What is the evidence presented in the play Trifles?

In Susan Glaspell's play Trifles, several neighbors enter the Wrights' farmhouse to investigate the murder of John Wright, and Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters end up discovering significant evidence which reveals Mrs. Wright's motive to kill her husband. The county attorney, sheriff, and neighboring farmer are the three male characters in the play, who lead the investigation of the farmhouse and arrogantly dismiss the women's findings. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters join them to collect some of Mrs. Wright's possessions to bring to her in jail. While the men search the upstairs and farmhouse, the women gradually begin discovering small yet significant pieces of evidence which point to a motive. The first pieces of evidence the women notice in the Wright kitchen are the dirty towels, messy table, and stale bread that has been left out. These items suggest that Mrs. Wright was emotionally unstable or significantly distracted.

Mrs. Hale then notices that Mrs. Wright's stitches are erratic in her quilt and attempts to fix it. Mrs. Peters then discovers a birdcage with a broken hinge before she finds Mrs. Wright's deceased canary inside her sewing box. After finding these significant pieces of evidence, the women recognize that Mrs. Wright had a difficult, oppressed homelife and was a victim of abuse. The women also realize that Mrs. Wright strangled her husband after he murdered her innocent canary. These small pieces of evidence are what the men consider "trifles," which seem insignificant and trivial but are actually important in establishing a motive. Although Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters recognize that Mrs. Wright is guilty, they sympathize with her and decide to conceal the evidence before the men return.

What main literary elements are used in Trifles?

An important literary device used in the play is foregrounding. Glaspell focuses centrally on what would normally be marginalized characters in a murder mystery: the wives of the detectives. Rather than following the investigation that the professional men are conducting, which we never see, Glaspell's play is told from the point of view of the wives. Point of view is extraordinarily important in a work of literature, as it colors the audience's perception of everything that happens.

Because the women notice all the trifling details that the men overlook, they are able to piece together the crime in a way that eludes the trained professionals. This highlights the theme that a gender gap in society leads men and women to look at life through a very different set of lenses.

A second important literary device used is pathos or sentiment. The facts of her life that emerge encourage us to feel sympathy and sorrow for Minnie's plight. The details Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover reveal that Minnie Wright led a sad, isolated, and lonely life with a hard-hearted husband, culminating in his killing her pet canary in a fit of rage. When the women find the bird carefully wrapped in a piece of silk, it becomes clear that Minnie loved the bird and was very upset by its death. We begin to believe that Minnie was a good woman who snapped because of emotional abuse and, therefore, perhaps should not be blamed for what she did.

What main literary elements are used in Trifles?

Two literary techniques that Susan Glaspell uses in Trifles to great effect are symbolism and the objective correlative.

The play is full of symbols. The broken jars of fruit preserves that the women find represent Minnie Foster Wright, whose life has been shattered by recent events. Yet the fact that one jar remains intact provides symbolic foreshadowing that Minnie's life will be preserved. The filthy roller towel in the kitchen, soiled by the men (as the women suppose), represents the unending dullness of Minnie's days, which revolve around cleaning up after her husband and meeting his needs. The erratically-sewn quilt squares represent Minnie's agitated mental and emotional state. The birdcage represents Minnie's imprisonment in an abusive relationship, and the dead bird itself represents the fact that the conflict between Mr. and Mrs. Wright had escalated to a life-or-death struggle. Perhaps Minnie believed that, if she didn't act first, she would be harmed or killed just as her husband killed the bird.

The objective correlative is used by playwrights and filmmakers to establish a mood via the set or props. The play takes place in the Wright home, and Glaspell makes the set an active part of the drama. The chill air as the group enters represents the lack of warmth in the Wrights's relationship, as well as Wright's penury. The untidy kitchen lends a feeling that things were not as they should have been in this home. The exploded fruit jars and filthy roller towel further add to the unsettled mood in the house. Without narrative description, Glaspell is able to establish the mood of a relationship gone awry via her portrayal of the Wrights's living space.

Glaspell uses two techniques, symbolism and the objective correlative, to craft a powerful drama.

What main literary elements are used in Trifles?

Trifles is also rich with symbolism. The feminine "trifles" that the men overlook not only act as clues to solving the crime, they also act as a symbol of the oppressive factors that mitigate Minnie Wright's culpability in the murder of her husband. For instance, when the women discover the dead canary, they realize that Minnie must have "cracked" after her abusive husband killed her songbird. In addition to being a clue, the bird represents the isolation and abuse Minnie experienced at the hands of her husband. She is recalled to have once been a cheerful young woman who loved to sing, but she has since been "caged" and oppressed. Minnie may have literally killed her husband, but she did this only after he figuratively killed her spirit.

