Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles” introduced a murder case in a small village. There are two groups of main characters. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale represent ethical women, with copassion for the unfortunate. County Attorney and Sheriff represent the judicial officers who seek for judicial fairness. The two groups’ conflict, therefore, represents the conflict of judicial fairness and ethical concerns in the real world. County attorney and Sheriff are characterized as official officers from the government. Their job is to catch the criminal and seek the evidence to prove that the criminal is guilty. However, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are more focused on the feelings and motives of the law-breaker (Minnie). In the novel, Mr. Henderson and Mr. Peters threw all of their attention into searching for, and analyzing, the evidence. They did not worry about, for example, the messy state of the kitchen, “County Attorney: (Looking around) I guess we’ll go upstairs first --- and then out to the barn and around there. [To the Sheriff] You’re….nothing that would point to any motive” (Trifles, p.1043). His obvious concern is solely as to whether there is any evidence that could be collected. He didn’t think about how a good house-wife could allow the kitchen to reach a state of mess like this. When Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are talking about frozen fruit, County Attorney said: “Well, can you beat the woman! Held for murder and worryin’ about her preserves.” (Trifles, P.1043). County Attorney’s attitude shows the ruthless of judicature. In order to solve the case, every other emotion was unnecessary.
As for the women, they did not join the investigation. They simply remained in the kitchen and did the housework. However, they did find some important evidences that men did not find. “Look at this! It’s all over the place! Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she was