Gender Inequality, Sisterhood and Loneliness in Trifles
Introduction
The play Trifles is a Glaspell’s masterpiece that based on a real incident occurred at Iowa in the nineteenth century. The play starts on the scene of an abandoned farmhouse. Five people arrive at the house, Sheriff Henry Peters, local attorney George Henderson, and neighbour Lewis Hale enter the Wrights' farmhouse to investigate the murder of its previous owner, John who has been strangled to death with a rope. John's wife, Minnie, is suspected of the murder. Hale and Mrs. Peters come along to collect some of Minnie's personal effects to bring to her in jail. The men search the house for evidence against Minnie, leaving the two women alone. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters begin their own search in the kitchen, which the men overlooked. During their search, they find a broken birdcage and a dead canary wrapped in silk. It's suggested that John killed the bird and that this was what caused Minnie to snap him. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters sympathize with Minnie, realizing that her husband was abusive. They decide to hide the evidence from the men, who think of these things as mere 'trifles'. In this essay, three themes will be discussed with supporting examples from the play.
Content
The first themes that can be seen throughout this play are gender inequality. Hale and Mrs. Peters are two women who are asked to accompany their husbands to gather some items for Minie Wright, who was convicted of murdering her husband. At that time, Mrs. Wright is being held at the county jail which is why she requested to bring some items back to her that she needs. By this, we can see the first example of gender inequality. The accused killer is female, hence, the man in charge investigating the crime scene leaves it up to the other females, their wives, to take care of her needs. Besides that, we can see more factors for gender inequality when the sheriff and country attorney are busy looking at the mess in the kitchen while the women are observing some of the little significant and unimportant things, the trifles, according to Mr.Hale. For example, trifles refer to the expression used by the men to describe different items found in the house, which belonged to Minie Wright. By “worrying over trifles”, as Mr. Hale puts it, the women end up finding out a lot more about the murder than the men do. In fact, the clues were very obvious. If only the men are not judgemental and less critical of Minie wright’s lifestyle, they could have used those clues as a solid case against Mrs. Wright. Instead, they continuously make judgemental comments and discriminating jokes about Mrs. Wright's stitching, her frozen fruits and the condition of her house. Last but not least, another factor about gender inequality in the story is that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters know that Minnie has been abused by her husband. However, she will still unintentionally be neglected or ignored by the jury. They know that, even though John Wright caused huge emotional distress to his wife, no jury will care about the causes that led her to murder her husband, specifically in a society dominated by men. This is why they join together and become partners in covering any evidence that could be used to bring Minnie Foster down.
The second theme that can be identified in the play is sisterhood. The relationship between Mrs. Hale, a farmer's wife, and Mrs. Peters, the sheriff's wife, and their instinctive and unspoken willingness to unite to protect Mrs. Wright from prosecution represent the theme of sisterhood. When the men conducting their investigation upstairs, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are left alone. They begin to sympathize almost instinctively for Mrs. Wright instead of condemning her like how quick the men do. For example, they notice the work she has done in preserving fruits and sewing neatly instead of finding faults like the way the men have. Knowing the emotional cruelty that Mr. Wright has imposed on his wife, without hesitation, the two women hide the clues that show a motive for Wright's murder at the hands of his wife. They quickly and wordlessly help her because as country wives themselves, they understand what she has suffered. Besides that, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters show the sort of sympathy and protective instincts towards Mrs. Wright that a sister would. For example, when the two women come across the remains of Mrs. Wright's pet, the canary, which has died in a way identical to John Wright. Therefore, if this clue has been entered into a court of law as evidence, Mrs. Wright will be sentenced guilty instantly for murdering her husband. However, one of them hides it in her coat so that the policemen couldn’t search it. This act of protection plays into the theme of sisterhood, as it is natural for sisters to protect one another.
Last but not least, the themes that can be found is loneliness. Mrs. Wright was once a very cheerful lady but her whole life changed when she married John. They lived in a gloomy farmhouse that led Mrs. Wright in a very isolated life at home with no one came to visit, and she did not go out. She was not able to do what she desires through her music as she was used to be known as Minnie Foster who dressed up in a white dress with blue ribbons. She was always in a choir team as she has a passion for singing. However, everything has changed when Mr. Wright suppressed the things that his wife loved and prevented her from having her interest. The couple was childless, and John killed the only other life in the house, the canary his wife bought to sing to her and comfort her lonely mind. The evidence can be seen when Mrs. Hale said “…No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird-a thing that sang, she used to sing. He killed that, too”. Mr. Wright’s action toward her beloved canary has driven her to insanity. She was cut off from everything that gave her life, left only to care for her husband and her bird, and once her husband killed the bird, she had nothing left to live for as if some part of her is missing.
Closure
In conclusion, “Trifles” is a play about the investigation of a man murdered by his wife. The men in this play believe that they are superior to women and the evidence the women find as mere trifles. Susan Glaspell has successfully portrayed the message in trifles about how women possessed little voice in the society, mainly led by men during her time. The mood in this play is dark, deadness and depressing whereas the only music is a canary song, mysterious and silence to portrayed how harsh the reality back then women had to face. Compared to today’s generation, women have more equal rights to have their own freedom as the feminist movement are now being supported by society. Because of this, they have greater access to education, gets more equitable pay with men and choose whether to work or be a housewife. However, in the older generation, they couldn’t get this kind of pleasure and likely to just stay at home not trying to fight with society to prove they are feminists.