What main literary elements are used in Trifles?

Crucially, the biggest literary element that is utilised in this excellent play is irony. You cannot really grasp the message of the play if you do not identify that there is a conflict between men and women in this play. Consider the scenario: The Sherrif, County Attorney and Mr. Hale have come to the Wright's house to find some evidence that would convict Minnie Wright of her husband's murder. They are patronising and dismissive about any observations that the women make. Yet it is the women themselves, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, who, by using their knowledge of how households operate, find the motive for the murder and are able, with their "trifles," to achieve what the men are unable to.

Note how this theme is established. The men look at the kitchen and see nothing but "a nice mess." When Mrs. Peters expresses concern about Minnie Wright's preserves, Hale responds:

Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.

Ironically, it is the trifles that the men are so quick so dismiss and overlook that prevent them from piecing together what happened. This irony runs throughout the play, right up until the end when the County Attorney "facetiously" makes reference to the quilt that the women have identified as a piece of evidence.

What main literary elements are used in Trifles?

Susan Glaspell wrote the play Trifles in 1916. The dialogue centers on two women who come in to help Mrs. Wright,  whose husband has been murdered.  The play centers on the psychological study of these two  women and their abilities to see into situations with a different view than their male counterparts.  The county officials do not find clues in the scene that the women found in the course of their work.

The title has a twofold meaning:  the clues that the women find are considered as unimportant and irrelevant because the women found them; in addition, the title refers to the men’s view of women as trivial and their observation as unimportant.  The title may also refer to the bird that the murder victim regarded as annoying and unnecessary.  To Mrs. Wright, it probably brought great joy.

The setting of the story is the early twentieth century in the winter. The entire action takes place in the kitchen of the Wrights.  Mrs. Wright has been taken to jail, and Mr. Wright has been murdered.  The women have come to clean up.  Initially, the women stand close together at the door.

The characters include the sheriff, the county attorney, and a neighboring farmer. These men begin the dialogue of the play. During the initial dialogue, the details of the murder are provided for the audience.  The neighboring farmer ‘s wife Mrs. Hale and the Sheriff’s wife Mrs. Peters begin to work in the kitchen . 

The dialogue in the play suggests that Mrs. Wright’s husband, though honest and clean-living, was a taskmaster and a miser who made life miserable for his wife.

The ladies discover a canary in Mrs. Wright’s sewing  kit.  It has had its neck wrung. Apparently, the husband twisted the neck of the bird that his wife kept in a cage to sing and brighten her dreary life. In retaliation, Mrs. Wright may have killed her husband in a similar fashion, wringing his neck with a rope.

Mrs. Hale-She liked  the bird. She was going to bury it in that pretty box.

Mrs. Peters-When I was a girl—my kitten—there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes--and before I could get there—If they hadn’t held me back I would have …hurt him.

Mrs. Hale-I wonder how it would seem never to have had any children around.  No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird—a thing that sang.  She used to sing. He killed that, too.

The theme of the play comes from the idea that women need to cast off male oppression.  In these early days of the twentieth century, women were still subservient to men.  The woman’s place was to take care of the home, raise the children, and be at the disposal of the man.  The woman spent her days cooking, baking, canning, and preparing three meals a day for the husband.  She received little or no help in her chores. 

Mrs. Wright goes to the extreme to free herself.  On the other hand,  Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are rebellious in their own way.  They understand Mrs. Wright’s sad life. They decide to withhold evidence that the county officials need to establish a motive for Mrs. Wright’s alleged murder of her husband.   

Analyze the elements of drama in Trifles by Susan Glaspell.

Susan Glaspell’s Trifles is a one-act play that takes place in a single setting: the kitchen of a farmhouse. The play begins with one long paragraph of stage directions that describe the Wrights’ “gloomy kitchen … [with] signs of incompleted work.” These directions also present the characters, including the sheriff’s wife and Mrs. Hale. The play’s dialogue gives direct characterization of Sheriff Peters and his wife, along with Mr. Hale, a neighbor who discovered that something was amiss in the Wrights’ home. Indirect characterization is provided for Minnie and John Wright, who do not appear onstage. Before the play’s action began, John had died, while Minnie is alive but had been taken to the police station.

