From Marriage to Murder Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” is the perfect example of what happens to a person when they are driven to the edge of their sanity. Just how much can one person take before they snap? In this short but intense play-turned-story, we read about an unhappy marriage, murder and the possible motive behind it. The play has five different main characters who are standing in the now abandoned Wrights farmhouse. George Henderson, the county attorney, Henry Peters, the sheriff, his wife Mrs. Peters, and a neighboring farmer Lewis Hale and his wife Mrs. Hale. They are discussing and attempting to figure out just what happened in the house. Mr. John Wright is dead and his wife, Mrs. Wright, is currently behind bars for his murder.
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Wright was known to everyone as Minnie Foster. A happy woman who used to dress up in nice looking dresses and who loved to sing in the choir. Mrs. Hale, a neighbor of the Wright’s said “I heard she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that—oh, that was thirty years ago” (Meyer 1390). After marriage she was a quiet woman who didn’t have any close friends and never had any children. Her kitchen was described as being untidy and gloomy. The men often make insulting comments about her lack of housekeeping skills. Hale, who had come to talk to John, and was the one who found his lifeless body upstairs said when he arrived at the house Mrs. Wright was just sitting in her rocking chair rocking and pleating her apron. When he asked to see John she laughed. When Mr. Hale asked why he couldn’t see John Mrs. Wright replied “Cause he’s dead” (Meyer 1387) and when he asked what he died of she replied “He died of a rope around his neck” (Meyer 1388). At this point she knows that her husband is upstairs in their bed dead but continues to sit rocking in her chair for who knows how long. Her laughing when asked where John was seemed to indicate a certain level of psychosis, in my opinion. Usually when someone loses someone close to them, or someone they love, they are hysterical and usually inconsolable. Mrs. Wright just sat in her chair like nothing was out of the …show more content…
Back in older times it was the man’s job to work and bring home the money and it was the woman’s job to maintain the housework, such as cooking and cleaning. The men are insulting Mrs. Wrights lack of skill while the women are trying to sympathize with her. She was described as a fluttery person before marriage and it seems marriage eventually pulled her down into a sad lonely depressive state, making her absolutely miserable. She used to enjoy to sing and dance and was now married to a strict man who seemed to hate noise of any kind. Mrs. Hale shed some light on the type of person John Wright was with comments such as “Not having children makes less work – but it makes a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did come in.” and “he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him – (shivers) Like a raw wind that gets to the bone.” Mr. Hale also described John as an antisocial man when recalling a conversation that he had with him. Hale had inquired that John should go in with him on a party telephone. He stated “I spoke to Wright about it once before and he put me off, saying folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet – I guess you know how much he talked himself; but I thought maybe if I went to the house and talked about it before
Wright was known to everyone as Minnie Foster. A happy woman who used to dress up in nice looking dresses and who loved to sing in the choir. Mrs. Hale, a neighbor of the Wright’s said “I heard she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that—oh, that was thirty years ago” (Meyer 1390). After marriage she was a quiet woman who didn’t have any close friends and never had any children. Her kitchen was described as being untidy and gloomy. The men often make insulting comments about her lack of housekeeping skills. Hale, who had come to talk to John, and was the one who found his lifeless body upstairs said when he arrived at the house Mrs. Wright was just sitting in her rocking chair rocking and pleating her apron. When he asked to see John she laughed. When Mr. Hale asked why he couldn’t see John Mrs. Wright replied “Cause he’s dead” (Meyer 1387) and when he asked what he died of she replied “He died of a rope around his neck” (Meyer 1388). At this point she knows that her husband is upstairs in their bed dead but continues to sit rocking in her chair for who knows how long. Her laughing when asked where John was seemed to indicate a certain level of psychosis, in my opinion. Usually when someone loses someone close to them, or someone they love, they are hysterical and usually inconsolable. Mrs. Wright just sat in her chair like nothing was out of the …show more content…
Back in older times it was the man’s job to work and bring home the money and it was the woman’s job to maintain the housework, such as cooking and cleaning. The men are insulting Mrs. Wrights lack of skill while the women are trying to sympathize with her. She was described as a fluttery person before marriage and it seems marriage eventually pulled her down into a sad lonely depressive state, making her absolutely miserable. She used to enjoy to sing and dance and was now married to a strict man who seemed to hate noise of any kind. Mrs. Hale shed some light on the type of person John Wright was with comments such as “Not having children makes less work – but it makes a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did come in.” and “he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him – (shivers) Like a raw wind that gets to the bone.” Mr. Hale also described John as an antisocial man when recalling a conversation that he had with him. Hale had inquired that John should go in with him on a party telephone. He stated “I spoke to Wright about it once before and he put me off, saying folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet – I guess you know how much he talked himself; but I thought maybe if I went to the house and talked about it before