Mrs Hale's Use Of Dramatic Irony In Trifles

Mrs. Hale, as the protagonist in this play, is Mrs. Wright’s main defender and champion. There is a profound sadness throughout this play. With this portion, we can feel the already established theme of sadness, isolation, and long standing depravation of friendship and love experienced by Minnie Foster since she became Mrs. Wright. The author uses imagery to show how she has changed over time “She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively . . . one of the town girls singing in the choir.” The author is also using an indirect symbolism between the bird and Mrs. Wright. The bird has pretty feathers, was lively and sang. In this snippet, we see the comparison between Mrs. Wright and the bird. Mrs. Hale points out at the onset how Mrs.

Hale as she is seeing first-hand what has become of the once vibrant Minnie Foster. It is interesting Mrs. Hale keeps referring to Mrs. Wright by her name before she married Mr. Wright. The author does this to reinforce the differences in the kind of person Minnie Foster was and the kind of person Mrs. Wright is. Mrs. Peters is also seeing and feeling how sad and lonesome life has been for Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Hale regrets not being a better friend and is beginning to feel some culpability for the murder of Mr. Wright. We see dramatic irony in the fact that Mrs. Hale speaks of her lack of reaching out to Mrs. Wright with friendship played a role in the actions of Mrs. Wright and if she had what that friendship would have meant to Mrs. Wright. At the same time, Mrs. Peters inadvertently adds fuel to the flames of Mrs. Hale’s guilt by pointing out that Mrs. Wright did not even have children to occupy her days like Mrs. Hale did. Feeling even worse, the author uses imagery to show how desolate this farm really is. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters both realize now that what they have learned about Mrs. Wright (by being in her home) her life and marriage have been far worse than they could have