The two best words to describe women in the 19th century were housewives and mothers. Some may ask why so? In the 1900s, men were perceived as the superior gender and degraded the women’s role in marriages. As a woman in the 1900s, their duty was to cook, clean, take care of the children, and obey their husbands. Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, takes place at a farmhouse involving a murder case. However, the play has a deeper meaning. Trifles is not just an ordinary play about a murder case, but also about the differences between genders at this time. The main theme shown in the play is gender roles. Glaspell’s message in this play is to demonstrate how women were treated unfairly and as the weaker gender, causing them to rebel and prove that stereotype wrong.
Women in the 1900s experienced a different treatment than men, for their physicality and character that caused society to believe they weren’t the superior sex. Men during this time held their heads high in order to show their dominance to their families. As the play begins, the audience can sense the tension between Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters by analyzing their body language and facial expressions. They both cross their arms and keep their head low, not wanting to look up. The body language of arms crossing has a significant meaning. Most of the time that position is meant for a defensive stand for people who are afraid of something. At the beginning of the play, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters had their arms crossed, indicating they are both afraid and nervous by being around Mr. Hale, the sheriff, and the attorney.
As the play goes, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters begin to search the kitchen since the men thought the kitchen was nothing but fill with kitchen appliances which had no benefit to the crime scene. Once the men headed upstairs to further investigate, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, began their search and discovered an empty birdcage along with a red box. Inside the box was a dead canary whose neck was broken and wrapped with silk. After finding the evidence, Mrs. Hale hid the dead canary in her dress to hide the evidence from the men. This shows how Mrs. Hale understands and realized how important the canary was to Winnie, and because of its death, it brought loneliness and isolation to Winnie, forcing her to seek revenge.
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The course of actions made by Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters shows women were underestimated and unappreciated during this time. The men felt they were much smarter than the women and decided not to search the kitchen because it was a woman’s place. However, as smart as they may seem, the women worked together and traced back all of the vital evidence that could imprison Winnie, but instead of revealing the truth, they hid the evidence to protect her. This enlightening scene shows that women have much more potential than they are expected to. Their isolation from society forced them to break their barrier and caused them to do things they are not assumed to.
As a result, this play is more than just suspenseful entertainment, Glaspell created a storyline detailing how women were unappreciated in society. Since this story is set in the 1900s, women were strictly considered housewives and mothers, showing gender was a significant factor during this time. However, at the end of the day, whether being a male or female, both genders are significant in society. Susan Glaspell wrote Trifles to bring awareness to the inequality most women in the 1900s experienced to emphasize their importance.
