The Portrayal of Society and How it Affects Female Characters:
A Look at Machinal and Trifles Sophie Treadwell's Machinal and Susan Glaspell's Trifles take place in two very different worlds, yet they encompass some of the same problems, with both women from these different time periods choosing to kill their husbands as it was the only way they saw to escape their situations. Treadwell's Helen Jones and Glaspell's Mrs. Wright are both restricted by the men in their lives. Helen Jones being unable to find true love and Mrs. Wright being unable to escape her husbands overbearing presence. Both plays use stage direction, noises, placement, etc.., as a secondary way to show how these women are restricted. Despite taking place in very different …show more content…
The society in which Helen is a part of also restricts what she can do in life. In the opening notes to Machinal, Treadwell states that, “The plan is to tell this story by showing the different phases of life that the woman comes in contact with, and in none of which she finds any place, any peace. The woman is essentially soft, tender, and the life around her is essentially hard, mechanized” (578). Helen is at odds with life around her. In order to ensure her freedom from work and to ensure that her mother and herself are well taken care of, Helen is forced to relinquish her dreams for the future. Her original urge to want to escape from the mechanized society around her shows how truly confining it is. One example of this is when Helen tells her mother in Episode Two that “. . . I can't go on like this, Ma—I don't know why—but I can't—it's like I'm all tight inside—sometimes I feel like I'm stifling!. . .” (591). Societies ideals are breaking Helen, driving her to the point of madness until she is looking for any escape. Unfortunately the societal pressures she is attempting to escape only double as she enters into a loveless marriage with Mr. Jones and has his child. Helen gives up her dreams for the future in exchange for a sense of freedom she never receives except when she is sleeping with another man. Her wanting to be completely free leads her to kill her husband. When asked by the Judge …show more content…
The men are belittling towards the women and once the men are removed from the scene, the women are open and talkative. At one point the County Attorney tells Mrs. Hale that the house is not cheerful, ending with “I shouldn't say she [Mrs. Wright] had the homemaking instinct”. In response Mrs. Hale stands up for Mrs. Wright suggesting that, “Well, I don't know as Mr. Wright had either” (522). The County Attorney and Mrs. Hales exchange reinforces the idea that the women stand together, at least on the domestic front. Once the men leave the room to search the house for clues on the murder, the women open up with each other, discussing John Wright and his wife while looking around the living room and kitchen area. Both women look around at Mrs. Wright's domestic activities searching for any visible signs of anger. As all the women showcased in Trifles lead lives dealing in the domestic, they find clues that could have led to the murder of Mr. Wright. One of the first major clues they find that concerns Mrs. Wright's state of mind is a quilt that Mrs. Wright had been working on. The women can see the signs of distress in the last part of the quilt to be put together, and while they are discussing it among themselves The men return to the room and the Sheriff immediately
A Look at Machinal and Trifles Sophie Treadwell's Machinal and Susan Glaspell's Trifles take place in two very different worlds, yet they encompass some of the same problems, with both women from these different time periods choosing to kill their husbands as it was the only way they saw to escape their situations. Treadwell's Helen Jones and Glaspell's Mrs. Wright are both restricted by the men in their lives. Helen Jones being unable to find true love and Mrs. Wright being unable to escape her husbands overbearing presence. Both plays use stage direction, noises, placement, etc.., as a secondary way to show how these women are restricted. Despite taking place in very different …show more content…
The society in which Helen is a part of also restricts what she can do in life. In the opening notes to Machinal, Treadwell states that, “The plan is to tell this story by showing the different phases of life that the woman comes in contact with, and in none of which she finds any place, any peace. The woman is essentially soft, tender, and the life around her is essentially hard, mechanized” (578). Helen is at odds with life around her. In order to ensure her freedom from work and to ensure that her mother and herself are well taken care of, Helen is forced to relinquish her dreams for the future. Her original urge to want to escape from the mechanized society around her shows how truly confining it is. One example of this is when Helen tells her mother in Episode Two that “. . . I can't go on like this, Ma—I don't know why—but I can't—it's like I'm all tight inside—sometimes I feel like I'm stifling!. . .” (591). Societies ideals are breaking Helen, driving her to the point of madness until she is looking for any escape. Unfortunately the societal pressures she is attempting to escape only double as she enters into a loveless marriage with Mr. Jones and has his child. Helen gives up her dreams for the future in exchange for a sense of freedom she never receives except when she is sleeping with another man. Her wanting to be completely free leads her to kill her husband. When asked by the Judge …show more content…
The men are belittling towards the women and once the men are removed from the scene, the women are open and talkative. At one point the County Attorney tells Mrs. Hale that the house is not cheerful, ending with “I shouldn't say she [Mrs. Wright] had the homemaking instinct”. In response Mrs. Hale stands up for Mrs. Wright suggesting that, “Well, I don't know as Mr. Wright had either” (522). The County Attorney and Mrs. Hales exchange reinforces the idea that the women stand together, at least on the domestic front. Once the men leave the room to search the house for clues on the murder, the women open up with each other, discussing John Wright and his wife while looking around the living room and kitchen area. Both women look around at Mrs. Wright's domestic activities searching for any visible signs of anger. As all the women showcased in Trifles lead lives dealing in the domestic, they find clues that could have led to the murder of Mr. Wright. One of the first major clues they find that concerns Mrs. Wright's state of mind is a quilt that Mrs. Wright had been working on. The women can see the signs of distress in the last part of the quilt to be put together, and while they are discussing it among themselves The men return to the room and the Sheriff immediately