The Lord and the Slave According to Georg Friedrich Hegel in his Lordship and Bondage, all conscious being fall into a “new relationship” of “the Lord” and “the Slave.” (Hegel, 32) Proving that this relationship is still being seen we use it to analyze the relationships between men and women in Glaspell’s Trifles. Throughout the story, the theme of master and slave are presented through clues that are shown through the relationships between men and women in the story. The first clear clue that we get from the story as to who the lord is and who the slave is, is given by the comparison of Mrs. Wright to the bird. The bird signifies happiness and freedom, but ends up in a cage and dead. Comparing Mrs. Wright who in her youth was free and
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Wright the lord, and Mrs. Wright the slave but, all men assume the role of Lord and women that of Slave. The first hint that is given to show the lordship of men is through the condescension of the actions and words of the men. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters talk about the fruit and quilt that Mrs. Wright is working on and the men respond by laughing and saying “women are used to worrying about trifles.” (Glaspell, 24) The men’s reaction shows that they believe that women are stupid for worrying about trifles and are merely objects. The men being the Lords, according to Hegel are in the endless loop of “proving it-self” with another conscious being and this struggle is shown when the men try to prove themselves. Through the interaction between the Attorney and the Sheriff of the murder, the Attorney tries to exploit the Sheriff’ stupidity of leaving the murder scene unattended. The Sheriff reacts to the Attorney’s challenge by answering sarcastically and expressing that it wouldn’t make a difference to attend to the needs of one man. (Glaspell, 23) In the story the women also show how they are working on items to gain self-awareness, Mrs. Peters by fighting the belief that she “married to the law” (Glaspell, 30) and actually breaking the law by hiding evidence. Her actions of fighting an object is leading her to become a successful slave by working on an object under the presence of Fear (Hegel, 32), the fear of being discovered by her
Wright the lord, and Mrs. Wright the slave but, all men assume the role of Lord and women that of Slave. The first hint that is given to show the lordship of men is through the condescension of the actions and words of the men. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters talk about the fruit and quilt that Mrs. Wright is working on and the men respond by laughing and saying “women are used to worrying about trifles.” (Glaspell, 24) The men’s reaction shows that they believe that women are stupid for worrying about trifles and are merely objects. The men being the Lords, according to Hegel are in the endless loop of “proving it-self” with another conscious being and this struggle is shown when the men try to prove themselves. Through the interaction between the Attorney and the Sheriff of the murder, the Attorney tries to exploit the Sheriff’ stupidity of leaving the murder scene unattended. The Sheriff reacts to the Attorney’s challenge by answering sarcastically and expressing that it wouldn’t make a difference to attend to the needs of one man. (Glaspell, 23) In the story the women also show how they are working on items to gain self-awareness, Mrs. Peters by fighting the belief that she “married to the law” (Glaspell, 30) and actually breaking the law by hiding evidence. Her actions of fighting an object is leading her to become a successful slave by working on an object under the presence of Fear (Hegel, 32), the fear of being discovered by her