Critical Analysis On Trifles

Susan Keating Glaspell (1876 - 1948) was a ​novelist, journalist and actress. Not to
mention, she was also a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright with ‘Allison’s House’, her most
notable work. Nevertheless, Carpentier (2008) notes that ​Trifles is “commonly
acknowledged as one of the greatest works of the modern American theatre” (p.3)
and is first staged at Wharf Theater in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1916.
“Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is a short play about a murder in an isolated farmhouse.
The two most prevalent theme that can be seen in the play are ‘female identity’ and
‘law, duty and justice’.

From the very beginning, the play has the female characters in the limelight.
Taking into account the initial appearance of the male characters in the beginning of
the play and the occasional checkups they did on the ladies throughout the span of
the play, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale never left the audiences’ view. Even Mrs. Wright
takes the center stage from the kick start of the play until the very end despite her not
being physically present in the play. Clearly, Trifles puts a hard emphasis on the
females which in turn, revolves around one of the prevalent themes aforementioned,
female identity.

“Gender identity, in nearly all instances, is self-identified, as a result of a

combination of inherent and extrinsic or environmental factors; gender role, on the
other hand, is manifested within society by observable factors such as behavior and
appearance” (Ghosh, 2015). The writer dabbles with the idea of gender role and to
narrow down the topic of focus, the idea of female identity. Females have always
been equated to the duty of keeping the household in order, which is an unchanging
stereotype from the beginning of time. Females naturally and instinctively have a
desire to protect and care for them and are viewed as having higher emotional
capacity and are more compassionate compared to male. It is the beautiful nature of
womanhood and there is nothing wrong with that.

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 However, due to the inherent maternal qualities that the females have, they are
subjected to high expectations that are most of the time, preposterous. Early in the
play, it can be seen that the males, upon entering the Wrights’ household, comment
the unruly condition of the kitchen in disdain and question Mrs. Wright’s worth as a
wife, which upsets the females on the scene. Mrs. Hale comes to Mrs. Wright’s
defense saying, “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm.” but the county
attorney, Mr. George Henderson, merely shrugs her off and continues to put out
snarky remarks. Mr. Henderson also jibes on the Mrs. Peters’s observation on the
preservatives as trivial and out of place when they have things more serious to worry
about which is the murder. Mr. Hale then adds, “Well, women are used to worrying
over trifles.” in respond to the county attorney’s remark. Hope the word “trifles” rings
a bell because it is indeed the title of the play. ”Trifles” means something of little
importance or significance and the word is used as the essence of the whole play
whereby the ‘trifles’ that men ignore in fact hold a great importance . Females,
namely housewives, are to be expected to always keep the household in order and
everything in check. In a sense, if a woman is not able to fulfil such expectation, they
are view as a lesser being, putting their worth at the lowest.

Besides, it should be highlighted that the women in the play, excluding Minnie
Foster, are not given any proper names and are instead they are assigned with the
surnames of their husbands. In a way, the females’ identity is defined by their
relationship to the men they married, implying the male as the dominant gender.
Such social construct has been deeply rooted in our society. This in turn makes the
male see themselves as superior as they easily subdued the females whom they
perceive as weaker and compliant. They are viewed as submissive and are looked
down upon thus, they almost do not have any say in anything and their opinions do
not hold high significance to the males.

Next in discussion is the theme of law, duty and justice. The males and females
hold the definition of justice in different ways. For the men, justice is what comes off
the law, nothing else while the ladies see justice as something more complex, having
to take into consideration of the more abstract elements such as the emotions and
the reason behind the act to justify their verdict. Susan Glaspell sheds light on a very

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interesting question of where the fine line of justice lies. It is vague, so to speak as
different people view justice in different way. As stated by Carpentier (2008),”Just as
Glasspell based Trifles on the Hossack murder case and used it to challenge
traditional ideas of jurisprudence based solely on the “higher’…and abstract
principles” rendered by symbolic” (p. 5). For George Henderson, the county attorney,
and Henry Peters, the sheriff, the concept of law and duty is intricately linked with
duty and justice, which is understandable since they are the law enforcers. On the
other hand, Mrs. Hale defines true justice as being able to punish for the wrong deed
one had done and if given context of the play, she justifies Mrs. Wright’s act of killing
as it is a form of retaliation against the husband, who for years had been treating his
wife wrongfully. In other words, the killing itself is a form of justice.

Justice, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is defined as fairness in the way

people are dealt with while law, on the other hand, is a ​rule​, usually made by
a ​government​, that is used to ​order​ the way in which a ​society​ ​behaves​. When these
two words are mentioned together, naturally people will look at them as the same
thing. They are not, apparently, as justice covers a large scope of aspects whilst law
is just one of the elements under the umbrella term. In retrospect, law has not always
serve justice. For justice to be served, it shall not be simply hardwired to the
accordance to the law alone. Law itself can be manipulated, and the law itself can be
used as a tool for tyranny.

In summation, Trifles is not just merely a murder mystery play. More importantly,
Trifles is written as a play to show the how women were treated around her time
which is in the nineteenth century. Susan Glaspell incorporates the use of irony and
symbolism in order to convey the power struggle women have to endure when their
legal obligations conflict with their protective nature and empathetic feelings for a
fellow women. Women’s power is different; it is subtle and indirect but nevertheless
strong. It is a good play to provoke awareness on the empowerment of women that
so that they can realise the strength they have within.

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 (1210 words)

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References

Carpentier, M.C. (Ed.). (2008). ​Susan Glaspell: New Direction IN Critical Inquiry.
Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

​ etrieved February 10, 2018, from

Ghosh, S. (2015, March 16). ​Gender identity. R
https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/917990-overview

Glaspell, S. (2010). ​Trifles.​ Players Press: University of Virginia. Ed. William -Alan
Landes