstances with more humane perspective and empowers them to make decisions as ‘how to act on that knowledge…and relive’ Mrs Wright’s life (2003: 282, 287).

When they hide the evidence like dead canary or collects shawl, quilt, apron which the attorney finds as ‘trifles’ rather than as vital evidences of crime, they are actually quietly removing evidence of crime to save a woman who was oppressed all through her life. The bleak winter setting is another very crucial element of Glaspell’s work. Author has used metaphors, especially ‘cold’ to signify not only the weather’s harshness but also the nature of the protagonist’s husband who is ultimately murdered by wife to escape from coldness of Mr Wright who had no time for his wife.

Glaspell has used literary elements freely to develop powerful script of a murder case and treated it from women’s perspective to solve the case. The play becomes important literary work as it portrays the strength of women’s character and their strong belief that makes them act in a manner that they believe would give justice to the women in a patriarchal society. The various literary elements give credence to the gender conflict that is clearly shown in the tightly written play. The settings and the characters convey the meaning of the play and the differing gender outlook to seemingly simple events and ‘trifles’.

(words: 793) Reference Holstein, Clarkson Suzy. ‘Silent Justice in a Different Key: Glaspell’s Trifles.’ The Midwest Quarterly 44 (2003): 282-290. Glaspell, Susan. ‘Trifles.’ The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 6th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003. 1893-1903. Noe, Marsha. ‘Reconfiguring the Subject/Recuperating Realism: Susan Glaspell’s Unseen Woman.’ American Drama 4 (Spring 1995):  36-54. Makowsky, Veronica.  Susan Glaspell’s Century of American Women:  A Critical      Interpretation of Her Work.

  New York:  Oxford UP, 1993.