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Triffles – Susan Glaspell Analysis

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Triffles – Susan Glaspell Analysis

Triffles is a play written by Susan Glaspell concerning a murder mystery in the early

1900s. The play commences with the coming together of the Sheriff, Mr. Peters, and Mr.

Henderson, who attempt to find out what transpired, resulting in the death of Mr. Wright.

Both the sheriff and the County Attorney are accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Hale, with

Mr. Hale narrating to the County Attorney of Mrs. Wright's strange behavior when he

came across her in their kitchen. Upon listening to the women, the three men leave the

women and head for the murder scene without recognizing how the murder plot began in

the kitchen. Meanwhile, the women were making what would be the most valuable

conclusion without the men's realization. As they sought evidence around the house, the

women discovered valuable discoveries, such as the stitching patterns of Mrs. Wright that

revealed her nervousness while stitching. The men disregard the most important room for

leading the investigations, the kitchen. The women stepped into a male-dominated area

and took the lead, finding crucial evidence (Glaspell, 2010).

The discovery of the broken door to the birdcage was even a more precious and critical

revelation of the crime. Later, the two women find Mrs. Wright's sewing basket, with a

dead bird inside, whose neck was also broken. The dead bird helped find answers to the

women's previous predicament, answering all their questions from earlier. This discovery

and revelation of the truth scared the two women, and while the men were still attempting

to find answers through evidence, the women were already replaying the crime in their

minds. According to the women, Mrs. Wright had been sewing when her husband came

in. Wright hated birds and their chirping, going by a conversation with Mr. Hale.

According to the women, an altercation arose, with Mr. Wright breaking the bird’s neck,
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killing it immediately, which gave his wife a motive to kill him. The women found the

evidence and concluded the murder scene, replaying it repeatedly while the men were

still moving around, which shows aspects of gender stereotypes and the emergence of a

new woman. The men could not stay around the kitchen since the kitchen is thought of as

a woman's place. However, in this case, the kitchen was the most significant area

(Glaspell, 2010).

Mrs. Wright was finally arrested and taken to jail. However, despite the women's

inclination to Mrs. Wright's motives and her husband killing the bird, it seems suspect

since breaking a bird's neck would not require much. An adult bird is about 10

centimeters, while a male adult hand is about 18 centimeters. As a result, Mr. Wright

could easily crush the entire bird in his palm. If someone is as enraged as going to the

extent of killing a bird, they logically will crash it, not strangle it. The women's

imagination is inconclusive and simply not good enough. The women assume that Mrs.

Wright had enough reasons to kill her husband by strangling him out of the bird's death.

However, the bird had an odor at its discovery, which implies it may have been dead for

some days—making their conclusion even looser. I believe Mrs. Wright was not guilty of

the murder, seeing that Mr. Wright did not kill the bird.
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References

Glaspell, S. (2010). Trifles: A play in one act. Baker's Plays.