Trifles by Susan Glaspell Women’s Silent Voices Essay

In today’s society, we generally view upon everyone as equal; however this view did not exist for decades. Throughout history, there were many instances showing that men dominated women and women were often seen as left with less important or treated as an inferior being. Women were often expected to be good mothers to their children as well as caretakers to their husband. After reading the play â€Å"Trifles† by Susan Glaspell, I was able to grasp the important facts about social views of women and their domestic roles. Glaspell’s play depicts the gender inequality which exists in the society, drawing significant attention to the societal values of women at that time. Although women’s roles are treated as unimportant, she depicts women’s†¦show more content†¦However, Susan Glaspell uses the kitchen in the plot as another theatrical metaphor for a domain of gender identification because it is a women’s domestic territory where womenà ¢â‚¬â„¢s life is revealed through common kitchen items. Throughout the play, we can distinguish the roles given to women in that era. In this era, women’s roles were generally reproductive, so they have been relegated to the home with less interaction with the outside world. Because kitchens have often served as work spaces, women have found a sense of empowerment through domestic tasks such as cooking, food knowledge, and efficiency of the kitchen. These conditions reveal the state of mind of women in the play. Minnie Wright’s â€Å"gloomy kitchen† (Glaspell 443) is â€Å"left without having been put in order—unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the breadbox, a dish towel on the table—other signs of incompleted work† (Glaspell 443). She lost her motivation to do housework chores, which represents that her mind is battered and leads to Mr. Wright’s murder—he has distorted her life. The dialogues between the men and women in â€Å"Trifles† are important because they help the reader understand the patriarchal society which does not allow women to have a life of their own. In their dialogue towards the women, the men ridicule women’s roles. As we see this in the beginning of the play, Mr. Hale despises the women becauseShow MoreRelatedWomen s Suffrage By Susan Glaspell1364 Words   |  6 PagesFemale Oppression and Liberation in Trifles Between December 1st and 2nd 1900, John Hossack (a farmer from Warren County, Iowa) was murdered with an ax by his wife while in bed (Iowa Cold Cases, Inc). This play was inspired by the true story of Margaret Hossack, an Iowa farm wife who was charged with the murder of her husband John. One of the reporters, Susan Glaspell, decided to write a literary version of this investigation and â€Å"Trifles† came to be. Susan Glaspell is a feminist writer from DavenportRead MoreSusan Glaspells Trifles1479 Words   |  6 PagesSusan Glaspell’s 1916 play titled â€Å"Trifles† uses many elements of drama such as, diction and spectacle through the actions of the two women as they rummage through a unusually messy kitchen to develop complexity and hold the attention of the audience until the very end. Glaspell uses irony and common misconceptions to convey her powerful message â€Å"Trifles† is also a play that reflects a clear notion of gender and sex roles. Glaspel l, a feminist writer, writes plays that are known for their developmentRead MoreThe Dramatic Play Trifles 1099 Words   |  5 PagesIn the dramatic play, â€Å"Trifles†, Mr. Wright has been hung in his farmhouse and all suspicions point to his wife. The County Attorney, Sheriff Peters, and a neighbor, Mr. Hale go to Mr. Wright’s house to investigate the crime scene. When they arrive at the house, they find Mrs. Wright sitting on the porch and she is silent. Along with the three men there are two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. While the men do an investigation, the women conduct an investigation of their own. Walking throughRead MoreWomen s Rights On The Grounds Of Political, Social, And Economic Equality1508 Words   |  7 Pagestoday, it wasn’t quite as popular back in the 19th century when the play â€Å"Trifles† was written by Susan Glaspell. This play, written in 1916, focuses on the culturally rooted ideas of gender and sex roles given to ea ch member of society and how women began to challenge them. Women were mostly just assigned to the reproductive role in society so they were confined to the home to care of the children and their husbands. Glaspell incorporates inciting details to the play that allowed us to sympathizeRead MoreSusan Glaspell s Trifles On The Matter Under The Murder Investigation Essay796 Words   |  4 Pagesconcerned by society from the past to the present. Susan Glaspell wrote Trifles in 1919 implying the matter under the murder investigation. It was 4 years before women had a right to vote in the United States in 1920. The story is about the investigation of the county attorney, Sheriff, Mrs. Hales and two women Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hales regarding Mr. Wright’s death. It is also about the prejudice and discrimination of men toward women and the women’s status in the society at this point of time. TheRead MoreWomen ´s Role During the Twentieth Century: Susan Glaspell1137 Words   |  5 PagesSusan Glaspell uses a variety of symbols in her play to demonstrate the stereotypical view and treatment of women by men during the start of the twentieth century. She intricately portrays the female characters in her story as intelligent, but passive due to the fact that males dismiss their ideas and conversations as unimportant. The play, Trifles, uses multiple symbols to show how men fail to recognize the intelligence of women, and oppress the feminists’ way of thinking throughout society. TheRead MoreComparison essay -- Trifles and A Dolls House1460 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Desperate Times Call For Desperate Change People are capable of doing crazy things! Nora, in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, loved her husband so much that she committed forgery just for the sake of his wellbeing. Susan Glaspell’s character in Trifles, Mrs. Wright, murders her husband after she discovers that he killed the one most precious thing to her, her pet bird. It was out of love that these women committed illegal crimes. Nora wanted her husband to be healthy because she loved him and knewRead MoreThe Revolt Of Mother By Mary E. Wilkins Freeman And Trifles By Susan Glaspell1736 Words   |  7 PagesKeana Jones April 6, 2017 â€Å"The Revolt of ‘Mother’† by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and Trifles by Susan Glaspell: Where’s The Power Of Feminism ? In the late nineteenth century, America was considered as a patriarchal society. Where males had all control and women worked as their slave. Women were to support all decisions, cook, clean, conceive children, teach, and remain silent. Women has continuously remained a lower standard than men. Still today, womankind is assumed of as unintelligent, inadequateRead MoreTrifles- Battle of the Sexes Essay1898 Words   |  8 Pageswomen did not have a voice or a valued opinion; they were simply thought of as unseen and unintelligent. It took nearly 72 years before the 19th amendment to our Constitution was signed into law, granting women the right to vote (Infoplease). During the early part of the twentieth century, the duties and structures of women’s lives would have predisposed them to approach a problem from a different angle than that of men and even today, despite the significant changes in women’s lives and opportunitiesRead MoreAn Analysis Of Zora Neale Hurstons Tri fles By Susan Glaspell1138 Words   |  5 Pagessupremacy was undoubtedly the predominant basis of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Rendered unable to voice their own opinions, women then turned to pen and paper as a way to communicate their thoughts. From this, arose the following pieces: Kate Chopin’s short story â€Å"The Story of an Hour,† Emily Dickinson’s poem â€Å"She rose to His Requirement - dropt,† Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles, and Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes were Watching God. Through skillful integrations of metaphors, similes