A Play by Susan Glaspell - Essay Example

Trifles: A play by Susan Glaspell The trifles is a play that depicts a true story about the occurrence of an incident in Iowa in which the wife killsher husband. The author happened to be a reporter and had a firsthand experience with what happened and kept following the story for subsequent months and even wrote several stories on the same. This inspired her to write the book with the same theme. Written in the 20th century, this book clearly shows the struggles of the women in those days. Not only do they have to endure the suffering brought about by their selfish and unconcerned husbands but they also have to contend with a patriarchal society that doers not understand. We find the author sympathizing with the victim or should we say the killer because it is a tragic ending to a bitter story of her oppression and pain. This awesome one act play is packed with themes and does not waste any words on useless information. It clearly portrays the message and shows the themes that are imminent with amazing clarity. That the author had a bone to pick with the patriarchal system is quite obvious. This is why the women in the play have been made sly and cunning and smart. They are quite brainy despite the men’s contrasting view of them. Minnie Wright is a much oppressed wife who is mostly sad and lonely while her cruel and domineering husband John takes advantage of this to torment her. In the end the torment becomes too much for Minnie who kills her husband by strangling him in his sleep. The play starts when a neighbor comes into the homestead only to find Minnie wringing her hands nervously outside the house. When he asks what the matter is, she coldly tells him that her husband is upstairs dead in the bed. Minnie shows a devil may care attitude brought about by so many years of suffering. When the mayor of the town and the neighbor come visiting they ask questions that are largely irrelevant to the story but the women in the scene can prove that Minnie killed her husband through looking at the finer details of her home (the trifles). In the book, the scene is played out so that the men cannot see the details of what is going on in detail like the women can. For example, the women can notice that the house is in disarray and that several things are amiss. For example they notice that the dining table has only been wiped halfway and the other half is dirty. They notice a kilt that was only sewn halfway and the unfinished piece put there in the dining room. The bird cage is empty and they later come across a box lined in velvet where the deceased bird rests. From this they deduce that the husband killed the bird and since Minnie never had children and the bird was her only comfort, she felt broken and hurt. The men really cannot pin the murder on Minnie but the women can because they can identify with her pain. Mrs. Hale can relate to the loneliness of childlessness because she too has lost a child and so she understands what Minnie is going through. In the end of the play we see them hiding the crucial evidence from the men in order to favor Minnie in the trial because they stand in solidarity against the oppression and domination of the men in their society. Irony This effect has been used greatly in the play. It is ironical that although Minnie has been dead scared of her husband for so long, in the end she is the one who kills him. The weaker individual wins and the strong ones are defeated. This is also portrayed as the women pocket crucial evidence to the case. The men assume that they have gone into the kitchen to gossip but the truth is that they have gone to try and get some informat6ion from Minnie, which they do quite easily. It is also ironical that the women seem to be sympathizing with Mrs. Wright, although she is the one on the wrong. They connive to hide evidence in order to collapse the case against her rather than desire to avenge their slain neighbor, John. The women also seem to be more objective thinkers than the men and they have lots of ideas. The sheriff and the county Attorney come into the house all prepared to collect evidence but in the end they exit with nothing. They are looking for bigger pieces of evidence that are however elusive. On the other hand, the women do not try so hard. They just give Minnie an easy time and talk normally to her while they tactfully collect the evidence. The other ironical thing is the way the play is set up. Instead of starting with John, who seems like the main character of the play, he is never seen and is only mentioned. This gives him lower credibility and undermines Minnie’s fear of him. Also, when Minnie manages to kill him and not the other way round, this shows how vulnerable he really is. It is ironical that Minnie does not notice that her dear bird is hone when the women took it away. For a long time she seems to be obsessed with the bird as it is her replacement for the children she never had. In the course of the play, there are several themes that are greatly expounded on. One of these is chauvinism. Chauvinism Is portrayed by the numerous degrading comments that the men use in regard to women and how they simply ignore their input into the investigation because they think they have nothing to offer in terms of insight. This is not true because the women can see the trifles, the small details that the men can never see and notice. As such, they ignore these minor details and search for evidence that is not existent. The women seem to sympathize with one of their own because they can relate to oppression and mistreatment only too well. Gender issues There is a great divide between the men characters and the women in this play. They seem to live in different worlds mainly because the men do not want to accommodate the women in their everyday lives and work. Mrs. Hale sadly recalls that when she was young, Minnie was a very sweet girl who was always happy and used to laugh and sing a lot. However, she says that after her wedding to john the smile just disappeared. There is a great indication that Minnie was being mistreated by her husband and in the end she chooses to avenge herself by killing him. Contentious view of marriage This book seems to agree with the saying that’s says that men are from mars as women are from Venus. It is quite clear in the play that the two can never mix because there are three marriages that are just shown to be passionless and they are a horrible trap. While Minnie breaks free from her imprisonment by killing her husband, she is not really free and she can never be happy again because she has been convicted for murder. The feeling of being trapped and hopeless overwhelms each of these women and that is why they choose to side with Minnie by hiding the dead bird and more evidence. Sexist themes The outline of this story is overtly sexist and it is quite clear that the women in the story are irked by the lack of recognition by their husbands and male counterparts. Perhaps that is why in the end they choose to side with the criminal and hide crucial evidence as a way of getting back at the men. They can see even the most trivial details about the house and that is what would make a good case but they choose to keep it to themselves. The men are also seen to talk about the women in a contemptible manner. They even state about the house” nothing here but kitchen things”. This is an indication that they think that the women are only good for the kitchen and that they can only be good for cooking and sewing. The women do not bother much to dispute this as they just regroup themselves and start talking with the victim about other things. There is a general lack of recognition by the men that the women are equally if not more intelligent and can provide new insight into the investigation. They also seem to forget that the women are more close to the suspect and so may know more about her state of mind and her tendencies. Cited sources 1. Susan Glaspell & William-Allan Landes, The Trifles. Players press, 2007 Read More