Trifles by Susan Glaspell - Essay Example

Trifles by Susan Glaspell Trifles by Susan Glaspell is a one-act play that reflects on the social and historical issues during the period that the work was written. Glaspell’s style of writing in this play reflects on the issues she tried to raise in the work. It is therefore important to look at these issues, using specific examples from the text in the process. Glaspell’s Trifles focuses on the lives of women, as the issue of the welfare of women in the society was the main subject of discourse during the period that she wrote the play.

The fact that, Trifles play takes place in the kitchen and the domestic environment just shows that, Glaspell was trying to tell readers that, the role of women in the society was relegated to the kitchen or the home as the case may be. Glaspell used Trifles to talk about the stereotypical roles that women were made to play in the society as she molded characters that tried to free themselves from these conventional roles that, the society had made them to play. Glaspell used a rather feministic approach as she uses a caged bird to represent the roles of women in the society.

The fact that, Glaspell used caged bird to represent the women in the society shows that she was trying to tell readers that, women were given restricted roles to play in the society. They were only released from their cages when their help is needed. Inferences from the play suggests that, Glaspell was trying to show that, the men in the society did not treat women with the respect they deserved could be seen when; they were searching for evidences against Minnie with respect to the murder against her husband.

The male characters in the play discriminated against the women when they said, that nothing of importance or relevance could be found in the areas of the house that, Minnie spent the most of her time. Glaspell used this to show that, the men that lived during that period treated women as trifles. “I didn't know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John.” (Glaspell 6). It is quite true that, women that lived through the period that, the work was written were treated with little or no value.

“Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.” (Glaspell 10). The men believed that, women cared about things of little or no importance. Glaspell’s example of the prejudice statement that was used in Trifles could be seen from this statement, “Nothing here but kitchen things.” (Glaspell). This was when the sheriff was searching for evidence to use with respect to the murder case. The fact that, they said that, there is nothing there but kitchen materials just show that: the men in the society did not appreciate the efforts of the women in the society.

This was actually symbolic of the perception of men during that period with respect to the role of the women in the society. Another issue in the play that shows that, the play was representative of the social issues during the period that the play was written was when the other two female characters, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters tried to conceal the evidence that had the potential of nailing Minnie. They tried to protect Minnie as they were of the opinion that, Minnie was being victimized. This shows the extent at which women during that period were in solidarity with each other.

The story of the other female characters defending the interest of Minnie is symbolic of the manner at which women during that period collectively fought for their rights and defended the interests of each other. Thus, Susan Glaspell’s Trifles is symbolic of the social and historical issues of the period that it was written.