Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles entertained me just as much as the play The Elephant Man. I actually think I may have enjoyed reading Glaspell’s play better, though, because the women in this play played a very important part—without even realizing it at first.
This play was a murder mystery. John Wright, the victim, was found dead—someone had strangled him. Who could the murderer be? Of course, the whole reason for this play was to attempt to find out who did such a horrible crime in such a small area. The plot starts to unroll as you continue reading the play. The women, who the men think are basically nervous and unwitty, seem to unravel the murder mystery little by little. The men on the other hand, have no idea what could have happened to John Wright. They seem to leave the small things—the “trifles”—out of the main conclusion.
Another reason I enjoyed this play was because I found humor in it as well as feeling it was just a murder mystery play. The women noticed such little details that actually ended up solving the whole mystery. The women noticed a quilt that had perfect stitching patterns except for the end, which was very messy. The women started looking for a pair of scissors to fix it, and as they did so, they found the dead bird in the sewing box—the bird had been strangled to death. This is when it all came together; John Wright strangled Minnie’s bird, so Minnie strangled her husband. The bird’s cage door was broken, which the men noticed, but the women automatically blame the death of the bird on the cat. This information the women kept from them, obviously steered the men away from framing Minnie.
In class, we discussed whether or not what the women did was wrong or right. I put some thought into it, and personally, yes, I do think what they did was wrong. The law is the law. I am interested and I do support women power, but murder is a serious crime. I think the women should have shared the information that they found; even though, the men, who were supposedly the “real” detectives, should have found the evidence themselves. I understand, though, why Minnie committed such a horrible crime. She obviously was miserable at her lonely farmhouse, and her husband was a mean, unemotional, human-being. Minnie’s only friend was her beloved bird, and when her husband strangled the bird to its death—Minnie did the same to her husband.
What I found humorous in this poem was how the men laughed at the women for being so “nervous.” They made comments about how the women only noticed the small things—the Trifles. What is so ironic is that the small things turned out to be the big things—they actually solved the whole murder! So men, before you go assuming that us women don’t know anything—pay more attention to your surroundings!
This play was a murder mystery. John Wright, the victim, was found dead—someone had strangled him. Who could the murderer be? Of course, the whole reason for this play was to attempt to find out who did such a horrible crime in such a small area. The plot starts to unroll as you continue reading the play. The women, who the men think are basically nervous and unwitty, seem to unravel the murder mystery little by little. The men on the other hand, have no idea what could have happened to John Wright. They seem to leave the small things—the “trifles”—out of the main conclusion.
Another reason I enjoyed this play was because I found humor in it as well as feeling it was just a murder mystery play. The women noticed such little details that actually ended up solving the whole mystery. The women noticed a quilt that had perfect stitching patterns except for the end, which was very messy. The women started looking for a pair of scissors to fix it, and as they did so, they found the dead bird in the sewing box—the bird had been strangled to death. This is when it all came together; John Wright strangled Minnie’s bird, so Minnie strangled her husband. The bird’s cage door was broken, which the men noticed, but the women automatically blame the death of the bird on the cat. This information the women kept from them, obviously steered the men away from framing Minnie.
In class, we discussed whether or not what the women did was wrong or right. I put some thought into it, and personally, yes, I do think what they did was wrong. The law is the law. I am interested and I do support women power, but murder is a serious crime. I think the women should have shared the information that they found; even though, the men, who were supposedly the “real” detectives, should have found the evidence themselves. I understand, though, why Minnie committed such a horrible crime. She obviously was miserable at her lonely farmhouse, and her husband was a mean, unemotional, human-being. Minnie’s only friend was her beloved bird, and when her husband strangled the bird to its death—Minnie did the same to her husband.
What I found humorous in this poem was how the men laughed at the women for being so “nervous.” They made comments about how the women only noticed the small things—the Trifles. What is so ironic is that the small things turned out to be the big things—they actually solved the whole murder! So men, before you go assuming that us women don’t know anything—pay more attention to your surroundings!
3 comments:
I agree the big things really are not big things but rather a lot of small things wrapped together. This crime was a big deal in this rural setting and the clues to solving the crime were not big, in your face, details but in the combining of all the small clues. My granddad had a saying "take good care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." Meaning that if you focus on the details of a job and ensure they are done correctly the end result will be a direct reflection of that careful attention to detail, a job well done. Good post.
I agree with you about the women concealing the evidence. What Mrs. Wright did was a crime but I think the women were empathetic to her plight which still doesn't make it right to hide evidence.
Its not right to hide the evidence, however they are just watching out for their friends. It could be a tough decision for anybody whos put in a situation such as that one. Is it right? No. But how easy would that choice be.
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