Trifles Paper, Essay Example

Mrs. Wright’s actions in the play Trifles (1916) are not only justifiable, they are rational and emerge from her innate desire to be respected as an individual. In fact, the entire play exists as a comment on the way in which male oppression fails to take into account the meaningfulness of women’s experience. Because Mrs. Wright has always been viewed as less important than her husband, her acting out in self-defense should be seen as a method of preserving her humanity. The oppression of her humanity and the rejection of her individuality by the men in her life and by society at large is symbolized by the dead canary which has been strangled, ostensibly by Mr. Wright. The true significance of the dead canary is shown by the fact that the men of authority in the play fail to recognize it as a part of the murder. The county attorney, while questioning the other women about the crime remarks “”You’re convinced that there was nothing important here — nothing that would point to any motive?” (Shay and Loving 364). The audience understands that the irony is that the strangled bird is, symbolically, the motive for Mr. Wright’s murder.

When Mrs. Hale states that: “We live close together and we live far apart ” (Shay and Loving 369) she is trying to explain that it is the spaces between people that is the true crime in life. In other words, even though many of us suffer through the same kinds of troubles and painful experiences, we seldom, if ever, reach out to one another until it’s too late. The way that we are all “together” is an expression of the human condition while the way that we live apart may be a symptom of social conditioning. This line in the play and the theme it articulates is very profound. I personally feel that the separation that exists between people, despite the commonality of pain and suffering, is one of the most serious themes that can be expressed in literature or art. The way that isolation acts on individuals is to undermine the effectiveness of communication and love. This serves to weaken individuals and society as a whole.

Works Cited

Shay, Rank, and Pierre Loving, eds. Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays. Cincinnati: Stewart & Kidd, 1920.