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During the time period that Susan Glaspell wrote “Trifles” women were seen as the weaker, less intelligent sex. Glaspell uses irony to illustrate a story in which men and women vary greatly in their observations, but it is the women who observe the trivial details and eventually discover the truth. Irony is used in “Trifles” to contrast the difference between the crystallized intelligence expected of men and the intuitional intelligence expected of women. By contrasting these two types of intelligence through irony, Glaspell conveys the message that appearances can be misleading; do not rely solely on a person’s gender or other observable characteristics to form an opinion about them.
In the play, the men use crystallized intelligence, and while they are busy judging the women for their use of intuition, completely miss the solution to John Wright’s murder. The women use their intuition, and they are able to solve the crime while the men are looking for answers nearly everywhere except where the answers actually exist. Mr. Hale states, “Women are used to worrying over trifles,” (324) as he implies that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are concerned with the wrong details at the crime scene. The men are so sure that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters have the wrong idea that by overlooking the significance of the women’s intuition they allow Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale to leave the house with only evidence against Minnie.
Having found the dead canary, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale must make the choice of what to do with the evidence. They use their intuition and experience to make a decision that would differ extremely from the choice the men would likely make regarding the evidence. Mrs. Hale showed her opinion of John Wright by saying, “Wright wouldn’t like that bird--a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too,” (331) which shows that she did not believe that Mr. Wright was a pleasant man. She uses her opinions about Mr. Wright along with her...