Symbolism in “Trifles”
Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles” is set in the early 1900’s. Throughout the course of the story, the main setting is in the kitchen. This would not sound so bad if we were not informed of other characteristics of the house. The kitchen and the house is described as gloomy and the overall sense of the house is just depressing. The first stage directions describe it as, “The kitchen in the now abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, a gloomy kitchen” (Glaspell, 772), and It is said that the house is in a hollow and you can not see much outside of the house. There are many symbols in the play like the messy kitchen, the rocking chair, the quilt, the bird and birdcage, and also the rope. I argue that all of these items are a symbol of a piece of Mrs. Wright’s life that only the reader understands. From all of these things, it gave …show more content…
Mr. Wright was killed in his sleep by strangling with a rope. As we know his wife is the biggest suspect solely because she did not wake up while it was happening. This brings us to believe that the only other reasonable explanation is that she did it herself. We know that her husband was not a very sociable person, therefore, causing her to be lonely most of the day because he works and she keeps the house alone. The rope could be a symbol of spite against her own husband and another symbol of her finally getting the freedom she has been longing for.
In conclusion, the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell has a lot of symbols throughout that helps the reader figure out what Mrs. Wright could really be feeling. Since we never get to hear directly from her, we can only analyze and figure out for ourselves through important symbols presented in the play. Each symbol has an equally important part in the evaluation of the life of Mrs. Wright and the relationship she had with her husband so we can figure out why Mrs. Wright may have been motivated to strangle
Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles” is set in the early 1900’s. Throughout the course of the story, the main setting is in the kitchen. This would not sound so bad if we were not informed of other characteristics of the house. The kitchen and the house is described as gloomy and the overall sense of the house is just depressing. The first stage directions describe it as, “The kitchen in the now abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, a gloomy kitchen” (Glaspell, 772), and It is said that the house is in a hollow and you can not see much outside of the house. There are many symbols in the play like the messy kitchen, the rocking chair, the quilt, the bird and birdcage, and also the rope. I argue that all of these items are a symbol of a piece of Mrs. Wright’s life that only the reader understands. From all of these things, it gave …show more content…
Mr. Wright was killed in his sleep by strangling with a rope. As we know his wife is the biggest suspect solely because she did not wake up while it was happening. This brings us to believe that the only other reasonable explanation is that she did it herself. We know that her husband was not a very sociable person, therefore, causing her to be lonely most of the day because he works and she keeps the house alone. The rope could be a symbol of spite against her own husband and another symbol of her finally getting the freedom she has been longing for.
In conclusion, the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell has a lot of symbols throughout that helps the reader figure out what Mrs. Wright could really be feeling. Since we never get to hear directly from her, we can only analyze and figure out for ourselves through important symbols presented in the play. Each symbol has an equally important part in the evaluation of the life of Mrs. Wright and the relationship she had with her husband so we can figure out why Mrs. Wright may have been motivated to strangle