Trifles Annotated Bibliography Alkalay-Gut, Karen. "Jury of Her Peers: The Importance of Trifles." Studies in Short Fiction 21 (Winter 1984): 1-9. In this deeper look into 'Trifles,' Karen goes through the plot and discusses what you should pay more attention too. She describes the symbolism in some of the objects as well as explain the scenes and their little details. Karen finds the difference between male and female perceptions of judgment to be central to the play. She explains that you need to follow the storyline of the women to help solve the case and discusses the differences between a man and a womans world in this time period. Karen shares that she believes the women are going about the case better than the men and she …show more content…
The bond between the women is like a knot just like the knot tied around Mr. Wrights neck when he was strangled and also how the women will 'knot' tell even through they solved the murder. This theme of the knot is crucial to the plot of the play. The other helpful explaination was of the preservative jars. I thought of the obvious symbolism behind it but Smith discusses how there is one jar left like the remaining secret of the motive. The specific pages I listed for this work were definitely the most helpful. Ben-Zvi, Linda. "'Murder, She Wrote': The Genesis of Susan Glaspell's Trifles." Theatre Journal, 44 (March 1992): 141-62. Linda Ben-Zvi takes on a different approach to Glaspell's play. She asserts that Trifles is less a comment on standard gender disparities than on assigned gender roles. Suggesting that "their common erasure" provides the incentive for women's actions, not "women's natures," she believes the question of guilt or innocence are irrelevant. She focuses more on Minnie's cruelties rather than seeing her as a victim. I felt differently about the play than Ben-Zvi did for certain topics so it wasn't much help for writing my paper, but I think that hearing an opinion from the opposite side did have an impact on my thoughts. However, I did find some of her findings interesting. I thought that the last name Wright was kind of ironic when I first read the play.
In the early 1900’s, both males and females were perceived as complete opposites of eachother. Women were considered physically weaker and morally superior to men. The gender roles during this time period were clearly demonstrated in the play “Trifles”, by Susan Glaspell. At a first glance it may seem like the play is only about the death of Mr. Wright. The play could simply be interpreted that the characters all work together to determine the murderer of Mr. Wright. The initial perception overlooks how the women were treated during this time period. The men conclude that the women are incapable of finding the murderer of Mr. Wright only because they are female. Similarly, Mr. Wright does not think twice about how poorly he treats his wife
Susan Keating Glaspell was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. She was born July 1, 1876, in Davenport, Iowa. To most readers, Susan Glaspell is still known primarily as the author of Trifles, the frequently anthologized, classic feminist play about two women’s secret discovery of a wife’s murder of her husband, or the short-story “A Jury of Her Peers,” a re-writing of that piece. “Trifles” and “A Jury of Her Peers” are extremely similar to one another in almost every respect. Much of the dialogue is lifted directly from the play and placed into the short story. Additionally, all of the plot points are the same, with some insignificant differences. An analysis
Susan Glaspell’s Trifles is a play about the effect of gender differences on perceptions of duty, law, and justice. The early 1900’s is the setting, arriving at the Wright farmhouse on a crisp, cold morning. Mr. Hale, a neighbor, found John Wright murdered the morning before. Hale has brought his wife, the county attorney, the sheriff and his wife to the home so the men can investigate Wright’s death. With Mrs. Wright as the primary suspect, Henderson, the county attorney, is looking for her motive. While the sheriff and the county attorney are busy looking at the mess left in the kitchen, the women are noticing some of the smaller things, the "trifles" according to Mr. Hale. The men go upstairs, and that is when Mrs. Hale
The unknown author of “Overview: Trifles” focuses on the background Susan Glaspell’s and how she came up with the idea of writing “Trifles”. The play “Trifles” was inspired from a true event happened in Iowa and Glaspell was the reporter for the case and later she wrote the play. Additionally, the main point of this article is to go on details from the setting of “Trifles” to all the way to explaining the characters’ characteristics. Furthermore, this source is valuable because this source only give me the information on the plot and the characters. This is reliable because it doesn’t give any biased information. The goal for this article is to give little details about “Trifles” that no other source will give. Moreover, this source is beneficial
Susan Keating Glaspell was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. She was born July 1, 1876, in Davenport, Iowa. To most readers Susan Glaspell is still known primarily as the author of Trifles, the frequently anthologized, classic feminist play about two women’s secret discovery of a wife’s murder of her husband, or the short-story “A Jury of Her Peers,” a re-writing of that piece. “Trifles” and “A Jury of Her Peers” are extremely similar to one another in almost every respect. Much of the dialogue is lifted directly from the play and placed into the short story. Additionally, all of the plot points are the same, with some insignificant differences. An analysis on Susan Glaspell’s play, “Trifles” and her short story, “A Jury of Her Peers” compares the differences of
As I stated above, “Trifles” only gives the reader or viewer knowledge from the outside looking in. The short story “A Jury of Her Peers” doesn’t give the reader first person feelings and experiences, however, the narrator of the story does give the reader any thoughts or feelings of the characters that may be needed to better understand the story. The narrator is an important part in the change between the play and the story. The narrator gives us information about each family, how people are related, what things look like, what the weather is like, and many more small details that we would not have known otherwise. For example, when arriving at the Wright house, the narrator says “It looked very lonesome on this cold March morning.” This short sentence gives the reader so much information that we don’t know about in the play. We now know that it is in the morning when they are going to examine the situation, and that its in March, so it's kind of cold still coming out of winter. We also know that the Wright house looks lonely. This picture that the narrator puts in the readers head is one that sets the tone for the whole story. One that we don’t fully get until halfway through
Susan Keating Glaspell was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. She was born July 1, 1876, in Davenport, Iowa. To most readers Susan Glaspell (1876-1948) is still known primarily as the author of Trifles, the frequently anthologized, classic feminist play about two women’s secret discovery of a wife’s murder of her husband, or the short-story “A Jury of Her Peers,” a re-writing of that piece. “Trifles” and “A Jury of Her Peers” are extremely similar to one another in almost every respect. Much of the dialogue is lifted directly from the play and placed into the short story. Additionally, all of the plot points are the same, with some insignificant differences. An
Susan Glaspell was an american playwright, novelist, journalist, and actress, alongside being a strong feminist. Her writings mainly explored contemporary social issues such as gender and ethics. The play “Trifles” is loosely based on the trial of Margaret Hossack for the murder of her husband, John Hossack, which Susan reported during her time of being a journalist of “Des Moines Daily”. Her report was based out of Warren County in Iowa. This vicious murder stunned and divided the close-knit rural community. Neighbors and family members were reluctant to talk about their ideas on what might have happened that cold night of December first, 1900. With some plot adjustments, Susan reconstructed her report into “Trifles”. The play hints to the perspective men held about women during the early 1900s. Susan Glaspell then converted her play into the story, “A Jury of Her Peers”.
