Motifs That Represent The State of Women In Susan Glaspell’s play- Trifles

Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, reflects her fixation with culture-bound notions of gender roles and the complexities of inequality prevalent in the residence as nicely as the public sphere during 1916. The competing roles and perspectives of males and women work to develop a social division by confining women to the residence exactly where the contributions go unnoticed and undervalued. Glaspell’s use of symbolism in Trifles works to represent how false assumptions about ladies lead to a dysfunctional society.

The symbolism of the setting represents the isolation of girls in society, as well as emphasizes the kitchen as a domain for ladies. The opening description of the kitchen as “gloomy” and “left without getting been place in order” denotes a sense of despair (73). The coldness and isolation of the region also plays an essential role. When the group very first enters the house, they note the coldness and the males flock to the fire. As Hale recalls his conversation with Minnie, he asks her, “How do, Mrs. Wright, it is cold, ain’t it?” and she responds, “Is it?” (74). The coldness correlates with John Wright’s callous actions towards Minnie, and the reality that Minnie doesn’t recognize the coldness foreshadows her husband’s death considering that she doesn’t feel his cold-heartedness any longer. In addition, Mrs. Hale describes the house as lacking cheer, saying “I’ve never liked this location. Perhaps due to the fact it’s down in a hollow and you do not see the road. I dunno what it is, but it is a lonesome spot and constantly was” (79). The house becoming “down in a hollow” underscores how isolated Minnie Wright’s home is, generating it a desolate place to reside. In addition, this play speaks to the male-dominated society, in which females are delegated to the kitchens. In “The Cult of Correct Womanhood,” there is a passage that states, “A wife need to occupy herself ‘only with domestic affairs—wait till your husband confides to you those of a high importance—and do not give your guidance until he asks for it’” (Welter 161). This further exemplifies that ladies belong in a domestic setting, not speaking their thoughts till asked to do so by their husbands. The males judge the girls by their housekeeping expertise and are dismissive of the challenging function a lady faces in preserving a house. For instance, when the County Lawyer asks the Sheriff if there is something substantial to the crime on the first floor, the Sherif responds, “Nothing right here but kitchen things” (75). Knowing the kitchen is the woman’s domain, the males ignore it—rejecting the notion that anything of value could be identified in the kitchen. The men’s disregard for a woman’s role in the kitchen reflects how women were treated at that time. They linger on the edges of society and shed themselves in the care that they give other people, becoming dismissed as inferior beings.

The characterization is symbolic throughout the play since it represents a patriarchal society, manifested in law and citizenry, as nicely as the impact it has on the girls. At the beginning of the play, the character list is significant in supporting men’s status above women:

George Henderson, county lawyer Henry Peters, sheriff Lewis Hale, a neighboring farmer Mrs. Peters Mrs. Hale (73)

Not only are the men’s initial names added even though the women’s are omitted, but the occupations of every man is listed this represents how the identities of girls are irrelevant, lowering them to home owned by their husbands. The descriptions of the characters study substantial as nicely. In the stage directions, the men are depicted as coming in very first, bundled up and flocking to the fire, while Mrs. Peters is described as a “slight wiry woman” with “a thin nervous face” and Mrs. Hale is “larger and would ordinarily be referred to as more comfy hunting, but she is disturbed now and appears fearfully about as she enters” (73). The illustrations of the girls depict opposite personalities and are constant all through the play. Although Mrs. Peters is much less outspoken than Mrs. Hale, they each and every know their place underneath the men. Instead of going to the fire with the men, they “stand close together close to the door”, signifying the societal divide between men and ladies (73). The men coming in very first represents their greater position in society, whereas the ladies are seen as secondary, coming in right after them. The females do not follow the men to the fire since they had been not asked, indicating men’s authority and how women are dependent on their husbands.