The plot involves solving the mystery of John’s death. Mr. Hale found him dead in the bedroom. Suspense is maintained through almost the entire play. However, characterization and character development are the strongest elements of the play. The two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, who had not previously known each other well, develop a friendship based in their shared attitude toward Minnie. Everyday items found in the kitchen provide clues to Minnie’s and John’s very different personalities, as well as the apparent problems in their relationship. The main items they decipher are pieces of an unfinished quilt, broken jelly jars, and a dead bird.

Although Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale come to believe that they have solved this mystery, the plot is not conventionally resolved, because they conceal their suspicions from the men.

What is the analysis of Trifles by Susan Glaspell?

Trifles is a poignant drama of the consequences of feminine repression, loneliness, and deprivation. 

The play begins as the male and female characters arrive at the home of John and Minnie Wright (who is being held in the county jail) on a large farm in Iowa that is distant from other homes. Gordon Henderson, the County Attorney, Sheriff Peters, and a neighbor, Mr. Hale, dismiss the kitchen as insignificant in their search for a motive regarding the murder of Mr. Wright: "Nothing here but kitchen things," says the sheriff. But, before he goes upstairs, Henderson remarks, "Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies? Further, he criticizes Mrs. Wright's homemaker instinct.

While the men go upstairs after the attorney tells the women to keep an eye out for anything that might be of use to him and the sheriff, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, enter the kitchen, resentful of the remarks made by the county attorney about Mrs. Wright. Instead, they see the dirty towels and the unkempt state of the kitchen as indicative of Mrs. Wright's low spirits. They look around for a time, then Mrs. Hale says she must gather Mrs. Wright's things from the front closet. When they pull out the requested articles of clothing, Mrs. Hale notices how shabby they are. "She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively," she remarks to Mrs. Peters.
As they return to the kitchen, the women discuss the method in which Wright was killed--with a rope around his neck--and they wonder if there were some connection of this method to motive. Looking through cabinets, they find a quilt that Mrs. Wright was piecing. Mrs. Hale wonders,

" I don't know as there's anything so strange, our takin' up our time with little things while we're waiting for them to get evidence."

Further, she notices that the sewing has become erratic in one place. So, Mrs. Hale pulls out the stitching to repair it, wondering why Mrs. Wright was obviously nervous while sewing. Soon, the men descend the stairs and Sheriff Peters overhears the women wondering if Mrs. Wright were going to "quilt" it or just "sew" the quilt. He jokes to the others about the unimportant concerns of the women, a remark that they find offensive.

Upon further searching, Mrs. Peters discovers in a cupboard a birdcage with a hinge broken. She asks Mrs. Hale if Minnie had a bird, but Mrs. Hale replies that she only knows that once a man came around selling birds. Mrs. Hale wonders if Mrs. Wright may have purchased one since Minnie, whom she knew when she was younger, once sang in the church choir and who must have been lonesome living so far removed from other people with no children or anyone to talk to while her husband worked the farm. But, they wonder what might have happened to the bird because Mrs. Hale notes that Mrs. Wright did not like cats or anything that might have killed it.

Later, Mrs. Hale suggests they take the unfinished quilt to the jail for Mrs. Wright to sew. Mrs. Peters agrees and looks for a sewing basket while Mrs. Hale comes upon a pretty red box, thinking it may contain a scissors. To their amazement, they discover the canary inside, with its neck twisted around; the women look at each other in knowing horror. But, when the men reappear, they say nothing about the bird except when the County Attorney notices the cage and asks where the bird may have gone. Mrs. Hale quickly replies, "We think the --cat got it." When he asks if there is a cat, Mrs. Peters quickly says, "...not now. They're superstitious, you know. They leave."

As the men retrace their steps and start upstairs, the two women say nothing to each other, but perceive something intuitively together. They understand Minnie Wright, and in their women's hearts, they have compassion for her, a lonely, desolate woman, who has suffered silently under the cruel coldness of the man she married. Nothing of beauty has survived in this home; so, when he silenced the little bird who sang for her and brought her some little joy, Minnie Wright snapped. They wonder what they would have done in her place: 

"If there's been year and years of nothing, then a bird to sing to you, it would be awful--still, after the bird was still," Mrs. Hale says.

Mrs. Peters commiserates, "I know what stillness is. When...my first baby died--after he was two years old, and me with no other then--"

But, she tells Mrs. Hale that the law must punish crime. Mrs. Hale counters,

"Oh, I wish I'd come over here once in a while. That was a crime! That was a crime! Who's going to punish that!....We all go through the same things--it's all just a different kind of the same thing.

