In the play Trifles, Susan Glaspell demonstrates the injustice towards women and their very basic fundamental rights, this brings the patience of a few women to a tipping point and initiates the birth of a buried movement after centuries of reticence, during the early twentieth century in North America. It is this common memory and experiences among women, which motivated few women to rise up against the male dominated Justice System, which eventually wakes up the rest of the women in the society through time. However, ironically, this movement is accomplished in a secret way and in silence against the male dominated justice system of America, because silence itself is a very powerful tool for women; in other words concealing of knowledge helps
Also, the accusations themselves were just incredibly random, and the judges were so gullible that they would just believe almost anything. The accusers had absolutely no evidence is a reason for the unfairness of the Salem Witch Trials. Towards the end of the book, they started using what is known as spectral evidence, which is basically referring to “a witness testimony that the accused person’s spirit or spectral shape
But they decide to hide the evidence to prove their ideas should be valued and are not something to be trifled, with the irony in the play which comes from the title. Trifles are defined as things of little importance. Within the play, irony comes from the men believing the women 's opinions are trifling although the women solve the crime. As a result, it leads to the men 's lack of evidence to prosecute Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters chose to hide the evidence because they see part of themselves in Mrs. Wright and do not want to condemn her.
Solving a case involves the person to make sacrifices to get the truth. If the truth is not found, then the situation will never be solved. Throughout the act Reverend Hale has been helping out the innocent. After Reverend Hale accuses Abigail Williams for witchcraft, he then begins asking her questions. Mistakes were made after Reverend Hale said,”When you were with the devil who did you see with him”(1-143.144).
Power is said to corrupt anyone sadly not even children are immune. In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller tells a story about witchcraft which is based on actual past events that happened in Salem. In this story, Reverend Hale plays a very important role being one of the few who realizes that the witchcraft claims are a sham. It is interesting to see Hale as he is forced to deal with a major conflict, come to terms with his own motivations, and characteristics. Throughout the story, Hale served as the main mediator who tried to no avail to end the witch hunts.
This eventually leads to the characters in the story to commit acts of villainy. Rather than to blame a character for their villainy, Pon chooses to view the patriarchal system as the villain. Her perception is that the novel portrays the characters as unable to fulfil the expectation of gender roles from the patriarchal system therefore the characters are then led “towards hypocrisy, hysteria and crime” (71). Overall, Pons analysis is directed towards defending the idea that villainy in Rebecca is not directly related to gender, but instead it is connected with the desire to uphold a high position within terms of
Throughout the story of Trifles Susan Glaspell gave hints to the reader that the story was not as it seemed, although it takes almost until the end of the story to understand what is going on it is known from the beginning that Mrs.Wright killed her husband, but the entire investigation is about finding why she killed him. To understand why she did this the reader must know what it was like for women when Susan Glaspell wrote the story. When this story was written, it was during a time when women did not have many rights all of the small things in their lives were the pertinent objects that they held close to their hearts. Throughout this story the reader has to look deep into the story to find out why she did it, in the end the reader realizes that she makes small mistakes that leads to only women of her time understanding those mistakes.
In “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, the sheriff, Mr. Peters, is struggling to find a motive for Mr. Wright’s murder case due to his sexist views. However, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, are able to find significant clues that lead to Mrs. Wright’s motive because they relate to her living conditions. Although Mrs. Wright claims to have been asleep during her husband’s murder, the women conclude she strangled her husband, Mr. Wright, as evidenced by the slaughtered canary, the broken bird cage, and the errant quilt patch. The slaughtered canary wrapped in silk is a significant clue, which leads to Mrs. Wright’s motive. When the women unwrap the bird, Mrs. Peters notices that “somebody wrung its neck.” It does not make sense for Mrs. Wright to kill her own bird because it was the only thing that brought light into her life.
The gender war in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles is displayed in three ways: the men’s words and actions towards the women, the setting of the story, and the symbols embedded within the play. Throughout Trifles, the men’s actions and dialogue are very condescending towards the women. In most cases, they blew off their input into the investigation like they weren’t even talking, or in the room for that matter. When in reality, the women are the ones who ultimately solve the crime according to the story. There are various cases in the story where the men have snide remarks, or sound snobby and sarcastic.
Feminism assumes to itself the right to demand respect and equality in every aspect of life. The modern, feminists call women to rise up and rebel against the order that God has given to mankind. Feminism seeks to force humanistic values in direct opposition to the Word of God. Extensive feminist struggle cannot change the fact that it is women who bear children. A true feminist must feel it as a great injustice to womankind, that it is women, who bear children.