All through the play, the men’s condescending attitudes try to overpower the females, demonstrating how males subjugate females in society at that time. Soon after Mrs. Peters uncover Minne’s frozen fruit jars and expresses her concern, Mr. Hale comments that “women are employed to worrying more than trifles” (75). Proper after this, the stage directions inform us that “[t]he two ladies move a tiny closer with each other,” displaying that Mr. Hale’s words negatively affected them (75). Yet another essential example of the men’s contempt concerns the quilt that Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find. Mrs. Hale says this of the quilt: “It’s log cabin pattern. Quite, isn’t it? I wonder if she was goin’ to quilt it or just knot it?” (78). Although she says this, the males descend the stairs, and the Sheriff repeats her words, drawing a laugh from the guys. Their ridicule paints a clear picture on the cruel nature of men directed toward females at that time. While John Wright is not physically in the play, he is described as being a excellent man that “didn’t drink and kept his word as properly as most” nonetheless, Mrs. Hale continues on saying “he was a tough man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him—(Shivers.) Like a raw wind that gets to the bone” (80). This illustration of John Wright highlights his dominance over Minnie, and although he puts up a moral façade, underneath it is a harsh, hard man who controlled the household. Dealing with marriage, “The Declaration of Sentiments” states that “[i]n the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to guarantee obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master—the law providing him energy to deprive her of her liberty” (Stanton three). In Minnie’s marriage, John deprives her of speak to with society, stifling her voice, and forces his dominance on her, making her obey his orders. The men’s unsympathetic treatment towards girls extinguishes the chance of equality in society, asserting themselves above the subordinate females.

The women’s actions as a outcome of the men’s callous remedy towards them reflect the different stages of rebelliousness performed by the women in society. When the County Lawyer comments on the dirty towels in the Wrights’ kitchen and how Minnie is “not significantly of a housekeeper”, Mrs. Hale “stiffly” replies with “There’s a excellent deal of work to be done on a farm” (76). Clearly, the men have no respect for what females do in the kitchen, and Mrs. Hale makes confident to challenge the lawyer, showing she isn’t afraid to speak her thoughts by insulting the men who dare intrude in the kitchen where they think they have no organization. Even though Mrs. Hale sees no problems in being crude, Mrs. Peters refuses to join Mrs. Hale in creating derisive statements. As an alternative, she tells Mrs. Hale that “it’s no more than [the men’s] duty,” indicating her obedience towards her husband (76). Mrs. Hale is resentful of the way the men feel they can come in and meddle with factors, “trying to get [Minine’s] home to turn against her” however, Mrs. Peters disagrees with Mrs. Hale, saying “the law is the law” (78). Mrs. Peters defends the law and serves to represent women’s blind obedience to their husbands, whereas Mrs. Hale stands to represent the rebellious side of ladies at that time, not backing down from the patriarchal society. Interestingly, towards the end of the play, Mrs. Peters undergoes an internal conflict that serves as a turning point for her. After the females discover the bird and hide it from the approaching males, it is Mrs. Peters who disobeys their questioning about where the bird went. Soon after this exchange, the stage directions say that “[t]he two ladies sit there not looking at 1 an additional, but as if peering into one thing and at the exact same time holding back. When they talk now it is in the manner of feeling their way over strange ground, as if afraid of what they are saying, but as if they cannot assist saying it”, which represents the tension they really feel because the girls know they just lied (81). The women’s way of knowing leads them not simply to expertise, but also to the decision on how to act on that information. As a outcome of adopting this way of realizing, the ladies are in a position to achieve power in getting devalued, for their low status permits them to keep quiet.

