Susan Glaspell's Trifles (1916) begins with the entrance of three men and two women into the kitchen of the Wright household the day after a neighbor, Mr. Hale, finds Mr. Wright's dead body. The men of the story are the county attorney, the sheriff, and Mr. Hale: They are there collecting evidence, and believe Mr. Wright's wife, Minnie Wright, killed him while he slept. The women, Mrs. Peters; the sheriff's wife, and Mrs. Hale are gathering items to take back to Mrs. Wright. When the men begin to search the home they immediately disregard the room they're in: "Nothing here but kitchen things" (Glaspell 1158). The disinterest in the kitchen things stems from a general disinterest with anything considered to belong to the social realm of
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In Trifles the county attorney mocks the women: [with the gallantry of a young politician] "For all their worries, what would we do without the ladies?" (1158); followed by the brushing aside of any justification by the women about the state in which Mrs. Wright had left her home, and sets the tone for the ultimate offense when [the men laugh] at Mrs. Hale because she is caught admiring Mrs. Wright's quilting (1160). The county attorney is an educated man, an outsider; assumably not so acclimated to local customs. Therefore, the contempt he displays for feminine matters is considerably more inexcusable than the contempt expressed by the sheriff or Mr. Hale because, sadly, we would expect it from them. The compound effect of the negative comments and actions establishes the sympathy for Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale that allows the audience to disregard the seriousness of the business that that the county attorney is conducting as representative of the rule of law, and raises the concerns of the women above the concerns of the …show more content…
Peters and Mrs. Hale recognize that they have what the men are seeking, so they control the outcome. The county attorney is looking for evidence that shows motive; "something to show anger" or "a sudden feeling" (1160). At first, the women happen upon some inconclusive evidence like the [signs of incompleted work] (1156), and the "bad sewing" (1161) that reveals Mrs. Wright's state of mind. Later, they discover the dead bird hidden under a piece of silk and conclude, with the consideration of the circumstantial evidence coupled with Mr. Wright's ill temperament, that the dead bird is the evidence that could prove motive. However, at this point it has already been established that the rule of law no lounger has any influence over the women's decision, in addition; by their own disregard for feminine matters indicates that the men could not find the evidence themselves and that even without the evidence they consider Mrs. Wright guilty: The evidence serves no purpose to the story unless after its discovery it takes on a much deeper
In Trifles the county attorney mocks the women: [with the gallantry of a young politician] "For all their worries, what would we do without the ladies?" (1158); followed by the brushing aside of any justification by the women about the state in which Mrs. Wright had left her home, and sets the tone for the ultimate offense when [the men laugh] at Mrs. Hale because she is caught admiring Mrs. Wright's quilting (1160). The county attorney is an educated man, an outsider; assumably not so acclimated to local customs. Therefore, the contempt he displays for feminine matters is considerably more inexcusable than the contempt expressed by the sheriff or Mr. Hale because, sadly, we would expect it from them. The compound effect of the negative comments and actions establishes the sympathy for Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale that allows the audience to disregard the seriousness of the business that that the county attorney is conducting as representative of the rule of law, and raises the concerns of the women above the concerns of the …show more content…
Peters and Mrs. Hale recognize that they have what the men are seeking, so they control the outcome. The county attorney is looking for evidence that shows motive; "something to show anger" or "a sudden feeling" (1160). At first, the women happen upon some inconclusive evidence like the [signs of incompleted work] (1156), and the "bad sewing" (1161) that reveals Mrs. Wright's state of mind. Later, they discover the dead bird hidden under a piece of silk and conclude, with the consideration of the circumstantial evidence coupled with Mr. Wright's ill temperament, that the dead bird is the evidence that could prove motive. However, at this point it has already been established that the rule of law no lounger has any influence over the women's decision, in addition; by their own disregard for feminine matters indicates that the men could not find the evidence themselves and that even without the evidence they consider Mrs. Wright guilty: The evidence serves no purpose to the story unless after its discovery it takes on a much deeper