Gender in Susan Glaspell's Play Trifles Essay

Savannah Jacobs Ms. Manning ENG 110-800 13 June 2016 A Jury of Her Peers: Historical Analysis When Susan Glaspell originally wrote “A Jury of Her Peers” in 1917, men’s views of women’s intelligence and capabilities were not seen through the same light as they are today. Because women were seen as the lesser sex, there was little education provided to them prohibiting their escape from the bottom of the societal food chain. Glaspell took a huge leap of faith by publishing “A Jury of Her Peers”…

perfect wife had to be modest, obedient, and hard working. Certainly, such limitations of a woman’s free will could not go unpunished. Sometimes, constant oppression, humiliation, and ignorance resulted in terrible crimes as described in Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles”, while on other occasions, men’s failure to appreciate desperate…

Susan Glaspell's Trifles is a play about the effect of gender differences on perceptions of duty, law, and justice. Trifles was a play that took place in the 1900’s written by Susan Glaspell (1876-1948). Glaspell attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa where she then graduated with a Ph. D. in philosophy. She became a journalist at the Des Moines Daily News where she reported the murder case of John Hossack, a man who was murdered and his wife was committed. Glaspell then turned the play…

Two important works that are good examples of traditional gender roles are Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles and Lynn Nottage’s play Poof. On the surface, these plays don’t seem to have very much in common; a closer look, however, reveals that both plays show similar themes and issues. The issues highlighted in both plays are suppression of women and ramifications of society. In both plays there are similarities but differing in some aspects. Noting the similarities and contrasts in the symbolism,…

For as long as there have been humans, there have been two sexes whose role have been mercurial, and their places constantly challenged. In the second wave of Feminisms people fought for equal status. In the play “Trifles”, Susan Glaspell shows the social disparity between Men, and Women’s status in the American society through wide-ranging conflicts. In the initial conflict between Minnie Wright and John Wright, Minnie’s husband, Glaspell delineates the disparity through their presumed…

their household, but we just ignore it because it is their business. There are not many of stories about what men go through in their marriage; however, there are many of popular stories of what women go through. "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell and "A Doll House" by Henrik Ibsen were plays that helped shed light on what women go through in marriage. Women face certain elements in their marriage such as controlling husband, the social bondage, and the choices they have to make when they could not…

Hale and Mrs. Peters also have a kinship to Minnie, just as to each other. They respect her work as a homemaker. Mrs. Hale quickly comes to Minnie's defense when her housekeeping skills are questioned, saying, "'There's a great deal of work to be done on a farm'" (1326). The women display their loyalty to each other and their sympathy for one another, too. Mrs. Peters can identify with the loneliness and sadness of losing something you love. She understands "'what stillness is,'" and Mrs. Hale…

Gender Conflicts in Trifles What is gender inequality? A person’s idea of gender inequality can be drastically different from someone else’s. Gender inequality is the concept that men and women should not be treated the same. This brings up another political movement that is known as feminism. However, people tend to have the wrong idea about feminism. Feminism is the idea that women are equal to men, not superior to them. There are many ways to experience feminism. Short stories are one of the…

women’s return to their traditional gender roles. Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” present women who are fully men’s intellectual equals, but it suggests that only their solidarity would ensure justice in a men’s world. Lastly, T.S. Eliot depicts women in a demeaning light. He describes his female characters as an unambitious and uncommunicative tool at the disposal of men. Eliot attempts to discourage women’s equality. As the relationship between men and women…

In Susan Glaspell’s Trifles John and Minnie Wright are the focus of the play and surprisingly its biggest mystery. These two characters are never physically introduced; the strength in John and the fragility of Minnie are only revealed through the dialogue that the other characters partake in. The Wrights are introduced as complete opposites, therefore it is no surprise that one partner-John- whole-heartedly dominates the other-Minnie. Coincidently this imbalance is also seen in the societal…