Setting Of Trifles By Susan Glaspell

The early 1900’s were dramatically different from the current time period. World War I was held on a large scale at the time, but there was a more domestic issue at hand--the role of a woman. In her play Trifles, Susan Glaspell writes in relation to the current issue around her own everyday life. The role of a woman is told through a captivating story and a profound setting that is used to draw in her audience from the start. Glaspell focuses on the setting to reveal her story by applying character work, theme, and symbolism. Glaspell writes in the style of local culture and she uses her characters to portray the time period. To begin the play, the County Attorney, George Henderson, beckons the two women over to join him and the other men …show more content…
Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Peters discover a birdcage and a dead bird within it. The birdcage and the bird both can relate to the former husband and wife. The cage represents the man by surrounding the bird so it is not able to escape, and the bird represents the woman who is trapped behind the bars of the cage. The man has the woman trapped in a sense because of the type of relationship between a man and his wife in this time period. The woman is to not leave the relationship just as the bird is to not leave the cage. The two women saw the cage and the dead bird and both agreed that it was comparable to the actual murder case.
In conclusion, Glaspell writes a play to show the relationship between a man and his wife and the role of a woman in the early twentieth century. If it were not for these types of plays to give insight on this time period, then several people might not be able to understand the differences between the relationships now and the relationships then. Glaspell used symbolism, theme, and character work to reveal the setting of this show. Some people might agree with this time period, but in the current time it is not constitutional anymore because of the rights that a woman has been