Trifles By Susan Glaspell

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“Trifles” is a one-act play produced by author Susan Glaspell and first performed in Massachusetts in 1916. It addresses matters of family murder and is loosely connected to the murder of John Hossack which was reported by journalist Susan Glaspell (Susan 1). The play has seven characters that include the county attorney (George Henderson), a local sheriff (Henry Peters), neighbor of the wrights (Lewis Hale), and wife of sheriff (Mrs. Peters). Other main characters are Mrs. Hale (the wife to Lewis Hale and neighbor to Wrights), John Wright (the murdered man and the farm owner), and his wife, Mrs. Minnie Wright, who also doubles as the murder suspect. The play starts with the men entering into Wright’s farmhouse, and an attorney (Henderson) …show more content…
The two women agreed by her tribulations created by Mr. Wright that they had to protect her. Mrs. Hale recollects Minnie Wright as Minnie Foster, a jovial, nicely dressed and ever singing childhood girl. She is fascinated by Minnie turning into an unhappy woman after marriage. Minnie’s expressions of the troubles she undergoes under her husband created a mood of sympathy for the two women. The fact that Mrs. Hale regrets of not spending time with Minnie further creates an alibi for her leading to concealed evidence (Russell 88). The suppression of evidence can also be linked to the way the society looked treated women as second-class citizens. After the two discovered her killed canary bird, the one that gave Minnie happiness through providing melodious songs, they felt compelled to protect her as a fellow woman as the men-dominated society was not merciful enough as described by her spiritual and possible physical abuse (Glaspell 6). Mrs. Hale lies to the attorney that a cat possibly killed the bird hiding the evidence further. The plot concludes that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters hide the only evidence that could have unveiled Mrs. Wright as the casualty of the murder. This is an indication that alibi was played for Mrs. Wright including her act of hiding the killed canary bird in her sewing basket. She also alleged that she was asleep when outsiders killed her husband, an act of hiding the

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