Trifles, Essay Example

Susan Glaspell’s 1916 one act play, “Trifle” was written to loosely represent true life events. It was not intended to be for solely for entertainment purposes, but to tell a much deeper needed lesson. This play delves into feminism and social inequality on many levels. Understanding the underlying meaning behind this work tells a far greater and important story to the viewer or reader. Inequality is still a prevalent issue in today’s society, but it is not nearly like it was during the period of this play. Women have lived silently under the rule and expectation of their men, and this is a breaking point when one woman’s strength changes the way a community views on a female’s role.

In order to understand the alternative meanings associated with Glaspell’s work, one would need to start by understanding what a critical theory entails. “A ‘critical’ theory may be distinguished from a ‘traditional’ theory according to a specific practical purpose: a theory is critical to the extent that it seeks human emancipation, ‘to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them’.” (Horkheimer) This play does not tell a story without a deeper meaning. Sarah based this play off of a real life case because there was a lot of importance of sharing what everyone is trying to be tight lipped about. A bigger story and need that is often overlooked because women were too scared to step up and make a change. “Trifle” is a turning point, and looking deeper into the true meaning behind this play is essential to the viewers understanding.

Within the bigger meaning of “Trifle”, is the social identity and social problems with women of the twentieth century. More than the mystery of who murdered Mr. Wright is the importance of showing the sexual inequality and overall poor conditions that these women were expected to live through. It is about oppression and women to be subservient regardless of what the environment entails. During the time period of this play, men were believed to be in control because they were the stronger and smarter of the sexes. Obviously, this play disproves that common belief. The men in this play continually degrade the women in a not so obvious manner, yet these women are the ones who solve the murder mystery at hand. They have lived the same life and in a way and sympathize with Minnie Foster.

The facts of the case seem to be open and shut according to the men responsible for investigating the case. A man is strangled while he sleeps. The man’s wife was illegibly asleep beside him with no inclination of what was going on. With Minnie locked up, CountyAttorney Henderson and Sheriff Peters return to the scene to try to find a motive for why she murdered her husband. The Sherriff’s wife Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale return with the men to the house but are instructed to remain quarantined in the kitchen. In essence this is reflective of where these men felt women should reside. These women were the ones who were able to piece together what really happened in that farmhouse that night. They found a bird cage which the door had been removed, and a bird was dead inside from a broken neck. This essentially allowed the women to visual what had happened there that night in question. This bird was Minnie’s only comfort, and the husband brutally killed it. The bird was representative of the overall spirit of women, and he wanted to make sure he took that away from his wife.

As Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale looked around, they were able to see signs of the anger that had been irradiating inside of Minnie. The table was half-whipped, and the quilt that she was stitching showed signs of erratic anger. With the evidence gathered, the wife was tried and found guilty by a group of peers. The women dismiss the case because they are able to associate their own feelings and experiences to what the wife had been through. Hale and Peters are able to see their own potential for violence and their own disenfranchisement under the law. Because of the social expectations and discriminations, they knew that events could easily drive women to murder.

Glaspell clearly grouped all women together regardless of the role their husband played. “We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same things-it’s all just a different kind of the same thing.” (Glaspell) If it happened to one of them, it could happen to any. “In 1916 it would have been clearer than it often is to contemporary audiences that Glaspell is more concerned with legal and social empowerment than with replacing one hierarchy with another; that women’s surreptitious action may comment less on women’s natures than on the political systems that breed such behavior; that women do not speak “in a different voice,” but speak in a manner deriving from their different position under the law, that is, from their common erasure.” (Ben-Zvi)

Women have lived silently under the rule and expectation of their men, and this is a breaking point when one woman’s strength changes the way a community views on a female’s role. What is socially and culturally accepted is rarely challenged especially by the weaker sex. In addition, they women are inferior to men in strength and intelligence, leaving them to follow blindingly behind the leadings of their husbands. This theory was good, until it was not. This play, “Trifle” changed the thinking of this time period and challenged what would happen in the event that things didn’t go as demanded. Women proved to be stronger and smarter in many areas, leaving with a new found fight that they never knew they had.

References:

Horkheimer, M. Critical Theory, New York: Seabury Press. 1982. Print.

Glaspell, Sarah. Trifle. 1916. Print.

Ben-Zvi. “Murder She Wrote: The Genesis of Susan Glaspell’s Trifle”. Theatre Journal, Vol. 44, No. 2, American Scenes, 1992. Print.