The Elements of Drama in Works of Susan Glaspell - Essay Example

The Elements of Drama in Works of Susan GlaspellThe author Susan Glaspell has published two different works of literature with similar settings, plots, and characters. The key difference between both her works, Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers is the way the stories are portrayed. Trifles is a play and A Jury of Her Peers is a short story. The play Trifles focuses on two females who solve a mystery on the motive of a woman who has killed her husband. On the other hand, A Jury of Her Peers, the short story, is developed from the play and is loved by readers because it has greater information than Trifles (Glaspell 1028).

This paper will compare and contrast the play and the short story.Both Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers focus on the segregation of members of the female population in society. In Susan Glaspell’s works, the responsibilities of women as workers are relegated a lot. The society does not consider what women do and the hard work they engage in when performing household duties on a daily basis, and planning and preparing for the future. In both Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers, women are treated as if they do not account for anything in work related activities (Glaspell 1030).

In addition, both of Susan Glaspell’s works highlight women as only present to serve the society and the members of the male population in the society.In A Jury of Her Peers, Susan Glaspell uses similar characters as those in Trifles. Nonetheless, the author makes the reader get to know what the characters are feeling, hearing, and thinking. The short story gives details on how different characters meet and even their feelings towards one another. For instance, Susan Glaspell highlights how Mrs.

Hale and Mrs. Peters meet for the first time. Also, Mrs. Hale gives her view of Mrs. Peters. Mrs. Hale presumes Mrs. Peters does not seem like a wife of the sheriff (Glaspell 1035). In contrast, in the play Trifles, the reader does not have insight that is similar to A Jury of Her Peers. This is because the conversation between different characters is central. Feelings are exhibited in the short story and are left out in the play.In addition, the message is passed more efficiently in the short story than in the play.

The author utilizes actors or characters to pass on the emotions of the story line in Trifles. In contrast, Susan Glaspell makes the readers or audience experience passion in A Jury of Her Peers by combining dialogue between characters and descriptive passages in her story line. She has given A Jury of Her Peers more emotional intensity than Trifles. For example, the author provides vivid information of Mrs. Peters acts when the story ends. Mrs. Hale thinks Mrs. Peters sees “a long way into things.

” (Glaspell 1038). This eases the readers’ appreciation, interpretation, and understanding of the sentiments held by Mrs. Peters from the narration. This is because of the events being displayed in a dramatic fashion. Also, A Jury of Her Peers has passages that illustrate the story setting. For example, there is a difference between A Jury of Her Peers and Trifles when the district attorney is questioning Mrs. Hale in the kitchen, “There is nothing but kitchen thing.” Clarity of these elements in A Jury of Her Peers differentiates it from Trifles.

Work CitedGlaspell, S. Trifles. Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth, M., Day, S. X., Funk, R., and Coleman, L. (9th ed.). Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.