In the play Trifles by Susan Glaspell, one would soon realize that this play is about trying to find a motive for the murder of John Wright. The men and women gather in the Wright’s house with the sole mission of trying to discover Mrs. Wright’s reason for killing her husband. Also in the beginning of the play, Mr. Hale says, “I guess you know about how much he talked himself, but I thought maybe if I went to the house and talked about it before his wife, though I said to Harry that I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John” (Glaspell 634). This quote by Mr. Hale, regarding his encounter at the Wright household, gives the reader their first glimpse at the problems within the Wright home, as well as, the possible motive
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Hale-consequently compares Mrs. Wright to that of a bird, “She-come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and -fluttery” (Glaspell 642). Here the reader is able to derive a conclusion; Mrs. Glaspell was trying to symbolize the canary as the type of person Mrs. Wright used to be, before getting married to Mr. Wright. After the men enter, and again leave the room, Mrs. Hale makes the comment, “I wonder how it would seem never to have had any children around. No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird-a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too” (Glaspell 644). In essence, the reader is able to see now that over the years Mr. Wright had simply killed the “birdlike” spirit of Mrs. Wright. However, this was not only a mere symbol, but instead he quite literally killed the last bit of happiness she had by killing her canary. Thus, Mrs. Glaspell was able to use this depiction to show the readers Mrs. Wright’s motive for wanting to kill her husband. Finally, the reader is able to imply that after years of quiet torment at the hands of a hard man, Mrs. Wright had finally had enough and decided to take matters into her own …show more content…
Wright. There are many men, even in today’s society, who are hard to live with. One can find it difficult to imagine how a person could spend so much time with someone like that. In fact, many women have spent their life living miserably only to discover later on how much of themselves had been lost. This type of murder-mystery is one a person can enjoy no matter what era it is. One should never judge a play by its cover. Just as readers learned from this play, what you believe will be a simple murder mystery may turn out to be so much more. In the end, the quote from Mr. Hale sets the reader up on what clues to look for throughout the remainder of the
Hale-consequently compares Mrs. Wright to that of a bird, “She-come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and -fluttery” (Glaspell 642). Here the reader is able to derive a conclusion; Mrs. Glaspell was trying to symbolize the canary as the type of person Mrs. Wright used to be, before getting married to Mr. Wright. After the men enter, and again leave the room, Mrs. Hale makes the comment, “I wonder how it would seem never to have had any children around. No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird-a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too” (Glaspell 644). In essence, the reader is able to see now that over the years Mr. Wright had simply killed the “birdlike” spirit of Mrs. Wright. However, this was not only a mere symbol, but instead he quite literally killed the last bit of happiness she had by killing her canary. Thus, Mrs. Glaspell was able to use this depiction to show the readers Mrs. Wright’s motive for wanting to kill her husband. Finally, the reader is able to imply that after years of quiet torment at the hands of a hard man, Mrs. Wright had finally had enough and decided to take matters into her own …show more content…
Wright. There are many men, even in today’s society, who are hard to live with. One can find it difficult to imagine how a person could spend so much time with someone like that. In fact, many women have spent their life living miserably only to discover later on how much of themselves had been lost. This type of murder-mystery is one a person can enjoy no matter what era it is. One should never judge a play by its cover. Just as readers learned from this play, what you believe will be a simple murder mystery may turn out to be so much more. In the end, the quote from Mr. Hale sets the reader up on what clues to look for throughout the remainder of the