...Susan Glaspell’s one-act play, Trifles, is based on actual events that occurred in Iowa at the beginning of the century. For two years Glaspell worked as a reporter for the Des Moines News, where she covered the murder trial of a farmer’s wife, Margaret Hossack, in Indianola, Iowa. Hossack was accused of killing her husband, John, by striking him twice in the head with an ax while he slept (Trifles 216). Trifles, written in the early 1900’s by Susan Glaspell. Glaspell wrote this play during a time of controversial feminist issues. Glaspell wrote "Trifles" to demonstrate the male assumption that women were insignificant members in a male dominated society. Because the men underestimate them, the women are able to prove they are not insignificant. The play opens at the Wright farmhouse where Mr. Wright has been murdered in his sleep. They entered in the house: county attorney, the sheriff, Mrs. Hale, and Mrs. Peters. The men and women have come to investigate the case against Minnie Foster, the wife of Mr. Wright. Most of the stuffs which the male characters supposed to be insignificant objects like the broken bird cage door, the quilt, the dead canary, and the entire kitchen consequentially lead to the solution (Trifles 219). The improper assumptions by men toward women can have dire consequences, as demonstrated in Glaspell's world. Combating these narcissistic assumptions displayed by men can result in a unity among women that can overcome any male caused disrespect...
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...usually refer to the moment when the crime is submitted to justice, in the case of "Trifles" is more complicated than that. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover the dead bird of Mrs. Wright. This was to them a very clear evidence that Minnie was the one who killed her husband, however, somehow also justify the act. Mrs. Hale feel guilty for not being more attentive to Mrs. Wright “I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be—for women.” (Glaspell 1916: 191) They understand that Minnie's actions were more than a murder; it was the way to get rid of her husband and get her freedom. The fact that her husband strangled her bird was not really the reason; rather the act took her to the point of having the need to be freed from that social oppression to which she was transfixed. The ladies feel identified with the situation to the point where Mrs. Hale mentions “We all go through the same things-it's all just a different...
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...Trifles by Susan Glaspell Trifles, the play demonstrates how different roles were played between men and women and how women were treated. During the period of the late 19th and 20th century women wanted to become more independent and equal as men. In which, Feminist criticism is concerned with "the ways in which literature reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson). Therefore ladies were just a piece of the social part, being limited to only raise their family and be house spouses. As a result of Glaspell’s experience in the early 20th century, she gives us confining perspectives of women during the time, demonstrating it through her play “Trifles”. Glaspell gives us different points of interest that plays the role of sympathizing and speaking up for the women. In which the title Trifles itself seems to recommend that the play...
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...O’Neil 1 Becky O’Neil Arquette Eng. 112-01 December 6th, 2012 “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell During the 19th century, possibilities for women were severely restricted. Women were not allowed to vote, could not control their own finances, and were not able to work outside the home(unless widowed), any money or property they had was turned over to their husbands upon their marriage. Much of history is written from the male perspective. Women of that era were struggling with finding a sense of themselves and a certain freedom from the traditional gender roles society had dictated for them. Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” portrays these struggles through Mrs. Wright, who is expected to conform but resorts to an act of desperation to gain her freedom. The tale begins when Mr. Hale pays a visit to his neighbor, John Wright, only to discover That Mr. Wright is dead. Upon asking Mrs. Wright what killed him, she tells him, “He died of the rope around his neck.”(789) The sheriff and the County Attorney are called and arrive at the scene. However, in this case the professionals fall short in their task to find evidence of a motive for murder. It is the two women who accompany their husbands to the house who uncover the vital clues as to motive. Mrs. Hale, the wife of the man who reported the crime, and Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, are left in the kitchen. They are there only to gather a few...
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