Susan Glaspell Essay

The short dramatic play, “Trifles,” by Susan Glaspell shows us the repression of American women by a male dominated society during the late 1800’s. The protagonist, Minnie Wright, remains unseen throughout the play.  Just as women of the playwright’s time were silenced in matters that affected their day-to day lives, Minnie is helpless to defend herself and is instead, defended through the exposure of her circumstances.  “Trifles” reminds the audience that women are not to be dismissed as less intelligent or less able and that to unfairly silence them will lead to revolution.  Glaspell uses gender conflict, setting, and symbolism to expose the prejudices of society and the solidarity that rebellion inspires.
 Gender conflict, revealed through the dialog, highlights the superior and rigid attitudes of the men. The diminutive comments made by the men cause the women to defend not only Minnie but themselves and how they are perceived.  “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (1317) exclaims Mr. Hale, setting the stage for the atmosphere of dismissive behavior exhibited by the men.  Explaining the attitude of Mr. Wright, Mr. Hale adds, “…I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John -” (1315).  In response, the County Attorney dismisses Mr. Wright’s attitude as inconsequential with, “Let’s talk about that later…” (1315). Even though the men are searching for a motive, already a contributing clue has been dismissed by the investigators due to their acceptance of a societal allowance that men should make all of the important decisions.  Searching the kitchen, the attorney discovers some broken bottles of fruit preserves and disdainfully states, “Here’s a nice mess” (1317).  Mrs. Peters quickly defends the mess when she explains to the lawyer that the extreme cold caused the jars to break. Further inspection of the kitchen by the young lawyer yields even more criticism of Minnie Wright’s housekeeping abilities to which Mrs. Hale retorts,...