"Trifles," a one-act play written by Susan Glaspell, is a cleverly written story about a murder and more importantly, it effectively describes the treatment of women during the early 1900s. In the opening scene, we learn a great deal of information about the people of the play and of their opinions. We know that there are five main characters, three men and two women. The weather outside is frighteningly cold, and yet the men enter the warm farmhouse first. The women stand together away from the men, which immediately puts the men against the women. Mrs. Hale?s and Mrs. Peters?s treatment from the men in the play is reflective of the beliefs of that time. These women, aware of
Trifles is a play written by Susan Glaspell in 1916 about the investigation of a murder. Together the sheriff and his wife, the county attorney, and a neighboring couple, study a murder case in the home where it occurred. The two women pay more attention to the makeup of the home rather than the police report, which gave them an advantage in finding evidence. In the play Trifles, women challenge the stereotype of male dominance through the author’s use of symbolism and diction to find evidence for the murder case at hand.
Susan Glaspell’s one-act play Trifles is based on the murder investigation of John Wright. Minnie Wright’s isolation and the death of her canary are the major factors that led to the murder of her husband. Glaspell stresses the perceived supremacy of males when investigating the murder by giving the men lead roles in the investigation and by making fun of the “trifles” that the women are choosing to observe. It is ironic because the ordinary items observed by the women were thought of as “trifles” to the men, but these items would have actually have aided in solving the murder case. Glaspell uses various forms of irony and symbolism to emphasize the dominance of men, Minnie Wright’s state of isolation, and many other key aspects of the murder in her play Trifles.
“Trifles” a play by Susan Glaspell, emphasizes the thought that women were kept in their homes and their contributions to the home and family went unappreciated and unnoticed. The play gives readers a view of how women were view and treated during the 1900’s. As a female analyzing the play, Mrs. Wright’s motive for killing Mr. Wright was quite clear. Susan Glaspell gives her readers a feminist approach, to demonstrate how Mrs. Wright’s murdering of her husband is justified.
The men laugh at Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters’ observations of the quilt; to them this serves no purpose at all towards their investigation of the murder. This quilt showed a disruption in Mrs. Wright’s life. The knotting that was used for this quilt was coincidentally, not depending on how one interprets the play, the same type that was used to kill Mr. Wright. The women were very observant in this aspect because they were quick to notice this detail while the men were preoccupied examining the dead body and making assumptions that a rope was used to
The play Trifles is a world-famous production written by Susan Glaspell in 1916 during the women’s suffrage movement. The women’s suffrage movement was a point in U.S. history when rights for women, like voting and gender equality, were greatly stressed to be enforced. Glaspell’s involvement in the movement did not go unnoticed. Today Glaspell’s plays are famous worldwide for her feministic and socialistic views on legal reform, and involvement in the women’s suffrage movement. However, the play Trifles stands out amongst her others due to it being based on a true murder story she covered as a reporter. The play is about a man named Mr. Wright who is discovered by his neighbor, Mr. Hale, with rope around his neck murdered. Upon discovering Mr. wright, the county attorney and sheriff get involved, along with Mr. Hales wife, Mrs. Hale, and the sheriff’s wife, Mrs. Peters. Throughout the investigation at the Wright residence, the women are not asked for help, and are looked down upon by the men. While the men seldom ask the women for their opinion on the murder, the case unfolds right in front of the two wives’ eyes. Like the women in the play, Glaspell was unable to play a significant role in the murder case she was involved in, and her observations over small and minor details she thought may be of importance went unnoticed by the men. Throughout the play, Trifles, Glaspell symbolizes the conflict of men versus women seen during this period through recognition, the
Susan Glaspell's Trifles explores the classical male stereotype of women by declaring that women frequently worry about matters of little, or no importance. This stereotype makes the assumption that only males are concerned with important issues, issues that females would never discuss or confront. The characters spend the entirety of the play searching for clues to solve a murder case. Ironically, the female characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, uncover crucial evidence and solve the murder case, not the male characters. The men in the play, the Sheriff, County Attorney, and Hale, search the scene of the crime for evidence on their own, and mock the women's discussions. The women's interest in the quilt,