Examination of Mrs Wright in Trifles by Susan Glaspell Essay -- Susan

inquiry of Mrs Wright in Trifles by Susan GlaspellThe play ?Trifles?, by Susan Glaspell , is an examination of the different levels of earliest 1900?s mid-western farming society?s attitudes towards wo custody and equality. The obvious theme in this story is workforce discounting women?s intelligence and their ability to play a man?s use, as detectives, in the story. A less plain theme is the empathy the women in the plot find for to for each one one other. Looking at the play from this perspective we see a distinct set of characters, a plot, and a final act of sacrifice.The three main characters, Mrs. Peters, the Sheriff?s wife, Mrs. unharmed and Mrs. Wright are all products of an oppressive society which denies them their right to think and spill the beans freely, in the case of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, and denies them their right to a happy, free life as in Mrs. Wright?s case. Throughout the play Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are adequate to find clues to the motive for the murder from their detailed knowledge of simple housewifery of which the men are ignorant. They also are forced to find an empathy for Mrs. Wright as they examine their own experiences to the clues they discover of her life. In the end this empathy causes them to make a purpose which also casts them into the underdog?s lot of women fighting for their freedom in the primal part of our century. At the opening of the play we find the two women non taking a very active part in the play. In fact, they seem a little disconcerted to be on the stage setting of a murder, their only words as they stand by wintry door on a cold night is ?I?m not ? cold.?(1170) The women do not start to take an active role in the story until the county attorney finds the broken preserves jars in the cabinets. ... ... boo and hiding it from the men to save Mrs. Wright. The unity the ladies have found with each other and Mrs. Wright is stated by Mrs. Hale in the final pains of the play. ?We call it ? knot it, Mr. Henderson.?(1179) This has a double meaning, one that the ladies were united by their common bond of living in a male controlled world, where men think women are only good for such activities as conjoin and housework. Second, that the women are united by their common bond of fighting for each other. Her reference to knotting the quilt can also be construed as a reference to knotting Mr. Wright?s neck. This final retaliatory remark shows the determination of women in that era to fight for equal rights and sisterhood, no matter what the moral cost. work CitedGlaspell, Susan. Trifles The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Bedford/St.Martins Boston 2005.