They decide not to tell Mrs. Wright that her jelly that she worked so hard to put up in the summer has all frozen and the jars broken. Mrs. Peters nervously remarks on how they got so worked up about a dead canary. "As if that could have anything to do with--with--wouldn't they laugh! Under her breath Mrs. Hale says, "Maybe they would--maybe they wouldn't." Clearly, both women consider the previous remarks of the men about the trifles with which women concern themselves. Perhaps, they wonder to themselves, the canary is a mere "trifle," too. So, why mention it? 

As the men come downstairs again, the women hear the attorney telling the sheriff that the case is clear except for a reason for the act of doing the crime. There is nothing to connect with the strange "way of doing it." Entering the kitchen, the sheriff asks if the attorney wishes to see what his wife is taking to the jail, but the attorney says no because, after all, she is "married to the law" Mrs. Peter defers, "Not--just that way." While the men step out to examine the windows, the two wives look meaningfully at each other, both disgusted with the chauvinistic remarks of the men. Quickly, Mrs. Peters tries to put the box with the canary in her bag, but it will not fit. She opens the box, but is too nervous to grab the canary, and they hear the door knob turning. Mrs. Hale, then, snatches the box and shoves it into her large pocket of her heavy winter coat in an act of feminine loyalty. Surely, she feels justified when the county attorney facetiously says,

"Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to--what was it you call it, ladies?"

Her hand in her pocket, Mrs. Hale pointedly responds, "We call it--knot it, Mr. Henderson."

And, they do, indeed, "knot" the case for Mr. Henderson, depriving him of a possible motive out of their feminine sympathy and sisterhood. They cannot bring themselves to condemn Minnie Wright, who lived a life of silent, lonely desperation on a remote farm with no laughter and no song in her home to warm her heart. To Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters this deprivation and repression by a cold husband was punishment enough.

However, some critics feel that Glaspell sends "a dubious moral message" with her play since Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters have actually become accomplices in thwarting justice. One critic writes,

Interestingly, in the years since Trifles was first produced, many scholars have found reason after reason to condone the actions of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale. Intentionally or not, Glaspell has encouraged successive generations of critical scofflaws.

Still, in an introduction to the play, Mary Ann Ferguson applauds the actions of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters:

‘Their awareness comes through shared anger at the men’s views, and their actions invalidate the stereotype of women as ‘fuzzy’ thinkers concerned only with trifles. . . . The play shows that ‘sisterhood is powerful’ by belying the conception that women are catty among other women.

Perhaps, viewers and readers should consider this play as just that--a work of literature that presents a feminist perspective which points mainly to male neglect rather than to criminal activity. It is not, and should not be, a manual for moral conduct, that is certain.

When was Trifles published?

Trifles was published in 1916 and first performed on August 8, 1916 by the Provincetown Players of Massachusetts.

Because the play, written by journalist Susan Glaspell, features strong female characters and is sympathetic to Minnie's reasons for killing her husband, it is often considered an early example of a feminist play.

It is notable that the play was first performed by the Provincetown Players. The troupe had formed just a year earlier in order to promote innovative, experimental, and cutting edge theater. They sought the kind of plays that often could not get produced on Broadway because of being perceived as having little commercial value. The Provincetown Players helped launch the theater careers of both Glaspell and Eugene O'Neill. It might have taken far longer for Glaspell's play to be published and produced without a young, new theater company ready to take a risk on it.

When was Trifles published?

Trifles, a one-act play, was written originally written to fill in space at the end of a group of summertime plays in 1916.  It is a story about murder, inspired by an actual events, that explores relationships among husbands and wives and mena and women in general, as well as truth. 

When was Trifles published?

The one act play was written in 1916. The events that inspired it occurred in 1900, when the author, Susan Glaspell, was a reporter assigned to cover a murder trial.

Margaret Hossack, a farmer's wife, was accused of killing her husband as he was asleep by striking him on the head with an ax. The farmer's wife was not initially thought to be a suspect until it was discovered that she was unhappy in her marriage. Glaspell wrote 26 articles on the case and became sympathetic to the accused. Years later, 1916, she and her husband owned a theater and it was suggested she write a play to finish the season. This is when she wrote Trifles.

How does Glaspell's Trifles represent its publication era?

Susan Glaspell's Trifles is only a one-act play, but its message is more powerful than its length might imply. It was inspired by actual events Glaspell was familiar with—showing not only how women were subservient in the home, but also how they were judged by the male-dominated society's legal system.

Glaspell was a reporter, covering the events in the murder trial of Margaret Hossack, of Indianola, Iowa, accused of killing her husband with an axe while he slept.

