Trifles is a psychoanalytical play written by Susan Glaspell. The one-act play revolves around a murder trial where the characters are present in John Wright's (victim) house and investigating his murder. The sheriff Henry Peters, county attorney George Henderson and the neighbor Lewis Hale along with their wives Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are present on the scene. Mrs. Wright is the prime suspect in the case as Hale being a witness recounts how the wife of the victim was acting bizarrely and told him that someone had strangled her husband while sleeping.
The women who have come for questioning focus on trivialities in the
play and men mock them for their domestic nature. Women while searching come
upon the birdcage with the bird being strangled the same way as John Wright and
come to the realization that Mrs. Wright might have killed her husband after
suffering from domestic abuse for years. The play is not only a murder mystery
but a psychological, gender-based, historical, and symbolic criticism by Susan
Glaspell.
This article is copy protected!
|
The play by Susan Glaspell has a historical background, as the inspiration for it came from a real murder case of a farmer John Hossack, and most of the events of the play are similar to that actual case. However, in the play, Minnie Wright was not convicted as the murderer but Margaret Hossack was found guilty (Abd-Aun and Ali Haleem). Mrs. Wright's emotionless behavior and her insensitivity were used as evidence against her although these are not substantial proofs because women at that time were not given liberty to freely defend themselves.
Hence, Susan wrote the play to highlight the story from a
female perspective, this point is further emphasized by her in the play when
Mrs. Hale concludes that, “Men’s hands aren’t always as clean as they might
be” (Rodríguez). Hence, the male characters of the play have a part in
letting the females feel subservient and abusing them to the point of insanity.
Moreover, male dominancy and domestic abuse are still prevalent in society, the
play is still significant today for analysis.
The American rural women in the literature are often depicted as marginal and Susan took up the task to depict the plights of the rural American women that are often forgotten by society. According to Al-Khalili, the play is significant in highlighting gender roles, domestic abuse, and the male mindset that considers women as foolish creatures, moreover, by depicting the gender roles and suppression of women Susan has paved way for the resistance of women for their rights.
The play is a representation of twentieth-century American literature and reveals the social standing of the woman. Women have always been associated with domestic duties and judged on how well they perform these duties. Susan also depicted her women in the play in the domestic setting and their struggle to depict stability of their home and lives with traditional demure behavior and pristine homes and as Mrs. Wright’s behavior was dodgy and her house was in a messy condition, she faced disastrous consequences (Al-Khalili). Moreover, the attitude of the male members in the play depicts that Mrs. Wright's unsuitable conduct regarding domestic duties might have led her house to suffer this loss as they insinuate in the play, “Not much of a housekeeper would you say, ladies?” (Rodríguez). Susan does not directly depict the woman in question but through various things, in the setting, we can judge how she might have been treated at the hands of her husband which led her to commit such an act.
The birdcage, strangled bed, quilt, trivial talk of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter, and their decision to hide the evidence, all are symbolic and amalgamate to produce a coherent plot based on suppression of women. Mrs. Hale reminisces in the play that Minnie Wright used to be a lively girl full of life but after marriage, she changed, as she suffered from abuse at the hands of John Wright. As Mrs. Hale also emphasizes, “We all go through the same things-it’s all just a different kind of the same thing” (Rodríguez). Hence, not only Minnie Wright but all the females in the play suffer at the hands of their male counterparts. Moreover, the females in the play show that they are more than just domestic help and can prove to be useful in solving the case.
Their focus on
trivialities reveals the evidence for the murder however their male
counterparts make fun of them. And Mrs. Hale feels owns this fact, “Women
are used to worrying over trifles” (Rodríguez). Their combined decision to
hide the strangled bird to save Mrs. Wright is another act of rebellion and
gives rise to the concept of sisterhood in the play.
The psychoanalytic perspective of the play reveals how the woman in the play has been oppressed. The psychological mindset of the characters can be depicted through various symbolic items the woman in the house comes across. Mrs. Hale finds a birdcage, “Why, here’s a bird cage, did she have a bird?” (Walter). The birdcage, represents how Mrs. Wright had been the prisoner of Mr. Wright and he had suppressed her by encaging her desires and her lively personality.
The quilt that needs to be knotted represents the knot that Minnie Wright tied to enter into the relationship with John Wright, and it can also represent that her husband tied the knot on her mind and heart so she cannot be free from him (Rodríguez). Besides this, the strangled bird and the strangled body of her husband also is symbolic. Although there was a gun present in the house still John was strangled and this reveals the constraints Minnie had to face in her married life. She was strangled metaphorically, day and night while suffering physical and mental abuse at the hands of her husband. Hence, all these elements in the play depict the psychological state of mind of Minnie Wright and her motive behind killing her husband. Another aspect of psychoanalysis from a male point of view is false ego.
The men in the play do not seem to
think women capable of thinking rationally as they mock their wives who are
focusing on the household trifles (Walter). And against these patriarchal
biases’ women in the play attempt to form a solid front by hiding the evidence
as they have empathy for Minnie Wright. Moreover, we can imply through Mrs.
Hale’s statement that, “I’d hate to have men coming into my kitchen,
snooping around and criticizing” (Walter), they also detest the fact that
they are rifling through someone's private house as women do not have any
individual privacy, they are always governed by husbands as depicted in the
play.
To conclude, the Trifles written by Susan Glaspell is a resistance of women against domestic abuse and male dominancy. The one-act play carries intricate details which suggest that the play is an amalgamation of psychoanalytic criticism and mystery plot which highlight gender roles and symbolically emphasize the male attitude towards women as domestic caretakers and nothing more.
The women in the play show solidarity by depicting the plight of Minnie Wright who was initially thought to be a cold-blood murderer turns into a woman who suffered at the hands of her brutal husband and killed him more or less I self-defense as she was on the verge of collapsing.
The play has historical
importance because the actual inspiration of the story was a real and
publicized murder plot in which the wife was jailed for killing her husband. Susan
has tried to show the other side of the story and compelled the readers to
think critically about the sufferings of women as they are ending in disastrous
consequences in the 20th century.
This article is written by Umm-e-Rumman Syed, one of the contributors at the School of Literature.