Minnie Foster’s life spirals downward following her marriage to John Wright, clearly evident in the lack of upkeep in the kitchen. Mrs. Hale appears to have a cherished memory of Minnie singing in the choir wearing a “white dress with blue ribbons”, underscoring her getting properly-known amongst other girls back in the day (81). The color white symbolizes purity and innocence, although blue indicates truth Minnie’s dress represents her clinging to the truth of the innocence she had ahead of marriage. Mrs. Hale also recalls Minnie’s activeness in the community, apparent when she says, “I heard she utilised to put on quite garments and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster” (77). From this information, the inference can be created that Minnie entered her marriage automatically and without providing it a lot believed. As Mrs. Hale later points out about the ladies of her society, “We reside close together and we live far apart. We all go by means of the very same things—it’s all just a various type of the very same thing” (81). Minnie perhaps married because, as with other females, any other possibilities to do some thing else have been null. Shortly following her marriage, Minnie adopted the attitude of a battered woman. John Wright assumes manage over Minnie, marked by Mrs. Hale saying, “Wright was close. I think perhaps that is why she kept so a lot to herself. She didn’t even belong to the Ladies’ Aid. I suppose she felt she couldn’t do her component, and then you don’t get pleasure from things when you feel shabby” (77). The ladies uncover evidence of this in Minne’s unfinished housework, representing Minnie’s incomplete life in her marriage. Following further examination of the kitchen, the girls locate all but 1 broken jars of cherry preserves. Cherries symbolize protection, and the 1 jar that didn’t freeze represents Minnie’s hope of escaping. Following Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters recognize what Minnie has carried out, Mrs. Hale comes to recognize her actions behind it. She tells Mrs. Peters, “If I was you I wouldn’t inform her her fruit was gone. Inform her it ain’t. Tell it’s all right” (81-82). This operates to show the women’s understanding and protection more than Minnie, vowing to preserve her hope alive. Since of their shared gender, the ladies can empathize with Mrs. Wright’s discomfort, and they choose to conceal her crime, concluding that her actions were justified.

Minnie’s state of mind deteriorates, becoming a lot more evident in her abandonment of the joys of her house, and in what appears to be a day-to-day battle of survival. The females comprehend the crazy patterns denote Minnie’s disturbed state of mind, which can only belong to a battered woman. Mrs. Hale finds the stitching and and comments, “[T]his is the 1 she was working on, and appear at the sewing! All the rest of it has been so nice and even. And appear at this! It is all over the place! Why, it appears as if she didn’t know what she was about!” (78). The transformation of the stitching represents Minnie’s spirit breaking when she couldn’t take her husband’s abuse any longer. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters uncover the bird cage, and they note that the door “looks as if an individual [has] been rough with it”, and Mrs. Hale gets distracted of a memory of Minnie, relating her to a bird, getting “real sweet and fairly, but kind of timid and—fluttery. How—she—did—change” (79-80). Birds symbolize freedom and the soul, and Minnie owning a bird represents her longing to be free of charge, but because John kept it in the cage, just as he kept Minnie in the house, both fell brief of the freedom they wish. The canary represents joy, and the females believe it brightened Minnie’s attitude, provided with a new sense of hope. When the girls find the bird wrapped in silk with a wrung neck, they comprehend that John killed it, robbing Minnie of her happiness and renewed expectations (80). Along with the brutal death of Minnie’s only joy at the hands of her husband, the many years in a desiccated marriage drives Minnie to strike back at her husband, killing him in the same manner he killed her soul.

At the play’s end, the females unite to operate collectively to right the wrongs of Minnie’s crime. When the men’s backs are turned, the two women attempt to conceal the box with the dead bird prior to the guys notice it. When Mrs. Peters tries to place the box in her purse, it does not fit, causing Mrs. Hale to snatch the box and stuff it in her coat pocket. Since it takes each females to hide the evidence of Minnie’s actions, it represents how unity among females is necessary to overcome the patriarchal society. In a continued show of gender unity, the guys jokingly patronize the women’s involvement all through the play, thus, encouraging the ladies to prevail in hiding the bird since they are devalued, which means they can hide the evidence without being questioned. The play ends on the pun “knot it”, which suggests that the ladies are “not it” and will not be pinned for murder due to the fact they have knotted away their understanding, referencing the bonds tying them together (82). As the title suggests, Trifles insinuates that the issues of ladies are often considered to be unimportant concerns that bear tiny or no value to the true operate of society, which is being carried out by males.