Ultimately, she was charged with and found guilty of the crime and sentenced to life in prison.

Glaspell began to feel sympathetic for the life Hossack had led, and it was this sympathy that led to write her own play about Minnie Wright, a woman who was victimized by her husband emotionally (and perhaps physically), and struck out one night when she could endure no more.

Minnie is described as a once pretty, laughing and talented young woman who loved to sing in the church choir. After marriage to the "cold" John Wright, there were no children, and seemingly no affection. Her days became long and dark, living with a stingy and unrelenting husband.

MRS. HALE. Yes...he didn't drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him. (Shivers.) Like a raw wind that gets to the bone.

Society regarded the hard work that filled a woman's day on the farm (the arduous job of making preserves, keeping the farmhouse clean, sewing, cooking, etc.) as unimportant. It is Mr. Hale who delivers society's view of women and their work when speaking with the county attorney about Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter's worry over the loss of a batch of preserves:

COUNTY ATTORNEY. I guess before we're through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about.

HALE. Well, women are used to worrying over trifles. 
(The two women move a little closer together.) 

Ironically, it is Mrs. Hale who, in fact, takes definitive steps to protect Minnie from the men (even her own husband) who are intent to find evidence to convict the broken Minnie.

As reflected in the story's title, the reader or audience understands that men have little regard for the work that fills a woman's life: the unending chores and drudgery, especially when a woman has no children to cheer her or bring her love and satisfaction, noted by the two neighboring women who come to collect things to take to Mrs. Wright in jail.

The trial of Margaret Hossack took place between 1899-1901. It would be some years before women even had the right to vote. In reading the play, it is not the trifles of her life that drive Minnie to kill her husband; it is her husband's brutality against her only joy—her canary.

MRS. PETERS. Somebody--wrung--its neck. 
(Their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension of horror...)

The bird could not have done anything to cause harm, but we can infer that Minnie's attachment to the bird was something her husband would have been aware of. Killing the bird would have been directed solely at Minnie, showing perhaps her husband's desire to hurt Minnie—and implying that he may also have been violent with her.

Society would have found no mitigating circumstances with which to find Minnie innocent under any circumstance; Mr. Hale's comment indicates that a woman's life was filled with unimportant things, even though each thing supported any comfort or ease a man would have found in his home.

What evidence do only the women notice in "Trifles"?

The evidence that only the women notice in this excellent play is the dead bird that was obviously killed by John Wright and then carefully wrapped in silk and stored in Minnie Wright's sewing basket. This of course is crucial evidence, because from Mrs. Hale's knowledge of both John and Minnie Wright and what a bleak man that John Wright was, we can assume that John Wright killed the bird. The way that the bird's neck is described as being "wrung" likewise ties in with the way that John Wright himself was killed, which suggested that Minnie Wright, in an explosion of anger, much like the anger that Mrs. Peters felt when a boy took up a hatchet and killed her kitten in front of her. Note what Mrs. Hale concludes from seeing the bird:

No, Wright wouldn't like the bird--a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too.

Thus it is that ironically the women, through discovering the bird, also solve the crime that the men are not able to find any evidence concerning.

Write a feminist critical analysis about a female character in Trifles by Susan Glaspell.

In Susan Glaspell's play, "Trifles," the men in the story—representing the male-dominated society—believe that Minnie Wright murdered her husband while he slept. After her arrest, they look for proof of her crime. Through impressions shared by Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, the audience learns what has transpired in Minnie's life that would not only drive her to murder, but would elicit support for her from her neighbors, rather than for the men—society.

The men act out behaviors that would earn compassion for Minnie's alleged murder of her husband. The men find it easy to criticize Minnie.

HALE. Well, women are used to worrying over trifles. 
(The two women move a little closer together.)

Note that when Hale refers to the hard work women do at home (like spending hours in summer heat putting up fruit) as "trifles" (things of little importance), the "women move a little closer together" as a sign of solidarity. This shows their resentment of Hale's comment, and supports an inference that Minnie resented her husband's similar attitude.

The lawyer in attendance tries to smooth ruffled feathers by patronizing the women, but as a representative of a society that does not value its women, his words offer criticism:

COUNTY ATTORNEY ...And yet, for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies? (...He goes to the sink...washes his hands...) Dirty towels!...Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?

The lines have been drawn. The audience is given an example as to how a woman like Minnie would not have been valued by her husband based on housekeeping skills. Again the lawyer is critical, but this time, instead of being politic, Mrs. Hale defends Minnie, perhaps paralleling Minnie's change of attitude with her husband under his constant criticisms.

