The Play Trifles by Susan Glaspell - Essay Example

The Play Trifles by Susan GlaspellIn the play Trifles, the writer Susan Glaspell has tried to convey the message that men stereotype women as the gender who worries unnecessarily upon petty matters. This stereotype gives the idea that it is only men who are worried about important matters or think about taking big steps, and women do not spend a minute pondering over big matters. This paper intends to discuss how Glaspell portrays men and women in the play. The whole play is about the characters (The sheriff Henry Peters, the county attorney George Henderson, the neighbor Lewis Hale, the thin Mrs.

Peters, and the large Mrs. Hale) searching for clues to solve a murder case in a dull and messy kitchen of John Wright's farmhouse. The men- Peters, Henderson and Hale- search through the crime scene for evidence and clues and mock at the women’s talk about the clues. They make fun of women’s discussion about the quilt, the broken door of the bird cage, and the dead canary. The men consider their interest in these objects as unimportant as Hale says, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles”.

When men move upstairs to look for evidence, the women search the chaotic kitchen and find clues which point to the guilt of Mrs. Wright. Men had called these things as “trifles” and had said, “Nothing here but kitchen things”. As an objection to men’s mocking, the women decide to keep the evidence to themselves. Ironically, their discussion about unimportant things finally leads to uncovering the truth and solving the murder case. Eventually, they prove that women pay attention to little details of unimportant things which is at times very important to solve big issues.

Hence proved that women do not waste their time worrying over little things and men should accept women’s intelligence. Also, there is another idea in the play that talks about how women are abused at the hands of their husbands thus making the former victims of domestic abuse. Mr. Wright has been abusing his wife which finally makes the latter kill her husband. Moreover, the withholding of evidence by the Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, symbolizes the fact that women are trying to get into a conflict with the men of the society who think of them as inferior beings.

They are trying to raise their voices which usually go unheard in the male dominant society. They are trying to come at par with men, as when the country attorney says, “No--it's not cheerful. I shouldn't say she had the homemaking instinct”, Mrs. Hale replies, “Well, I don't know as Wright had, either”. To sum up, Glaspell thinks of boasting self-importance and abusive nature as masculine traits; and, observant and suffering nature as female traits. She tried to show to the readers what the society thinks about the female gender.

Men consider them as inferior beings who fuss over little and unimportant details. They abuse their wives. It becomes evident that women are not always wrong. The need of the hour is that men should start taking them seriously because they can prove to be intelligent counterparts many a times.