The one-act play, “Trifles,” by Susan Glaspell, has several themes that are incorporated within it. There are several dominant ideas such as female identity, patriarchal dominance, isolation, and justice are themes that are all reflected in different ways throughout the play; however, gender is the main theme of “Trifles.” There is a considerable difference between the roles of the men and the women in this play. The men are expected to act in a more controlling, dominant way, while the women are expected to act in the typical ‘housekeeper’ fashion. The theme of gender is brought out through the play in many dramatic elements such as character, tone, and dramatic irony. In “Trifles,” the gender roles are depicted clearly through the characters. The men: the Sheriff, the County Attorney, and Mr. Hale, are …show more content…
This irony occurs when the audience understands a concept or situation that the characters do not. Written in the 1900’s, “Trifles” deals with the rights of women and the assumptions about women in society at that time. Throughout the play, the Court Attorney, the Sheriff, and Mr. Hale are so deep into the fact that the women are focusing on the little things, such as the trifles. In reality, the men are the ones focusing on the little things, such as the bad housekeeping. “Dirty towels! (kicks his foot against the pans under the sink) Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?” (Meyer 1389). In an ironic turn, the audience knows that the women have solved the murder mystery while the men remain oblivious of the truth because of their assumptions. The two women end up identifying with Minnie Wright’s abuse at the hands of her husband and feel the murder was justified. They then conspire to conceal the truth from their ignorant husbands and the County Attorney. The dramatic irony plays a huge role throughout the play, especially in wrapping up the
Throughout the story, situational irony is intertwined in certain sections to create suspense and
A final example of situational irony is when “Red Chief’s” father responds to the ransom note. The reader expects that the father will be frantic or worried about getting his child home safely, and be willing to pay a ransom for getting his son back into his own care. Again, the father does not react as expected, instead he knows that his son is not tolerable for a long period of time as which means he is not worried about his child very much due to they will be willing to
Humans, during their lifespan, search for meaning in life. Flannery O’Connor writes a story about a man called Mr. Shiftlet. Mr. Shiftlet ends up on a farm and works for a strange woman called Old Lucynell. As Shiftlet works on Old Lucynell’s farm he and old Lucynell agree he will marry Old Lucynell’s deaf daughter who is referred to as Young Lucynell. Shiftlet eventually marries Young Lucynell only to leave her at the Hotspot.
As such, lower class women were likely more subordinated because of their affiliation to the domestic sphere, and their inability to enter the public domain. The difference in the status in relation to women’s domestic lives are shown in the Mrs. Minnie Wright character, being subjected to scrutiny and oppression by George Henderson, suggesting that she is an “unfit housewife” (Glaspell 180). The point also made here is that women were said to be the “queen of the castle”. George Henderson’s criticism of Mrs. Minnie Wright’s housekeeping skills suggests she could in no way have been queen of the castle and be subjected to such criticism. The observation of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters’ comments about Mrs. Wright was one of empathy, and relational, by responding to the men about the tediousness associated with cleaning a house and operating a “farm” (Glaspell
A Doll's House to challenge those gender roles, providing interesting points of comparison and contrast between the plays and challenging us to think about gender roles in a new way. Trifles
One of the first instances of situational irony is when the “would be” kidnappers first carry little “Red Chief” off to their lair. The reader expects the kidnappers to be serious and smarter than they are in the story. They try to be serious but they just can’t control themselves. However, the kidnappers do not behave as the reader would expect, instead they act kind of scared of “Red Chief”.
Throughout the short story Lamb to the Slaughter, author Roald Dahl suggests that a person’s gender does not define their actions or abilities through his use of irony and setting. Firstly, Dahl utilizes irony within the story to illustrate that a person can do anything, no matter their gender. When Mary murders her husband by “[swinging] the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and [bringing] it down as hard as she could on the back of his head,” situational irony is put into place, due to this being the very last thing expected of a housewife in the 1950s (Dahl 2). This situation irony helps to illuminate the theme that gender does not define one’s actions because despite the set role for a woman in the 1950s being a housewife that blindly supports and loves her husband no
someone could be smiling and laughing, but inward could be miserable. The abundant examples of irony in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible hints that appearances can often be deceiving from reality. Verbal irony has created confusion and suspicion because people say things, when they mean an entirely different definition. Situational irony causes tension and suspicion because expectations in the audience and cast aren't met.
Act III of the play is with even more gender roles that change as well. “O, proper stuff! This is the very painting of your fear. This is the air-drawn dagger which you said Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts, Impostors to true fear, would well become A woman 's story at a winter 's fire, Authorized by her grandam.
This piece of literature is filled with irony. Verbal, dramatic and situational irony can all be found throughout the novel. Dramatic irony is especially found in the lines “Tonight, having dried and brushed her hair and bound it in a gauzy bandanna, she set out the clothes she intended to wear to church the next morning: nylons, black pumps, a red velveteen dress- her
The Irony comes into play when Dimmesdale becomes rather idiosyncratic to the reader since the character is, essentially, a fraud. Furthermore, the reader is able to distinguish the use of motif and the need to keep reputations intact and
One example of irony in the book is the lottery. “The lottery was conducted , just like the all the other celebrations in the town” (Shirley, Jackson). This quote relates to the theme because this quote makes us think that the lottery is a happy and fun time of the year, that something good will happen if the person wins the lottery. But what eventually turned out was the lottery being a bad and terrible thing, and someone dying at the end. “The events of the story are related in a matter-of-fact and objective way”(Wilson).
Trifles the Challenge The play, Trifles, places both men and women in sharp contrast to one another in relationship to their roles and social position in the society. While men occupy the important positions such as the Sherriff and the county attorney, women are basically attributed to no more than playing domestic roles. Indeed, even in the investigation of Mr. Wright’s murder, men are playing the core role of investigators while women are simply left in the kitchen to play the minor of collecting things requested by Mrs. Wrights. The social stereotypes of men playing important roles than women in the society is set and advanced by the setting of the play.
Ariel Dorfman’s “Death and the Maiden” is a work of drama that aims to provide a social commentary on the social after effects of a post dictatorial regime. Dealing with gender roles, the ambiguity of the truth, and the role of justice - Dorfman provides an outlet for victims of war crimes to question their own experiences, as well as forcing an entire society to ponder questions that seem unanswerable. Through the use of the motif of light, contrasting scene choice and an important final dialogue, Dorfman creates a moving work that leads the spectator to wonder: viewing Paulina as a victim of a patriarchal society, do her strifes and emotional conviction make us more or less sure of the authenticity of her accusations? A pivotal part of
b) In comparison to the last article, this second article segregates its paragraphs based on the decade in which it is referring to, following a chronological order from roughly 1850 to present time. While one way to discuss the article would be to draw on the main points from each decade, I am choosing instead to discuss the overall main points from the article and using the different time periods for support. These main points of discussion being how economics, politics and social changes of gender impact aprons appearance, style, materials, manufacturing and purpose throughout the twentieth century. As such, the first point of discussion is economics, which contributed to what people could afford to buy as well as the make of the apron.