COUNTY ATTORNEY. No--it's not cheerful. I shouldn't say she had the homemaking instinct.

MRS. HALE. Well, I don't know as Wright had, either...I don't think a place'd be any cheerfuller for John Wright's being in it.

Mrs. Hale tells Mrs. Peters that Mr. Wright was "close" (stingy with money) and that Minnie was unable to participate in local events because she was always dressed so shabbily, but it wasn't always that way:

She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster...

We can now infer that an unappreciative and miserly husband was enough to destroy Minnie's spirit; just thinking of these things saddens the women. The women discover a broken cage and wonder about the bird. Mrs. Hale likens Minnie to a small bird:

She--come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself--real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and--fluttery.

This takes on new meaning when they find the bird with the broken neck in Minnie's sewing basket—they realize that Wright was also a violent man. He killed Minnie's bird, the one joy in her life. One might also infer that he might have been physically abusive with her—her action may have been in self-defense.

MRS. HALE ...But, Mrs. Peters--look at it. Its neck! Look at its neck! It's all--other side to.

MRS. PETERS. Somebody--wrung--its neck. 
(Their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension of horror...)

Sadly, the women also note, the house is lonely, and would have been more so because Minnie had no children. The bird may have been like a child.

These examples show how Minnie was driven to her wits' end, and her neighbors can sympathize for the way she was oppressed and perhaps physically abused by her husband.

Discuss the play Trifles by Susan Glaspell.

Susan Glaspell wrote the one act play, Trifles, after working as a reporter.  The play is based on an actual account of a murder.  Working as a reporter on a newspaper, Glaspell covered a similar murder case in a small town in Iowa.

Before the play begins, there are several important events that have already occurred.  John Wright, a farmer, has been found dead in his bed.  Someone strangled him with a rope. The only other person in the house was Minnie, John’s wife.  The police are going to charge Minnie with murder. Mrs. Wright [Minnie] never appears on stage; yet, she is discussed throughout the play.

Setting

The play takes place somewhere in the midwest in the early twentieth century.   The time is the day after the murder.  The entire play takes place in the  kitchen of the Wright home.  The kitchen seems to have been left with unfinished work.  The bread has been left out; a dish towel in on the table; and there are unwashed dishes.  

Women Characters Dominate Play

Mrs. Wright is accused of killing her husband.  

Mrs. Hale is a neighbor who has not been to see Mrs. Wright in over a year.  Her guilt dominates her character.

Mrs. Peters proceeds in looking at the scene with a less empathetic face and a more logical approach.  Her character changes as the play exposes her to Mrs. Wright’s life.

Themes

Men’s Dismissive Attitude Toward Women

It exposes the attitude of the male in thinking that the women are only interested in the unimportant, trivial aspects of life.

 HALE: Well, women are used to worrying over trifles........ And yet, for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies?

COUNTY ATTORNEY: Not much of a housekeeper, would you say ladies?

This is only one of the disparaging comments made by the men to lessen the importance of women.   

Revenge

Mr. Wright was an abusive husband. Mrs. Wright suffered under his dominance for years. He went one step too far and pushed his wife over the edge of rationality.

Loneliness

Mrs. Wright was alone.  Her husband did not like anything that she liked. They had no children.  Mr. Wright killed the only thing that she loved.

Summary

When the men go upstairs to search for information, the women hurriedly try to clean the kitchen.  Minnie was not a messy housekeeper.  Something  happened to keep her from doing her work.

The men have already implied that the women are only interested in trifles. These are the vital details that the women find:

• Bread that has been left out of its box.
• An unfinished quilt.
• A half clean / half messy table top.
• An empty bird cage.

The most important clue is found by Mrs. Peters who has not until this point been sympathetic to Minnie. In a pretty little box, Mrs. Peters finds the canary that Minnie loved so much with its neck wrung.  Minnie was going to bury it in the box.  Obviously, Mr. Wright had killed her bird, the only thing that Minnie really cares about in the house.  She loved to hear it sing. 

In her despair, Minnie paid her husband back by wringing his neck as well. The women realize that Minnie killed her husband not just because of her unhappy and abusive marriage, but from her husband suppressing any happiness that she could find.   The women  serve as an impromptu jury and choose to dismiss the charges in the name of justice.

When the men return to the kitchen, the women do not share what they have found.  Still dismissive of women, the men are only concerned about what they have failed to find. 

What is the crisis in Susan Glaspell's one-act play Trifles?

As Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are gathering up items to take to Minnie Wright, who is in jail and accused of murdering her husband, the women find the evidence of the emotional abuse Minnie must have endured. From an erratic quilting pattern to a forcibly broken bird cage, the evidence makes clear to the women that Minnie Wright's life with her husband was not happy.

Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find the dead body of Minnie's beloved canary in a beautiful box and wrapped in a piece of silk. The bird's death was not of natural circumstances: its neck was wrung, leading the two women to believe they found the motive for Mr. Wright's murder.

The crisis arises when Mrs. Hale does not tell the men what they found in the box. Instead, she puts the bird in her pocket, concealing it from the investigators. Her action means that Minnie Wright will probably not be convicted of murdering her husband, because without the dead canary the investigators do not have a motive —and, according to the county attorney, juries need a motive.

As Mr. Henderson, the county attorney, says near the end of the play,

It's all perfectly clear except a reason for doing it. But you know juries when it comes to women. If there was something definite. Something to show—something to make a story about—a thing that would connect up with this strange new way of doing it. (Glaspell, 10)

What literary devices are used in "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell?

One of the key driving points of Susan Glaspell's "Trifles" can be found in the play's observation that patriarchal society has no respect for the contributions and perspectives offered by women. One of the key literary devices through which Glaspell advances this theme lies in her use of irony (both situational and dramatic).

Ultimately, Glaspell's play revolves around a murder investigation, with the women entirely sidelined and ignored as potential witnesses by the male investigators. The men exhibit a condescending and patronizing attitude toward them, assuming that they are incapable of contributing to the investigation in any meaningful way. As the men depart to begin their investigation, the women are left to their own conversation during which course the details of the case are unraveled.

The irony here is twofold. On the one hand, there is the situational irony by which the men, in their chauvinistic dismissal of the women, essentially shortchange their own investigation. In this case, it is the women who hold the pertinent insights necessary to solving the case, yet they are silenced (to the detriment of the investigation). In addition, there is dramatic irony here as well, given that the audience has observed this conversation take place. Thus, when the men return with their investigation still unresolved, the audience knows precisely how much of a resource the women represent (particularly Mrs. Hale), even as the men remain ignorant to this fact.

What elements should be analyzed in the play Trifles?

You can analyze the theme, the social comment, the rightness of the playwright’s point of view, the feminist statement it makes that made its revival in the 1970’s possible—in other words, you can place the play into the social context of its composition—this approach would require your researching the American history that generated this work.  Another area for analysis is the style of the play—how does Glaspell use language, dramatic structure, characterization, etc. to tell her story?  This approach would require your examining the dramaturgy and linguistic style of the work, and would benefit from a comparison with a colleague, notably Eugene O’Neill.  One final area of inquiry would be the moral or ethical standpoint of the play, which (while the protagonist is a sympathetic character) does advocate “justifiable homicide.”  Do you agree with this ethical, moral stance?  So the best way to approach the analysis of the play is to determine what area you would like to explore—historical, stylistic, or philosophical.

Critically analyze Trifles by Susan Glaspell from a feminist perspective.

The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell exposes the traditional view of women in 1916. The men in the play express the current thinking of the masculine dominated world: women were incapable of doing anything but collecting the things that Minnie Wright needed while she was in jail.  The men would do the thinking and investigating of the crime. 

A victim of homicide, John Wright was found dead in his upstairs bedroom with a rope around his neck.  He had been strangled to death.  His wife was in bed. Her version stated that she was a deep sleeper, and had no idea what happened.  Minnie Wright was charged with the murder.

The setting for the play is the downstairs area of the Wright home.  The bedroom versus the kitchen portrays the typical male-dominated world. The women belong in the kitchen. 

The characters in the play include the county attorney; Sheriff Peters and his wife; neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Hale; and Minnie Wright, who is never seen  but is the subject of the play.

As soon as the men come into the scene, they have a dialogue of demeaning commentary, not only of Minnie Wright but also the other ladies.  The county attorney indicts Minnie for having a messy kitchen. Mr. Hale states that women are used to worrying about “trifles.” These comments draw the women together to help Minnie.

The women move about the kitchen reconstructing Minnie’s sad life.  They notice the insignificant things that they men would not  think important.  Through their observations and discussion, the women become a united force in which Minnie Wright is as much a victim as John Wright. 

As the play progresses, Mrs. Hale feels guilt for not being a better neighbor. As she looks around the kitchen, Mrs. Hale begins to empathize with the Minnie’s life.  She serves to give the details of Minnie’s life.

