Women as Seen in Trifles
There were a lot of outstanding female literary figures that saw emergence during the 19th century. One of the many women writers that became known was Susan Glaspell. Glaspell’s works saw her struggle with arguments such as gender and differences and other related concerns, thus making it as one of the 19th century’s legacy. In the middle of an artistic revival and renaissance, Glaspell together with her beloved husband, George Cook, started to write about the issues they were seeing. But in 1915, she started writing the Provincetown Players and saw the involvement of other female writers like Kate Chopin and Fanny Fern to the making of one-act play, the Trifles. (Gionia & Kennedy, 69)
Susan Glaspell’s life is an image of a 19th century woman, grew in the color tradition of gender, which basically changed her perspective in life right after her marriage to Cook. But when her husband
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The play undoubtedly showed that she was helpless in defending herself and is instead, safeguarded through the exposure of her situation. Susan Glaspell’s Trifles tells the audience that women should not be regarded as lesser individuals – less intelligent or less able. Further, that if women are being silenced and deprived, it will lead to revolution, revolt and revenge.
Throughout the Trifles play, dominance of men is obvious. While women were recognized with modest voices compared to louder men. An instance that illustrates the dominance of men is when Mr. Henderson interacts with Mrs. Hale. He asked for the details of Mrs. Hale’s relationship with the Wrights. While Mrs. Hale meekly answered him and gave details, Mr. Henderson immediately cut her speaking and demands a brief answer. Yet another scenario evidently showed domination of men is when men made fun of the quilt constructed by Mrs.
In medieval literature women use men to further their agendas. Women influence men to do their dirty work. For example in the book “Macbeth” Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to kill his friend, King Duncan, so they could rule Scotland. Her influence being to call his manhood into question.
Research papers require a lot of critical thinking, planning, and research. First, one needs an interesting topic. Then, one needs at least one critical reading strategy to analyze the literary works in the topic. Finally, one needs to do preliminary research and write a basic thesis statement. After that, one has the beginning of a good research paper.
Stereotypes are widely accepted pieces of judgment about a person or group but can be very biased, even though they aren’t always accurate especially when it's about being given a gender a role in today’s society. While there are some differences between Fences and other stories read are quite obvious, the similarities between the plays Fences and Trifles are the harsh gender roles given to women and they deserve to be spoken deeper about. Although gender roles today are better than it was ten or more years ago, looking at Trifles’ text pieces one can reflect and say women not so long ago had it hard too, possibly more than in today’s time. In Trifles, Mrs.Peters (Sheriff’s wife) and Mrs.Hale were neglected by the County Attorney,
In the article "Silent Justice in a Different Key: Glaspell's 'Trifles'" by Suzy Clarkson Holstein, Holstein emphasizes the differences between the male and female perspectives from the occurring events in the play "Trifles.” Today it is evident that men and females think very differently. Males think based on their motor skills and females base their thoughts on their intuition and emotions. In the play "Trifles" the opening scene introduces the sheriff, Mr. Peters, and an attorney, Mr. Henderson, who are investigating the stone-cold murder of John Wright, who was strangled to death.
Patriarchy presents the roles of men and women in a distinct form. Men are expected to be the dominant leader, strong, protector and sole provider where as women are subverted to the role of domestic duties, raring of children and fulfilling her man’s every desire without question or comment. In Lynn Nottage ’s play Poof! , she brilliantly portrays the roles of men and women, and experiments with the concept of changing gender roles that are characteristic of our society.
On the other hand, “POOF!”, is a one-act play that takes a more comedic and fantasy route when her abusive husband disappears into thin air after she damns him to hell. Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” takes a more dramatic route in exploring the issue of
The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is largely based on stereotypes. The most prevalent one explores the difference between gender roles. Glaspell exerts the repression of women in the 1900s. During that time, women were highly looked down upon by men, and were only seen as the housekeepers and child bearers. This example is displayed throughout the play with the men, however, the women in this play prove that the stereotypes of gender roles held against them are completely wrong, which is shown through the characters, set design, and symbolism.
Societal Expectations are not Barriers Two inspiring pieces of literature called Macbeth by William Shakespeare and “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkings Gilman share one eminent theme, which is the suppression of the female gender. Societies often place barbaric labels on those who seem unworthy rather than fight the judgments that are concrete and see for themselves. Social ideas during the two diverse time periods demonstrate how women are not seen as powerful figures and insanity progress within those who are stereotyped. Women are seen as creatures that are ineligible to think for themselves in.
Mrs. Wright is the main character in Susan Glaspell’s one-act play Trifles. While Mrs. Wright is being held by the police for her husband’s murder, a few men go to investigate her home, and a few women go along to gather some of her things to bring to her in jail. As the ladies collect Mrs. Wright’s possessions, they begin to come across trifles. The trifles include: a messy kitchen, a poorly sewn quilt, and a broken bird cage with a missing bird. The women view these items as important clues, and withhold their findings from the men so that they could help Mrs. Wright out of her troubles.
Susan Glaspell’s short story “A Jury of Her Peers” acts as a commentary on early twentieth century American society, when considering gender-based biases in regards to community. In the story, the characters are divided into groups based on their gender, and must use their own experiences to understand each other, through the investigation of the murder of Mr. Wright. The wife of Mr. Wright, Minnie, is the primary suspect, and despite this, the women of the community come together to empathize with her circumstances despite finding incriminating evidence against her. The insight into Minnie’s struggles in her marriage are relatable to the other women, which displays Glaspell’s critique of oppressive gender roles. “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan
The Pursuit of Justice for Women Through the Comparison of Glaspell's Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers Susan Glaspell first wrote the play "Trifles" and then a short time later followed up with the short story "A Jury of Her Peers". The story and the play contain many parallels such as: the setting, the plot, and the same characters. Even though they are very similar they have different titles which seem to be fitting for each. In the play, Hale states that women are constantly "worrying over trifles. " Yet, these trifles are the evidence the men need to convict Minnie.
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.
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.
The men in Trifles may be detectives, but they are incompetent to the case, due to their ignorance. Ken Jaworowski, the author of a segment for the New York Times, wrote, “The women examine the details -- the trifles -- of the suspect's life to discover a deeper meaning and in the end solve a mystery by exposing a tragedy.” The women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, are overlooked often in this play by the men. Hale, one of the male characters from the play states, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.” (Glaspell) This statement reveals how the men go straight to stereotypes with the women.
These ill portrayed characters make their development imprecise or inaccurate for the understanding of the them Glaspell was trying to get across. At the start of the performance by the d’moiselles company, the actress playing Mrs. Peters, Melinda Grahm, comes out and performs a short monologue as the playwright, Glaspell. During the original production of Trifles, Glaspell performed the role of Mrs. Hale. This added scene Greening contributes to the understanding of the play and how Glasspell did intend to be apart but it should be questioned why the role of Mrs. Peters was played by the same actress instead of Mrs. Hale.