In the play of “Trifles”, by Susan Glaspell took to the stage as a feminist playwright writer; in fact, she exposes afflictions and hardships women underwent in the 1900s because of their gender. The 20th century was a time of dilemma for women: they were trapped between the traditional male and female roles. Glaspell’s Trifles also signifies the patriarchal society, where men are the dominating superior beings of this society and their wives are the ones who have no important contributing factor roles; except be submissive, cook, clean, mend the house/farm or children.
Women were no longer accepted as housewives, yet, oddly were dependable for minor meaningless task. To direct her message, Glaspell adopts symbolism, irony, and foreshadowing to illustrate the power struggles women were exposed to when they were legally entangled with men and, the emotional empathy women had during an unspoken fellowship.
Trifles are important clues in a crime scene, they can be used to develop a concrete idea of phenomena’s or a series of events leading to. Susan Glaspell, through foreshadowing, illustrates that men ignore important trifles; for example, the County Attorney ignoring the empty birdcage while the women could discern the clues. On the other hand, trifle refer to the inhumane treatment that Mr. Wright subject his wife and which Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters analyze from the clues. To the women the birdcage as Mrs. Wright’s own prison while the strangling of the bird was killing her own voice.
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Minnie in the play was portrayed as a woman full of life, an amazing singer, and dressed to impress before she married John. After Minnie married John, she became anti-social, dressed in dull clothing and stop singing, “MRS PETERS: She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that—oh, that was thirty years ago.” The bird singing, symbolized Minnie’s escape to her past, allowing her soul to escape to a happy place, “MRS HALE: She—come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself—real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and—fluttery. How—she—did—change.”
Assuming John killed the bird to show how much he hated singing and showing dominating dominion over his wife, “MRS HALE: (with a slow look around her) I wonder how it would seem never to have had any children around, (pause) No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird—a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too.” In the women’s view the act was heinous enough to warrant the retribution; certainly murder. Contrary, the men considered the murder as the utmost violation of the law and as they continued to gather visual concrete clues. Susan Glaspell, the master of foreshadowing; in fact, used her mastery to expose the trifle earlier in the play. The trifles included the jar of cherries, the bird, and the birdcage.
Mrs. Hale, says to Mrs. Peters, “I think there’s some here that’s all right, Mrs. Peters. Yes–here; [Holding it toward the window] this is cherries, too. …… She’ll feel awful bad after all her hard work in the hot weather. I remember the afternoon I put up my cherries last summer (77). An international Journalist of Women’s Studies named Beverly Smith, believed Minnie was isolated and stayed on the shelf like the jars until she was broken by coldness of marriage, her secretes left in pressure bursts of the containers. The only intact jar is the secret to the prosecution; hence, murder. According to Smith, “the single intact jar symbolizes the one remaining secret, the motivation to complete the prosecutor’s case” (Smith 175).
The bird represented the solitary Mrs. Wright; the birdcage her imprisonment, the straggling of the bird was killing her voice as a songster. In this quote, “MRS PETERS: (in a whisper) When I was a girl—my kitten—there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes—and before I could get there—(covers her face an instant) If they hadn’t held me back I would have—(catches herself, looks upstairs where steps are heard, falters weakly)—hurt him.”, If Mrs. Peters felt this way after this was done to her cat, imagine what Minnie felt when John killed her bird by snapping its neck. Maybe in a stage of devastation and with a history of prolonged abuse; consequently, ironically Minnie returns that favor by snapping her husband’s neck. Thus; Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale demonstrating empathy; indeed, creating a fellowship through emotion and reflection. Meanwhile; the men are trying to find a visual clue to indict Minnie.
Patriarchy and male superiority worked as the set societal laws; this system involved the women to become legally entangled. The legal system allowed men to only to look for visual clues of the murder rather than emotional reasoning behind it. At the house, Mr. Wright could not discern the symbols that surrounded him and neither did the attorney. While in the crime scene, the County Attorney tells Mrs. Hale, “No–it’s not cheerful. I shouldn’t say she had the homemaking instinct,” illustrating his perception of Minnie as only a woman of the house. To show the conflict of gender, Mrs. Hale, responds, “Well, I don’t know as Wright had, either” (11).
Since the answer to the prosecution rested on the trifles, the men could not solve the case as they passed pieces-of evidence that only the women could interpret; hence, they are creatures of details and reflection. The men were blinded by their place in the society as the protectionists; thus, resulting them to be affected by tunnel vision. Glaspell accomplished in adopting symbolism, irony, and foreshadowing to illustrate the power struggles women were exposed to when they were legally entangled with men and, the emotional empathy women had during an unspoken fellowship.
Whether in feminist view of socialist perceptions, the struggle that women were faced in the 1900s is still rife. Women are still overshadowed and are expected to lie low despite their efforts to tackle on uprising world issues. The place of women in society today is still grey in the political world, education, family, and even in the legal structures. Despite the numerous amounts of revolutions, depicting women to become an equal member of society; instead of being viewed as an inferior contributor, are constantly changing. The world is still grappling with gender equality yet, one day, women will be praise for discovering the trifles.