Mrs. Peters symbolizes a woman who attempts to see everything from an intellectual view sans emotions.  As a dynamic character and as the play progresses, her emotions become involved with her logic.  Despite the repeated idea that the women must abide by the law, Mrs. Peters realizes that everything is not black and white. 

Through Mrs. Hale, the audience learns that John Wright was a hard man. Minnie had been a pretty girl, who liked to sing.  After she married John, she changed. They had no children. She never went anywhere.  They find a quilt that she was making.

A bird cage sits empty in a closet.  The door had been ripped from his hinges.  A pretty box held the body of the bird with its neck twisted. Together the women realize that the bird symbolizes the strangulation of Minnie throughout her married like.

From these facts, the women piece together the crime: Minnie loved the bird, enjoyed its company, and liked to listen to it sing. John Wright resented the bird and was annoyed by its noise.  He told Minnie to get rid of it, or he would.  John rips open the door, and wrings the neck of the bird.  Something in Minnie snaps, and she stops John Wright from hurting her any more.

County Attorney: It’s all perfectly clear except for a reason for doing it. But you know juries when it comes to women. There was some definite thing…a thing that would connect with this strange way of doing it.

The  information should be divulged to the authorities; however, the ladies without discussing it keep the information to themselves. The women solve the crime, not for themselves but for Minnie and the sisterhood of the women.  

What is a good thesis for a literary analysis on Susan Glaspell's Trifles?

A good focus area for an essay on Susan Glaspell's Trifles would be the difference between how the male characters and the female characters investigate the crime scene. The male characters, as policemen and town officials, take a traditional approach, looking for evidence of someone breaking into the house or weapons used in the crime (Mr. Wright's murder). The women do not go to the Wright home to help investigate the murder, but rather end up doing so sort of accidentally; Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are invited by their husbands to come along and help collect some items requested by Mrs. Wright, who is being held in the local jail. 

The women make astute observations as they look around the Wright home. They notice how Mrs. Wright was in the middle of a couple of kitchen tasks that she wasn't able to finish due to some unexpected event. They also look at a quilt that was in progress and see that Mrs. Wright made a few flawed stitches (Mrs. Hale actually redoes them for her, effectively tampering with evidence). The women infer that Mrs. Wright was upset by something that made her stitching erratic. They then realize that her birdcage door is broken and find a dead bird with a broken neck in one of Mrs. Wright's supply boxes. Using these details and their previous interactions with Mrs. Wright (Minnie Foster, before she was married), the women figure out that Mr. Wright killed Mrs. Wright's bird and she retaliated by killing him. They decide to hide this evidence so Mrs. Wright cannot be found guilty. 

While the women are the ones who solve the crime, the men never pay attention to the kitchen nor the quilt, because those scenes seem like "trifles" that only concern women. The daily activities of the home, mostly taken care of by women, are passed over by the men. In this case, though, the scenes of the home are the ones that reveal the truth behind Mr. Wright's murder. 

How can a literary element be used to analyze Glaspell's Trifles?

Analyse the drama Trifles by Susan Glaspell.

In Trifles, Glaspell presents the divide between traditional gender roles and actually satirizes those stereotypes to reveal how misguided they can be. 

Mr. Hale, the County Attorney, and the Sheriff come into the Wright home and attempt to reconstruct the crime and look for clues. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are timid and tentative. While the men dominate the investigation, thinking it is their job, the women stay out of the way to allow the men to do "men's work." 

During the course of the men's investigation, the women talk about John Wright and how he didn't have a homemaking instinct, implying that he was a less than loving husband. The County Attorney asks Mrs. Hale what she means by this and she says, "But I don't think a place'd be any cheerfuller for John Wright's being in it." The County Attorney says they'll talk about that later but basically dismisses it and goes to look upstairs. 

While the men are upstairs, the women notice seemingly trivial "trifles." They see things like the broken bird cage, the transition from a careful to a haphazard sewing pattern, and the body of the dead bird. Overhearing their comments on the sewing, the men chastise the women for arguing over trifles while they believe they've investigated the really important elements of the crime scene. 

Read in this way, Trifles is a feminist work that criticizes the way gender roles are stereotyped and exposes the misconceptions that men are more capable of reason and deduction while women are too emotional to make objective observations. In this play, the men are oblivious and the women are much more perceptive to the meaningful aspects of the case and the Wrights' relationship. The men look for physical evidence and the women discover human evidence - or, clues to human motivations. So, Trifles is also a criticism about the traditional roles and jobs that men and women are supposed to have.