Trifle Drama Essay Example

The set on which the play commences is at the recently abandoned farmhouse of John Wright. John Wright was found strangled to death the previous night. The main suspect who is in custody is Minnie Wright the deceased wife. Sheriff Peter and his wife Mrs. Peters, Hale and his wife Mrs. Hale and the County Attorney George Henderson had come to investigate the crime scene (Glaspell 2). As the five enter the house they found it disorganized. It depicts a picture of an unwelcoming house. The wallpaper had seen better days and the kitchen utensils were unwashed and accompanied with dirty towels. Mr. Hale was the first person on the crime scene and was tasked with explaining to the County Attorney on what transpired on a fateful day. The conflict in the play is about the gender issues specifically the dominance men have over women in most aspects of the society (Glaspell 4).

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The rights for safety and liberty which all humans are born with are not enjoyed by the women. Mrs. Wright has been denied the basic right to freedom of expression and the freedom to be safe. The same cruel treatment that she has gone through all over the years is the same experience the other women in the play go through in their daily lives. This is most evident in their discussions in Mr. Wright house. They emit opinions, make conjectures and come with conclusions that discriminate against the male gender. The men characters in the play are looking for the evidence to show that crime was committed and the women are looking for items and clothing to take to Mrs. Wright in jail (Glaspell 5). The male gender has downgraded the work done by the women in the society. The men assert that women worry over little things and this cause the women to hate the men. This perception by men of women clearly illustrates the gender matters that affect society like equality and the expected roles of the two genders by the community in general. Moreover, the sheriff, the attorney general and the neighbor all laugh at the discussions the women have. This clearly shows how the society undermined the women.

The concern the women have over the small things is what leads to the discovery of evidence of the murder. Due to the displeasure, the female gender in the play has over men; they decide to keep this new piece of evidence a secret from the sheriff and the county attorney general (Glaspell 15). The conflict in the story is resolved when the women find the dead canary and decide to hide it from the men. They do this in order to protect Mrs. Wright from getting convicted of murder. The way the women shield Mrs. Wright from harm shows how the women in the society looked out for each other.

Susan Keating Glaspell was an American tragedian, actor, and journalist born 1st of July 1876 in Davenport Iowa and passed on Seventy two years later in Massachusetts on the 28th of July 1948. She is an alumnus of Drake University and Chicago University (Noe 114). Her vast experience in writing fictions span over forty-eight years. The play Trifles was written in 1916 and the motivation behind the play was the murder trial she had covered as a reporter (Noe 115).

The play is pivotal to literature as it brings out the dramatic effect. It encompasses what is happening in real life thus creating a more realistic narrative that will captivate the audience. One can visualize what is happening on a set thus getting a clearer picture. The County Attorney calls the lady to the stove and one can actually feel the warmth as he reads.

The script plays a vital role universally as it addresses issues women in the society were undergoing during those eras. Women are treated as second-class citizens with no rights. Their role is confined to doing homes chores and taking care of the family. The play in a simplistic but effective manner shows us what women were undergoing through. In the first instance, Hale was to come and talk to Wright about going into business together on a party line telephone. As a matter of fact, Hale already knew that Wright will not listen to what the wife would say.

Similarly, the men were also quick to Judge Minnie Wright as a poor housekeeper because of the state of the house. The fact that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters came to take some clothes for her shows she left in a hurry. Likewise, the two ladies are also known by their husband's name show us how women were dominated by men. It shows us that women lose their identity as soon as they get married. Interestingly, the oppression goes a notch higher when Lewis Hale says that women are used to getting worried over petty things. The County Attorney furthermore insults Winnie Wright saying she is not a homemaker (Glaspell 16).

Psychologically, Minnie Wright is a tormented woman. His two neighbors have children but she doesn't have. She is always alone in the house as the husband goes to work. She doesn't have any friends and her neighbor Mrs. Hale hasn't been to her house for more than one year. She has been living a life of solitude full of loneliness. All these issues if not addressed can take a toll on a person. Humans are social beings and interaction is essential social disconnection is dangerous (Hare Duke 266). If Winnie had somebody to talk to maybe things would have been different. Mrs. Hale was regretting why he hadn't come to visit Minnie Foster and terms her action as a crime. Likewise, she had also passed through such a dark moment in her life when she lost her baby. The play clearly shows us the importance of Human connection in the world.

People should make an effort to read or see the play because the themes in the play are very relevant in the modern world. It shows how men and women are different from each other and how society expects them to act.

The society perceives the women as worthless, and it's indicated by the way the sheriff's talks badly about women and how Mrs. Wright is viewed as a lazy woman for not keeping her house in order. The irony in this is that the worthless women end up find the crucial evidence about the murder. Due to the gender inequality and the suffering the women undergo through the hands of men, the women decide not to tell anyone of this new evidence that could lead to the prosecution of Mrs. Wright.

Conclusion

Due to the patriarchal society we live in, women tend to show support and encourage one another. This is very different from the character of men who tend to be competitive. In the play the trifles, the women in Mrs. Wright house do not mind if their friend Mrs. Wright killed her husband or not. The thing that actually ignites a fire inside them is the constant degradation the men have against them. This is so ironical because under normal circumstances if a person is alleged commits a crime is perceived to be a dangerous person. The women think that Mr. Wright had it coming since he treated Mrs. Wright harshly.

Works cited

Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Players Press, 2007, pp. 2-22.

Glaspell, Susan et al. Susan Glaspell. Mcfarland & Co., 2010.

Hare Duke, Laurie. "The Importance of Social Ties in Mental Health". Mental Health and Social Inclusion, vol 21, no. 5, 2017, pp. 264-270. Emerald, doi:10.1108/mhsi-07-2017-0029.

Hilton, Leon. "Trifles, By Susan Glaspell". Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, vol 21, no. 1, 2011, pp. 147-149. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1080/0740770x.2011.563045.

Noe, Marcia. "Susan Glaspell: A Critical Biography (Review)". Legacy, vol 18, no. 1, 2001, pp. 114-115. JSTOR, doi:10.1353/leg.2001.0009.