How Things Can BeFor Women: Gender Issues in Trifles - Essay Example

Your Number 10 May 2006 How Things Can Be-For Women: Gender Issues in Trifles In Susan Glaspell's Trifles, men and women inhabit different spheres. Convinced that only they have the capacity to understand the crime, the men see women "used to worrying over trifles." The women remain in their expected roles as domestic experts, but have an understanding of human behavior that allows them to solve the crime. The men's lowered expectations lead to ignorant misunderstanding of women and the world.

The play's first lines refer to the women's delicate well-being as the Attorney invites them to warm themselves. After that, the men ignore them and go about official business, until the Attorney brings the conversation back to the domestic sphere by noticing the kitchen's messiness. The Sheriff mocks Mrs. Wright's concern for the familiar, saying, "Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves," not understanding that Mrs. Wright has nothing else to worry about.

Her life ended when she killed her husband; only the trappings of normal domesticity, like her fruit, can bring her comfort. As the play progresses, the gender gap widens with the Attorney's ridicule of Mrs. Wright's housekeeping. Mrs. Hale's asserts, "Men's hands aren't always as clean as they might be," suggesting that the mess is not entirely Mrs. Wright's fault. Mrs. Hale is a strong woman who sticks up for other women. She shows her loyalty, saying, "I'd hate to have men coming into my kitchen, snooping around and criticising.

" It chafes her that men should register an opinion on a kitchen's cleanliness: they do not want her opinion on the murder. The men's dismissal of the women is expressed in the Sheriff's casual, "I suppose anything Mrs. Peters does'll be all right," as if a woman couldn't affect the environment. Later, the Attorney says, "Mrs. Peters doesn't need supervising. a sheriff's wife is married to the law," suggesting that a woman's thoughts, motivation, and identity are defined her husband. They make the same mistake that John Wright did when he underestimated his wife's power to mete out justice.

The Sheriff also mocks the women as they comment on a positive aspect of Mrs. Wright's housekeeping, her quilt. Their interest in domestic affairs leads them to uncover Mrs. Wright's motivation and understand the crime. The Attorney says, "You're convinced that there was nothing important here-nothing that would point to any motive," and the Sheriff answers, "Nothing here but kitchen things." The men, who cannot see the seriousness of women's work, cannot understand Mrs. Wright or the events that took place in the farmhouse.

The final gap between the sexes is in the women's decision not to share what they have learned. Mrs. Peters says, "The law has got to punish crime," but Mrs. Hale is disappointed with herself for not supporting Mrs. Wright more. "That was a crime!" she says of her reluctance to visit. She believes that John Wright brought his death on himself and adds, "I know how things can be-for women." In the end, Mrs. Peters seems to agree as she hides the evidence. The men wouldn't see things as they did.

She says, "Wouldn't they just laugh! Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a-dead canary. As if that could have anything to do with-with-wouldn't they laugh!" when she knows very well how stirred up someone could become over a dead canary. In Trifles, Glaspell describes the collision of two worlds, the small domestic sphere of farmer's wives, and the larger, all-encompassing domain of men. The women, presumed to reside only in their small place, nevertheless have a better global understanding of humans.

The men, derisive in their attitude toward women, cannot comprehend "how things can be-for women" and therefore, can never understand women or the effect they have on their world.