Critical Response Essay: Exploring Themes in Susan Glaspell's Trifles

This critical response essay analyzes Susan Glaspell's play, "Trifles," focusing on its exploration of gender roles, societal expectations, and the oppression of women in early 20th-century America. The essay examines the play's symbolism, particularly the significance of the empty birdcage and other "trifles" that reveal the emotional and psychological state of the female characters. It highlights the contrast between the men's dismissive attitude towards women's concerns and the women's empathetic understanding of Minnie Wright's situation. The essay also discusses the play's use of setting and dialogue to expose the patriarchal attitudes of the time. The author uses direct quotations from the play and adheres to MLA formatting, including parenthetical citations and a works cited page to support the analysis. The essay aims to answer the questions of "So what?" and "Who cares?" by demonstrating the play's enduring relevance in its commentary on gender inequality and the importance of perspective and knowledge.

Running head: CRITICAL RESPONSE TO TRIFLES
Critical Response to Trifles
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:
The play “Trifles by Susan Glaspell is known to expose the traditional mind-set of the
women in the year 1916. It is a play with unified plot. Men in this play showcase their present
thinking of masculine dominated society where the women were not capable of doing
anything by means of collecting the things which Minnie Wright required when she was
imprisoned (Ben-Zvi). It is the work of the men to do analysis and investigation of the crime.
It is to note that a victim of the homicide, who is Jon Wright, was found dead in his bedroom
in upstairs. His neck was tied around with a rope and his body was throttled to demise while
his spouse was in bed and her part portrayed her to be a very deep sleeper that she had no
clue what happed. However, it is to state that the setting for the play, the bedroom as opposed
to the kitchen, displays the archetypal male influenced and men controlled society and that
the women in that society belong to kitchen. The other characters in the play comprise of
Sheriff Peters and his neighbour, the country attorney, Minnie Wright and Mr and Mrs Hale.
When the men of those time come in front of the scene, they give a dialogue of degrading
commentary. With the same, the country attorney signifies Minnie for having dirty kitchen
and then, Mr Hale states- Women were used to worry about the “trifles”. Such comments
sweep the women altogether helping Minnie. When the women tend to move towards the
kitchen, rebuilding and recreating the sad life of Minnie, they notice some notable things
which the then men would not think of much importance. However, As per Makowsky, Mrs
Peters in the play symbolises a women who attempts to notice everything from intellectual
point of view (Gomes). According to Hernando-Real, being a dynamic character, her feelings

2CRITICAL RESPONSE OF TRIFLES
become more engaged along with her logic. Notwithstanding of the replicated
belief that women should obey the law, it is realised by Mrs Peters that
not all things are black and white. By means of viewing Mrs Hale, the
audience of the play think that Jon Wright was a very strong and strict
man. The climax of Trifles unfolds as the women find empty birdcage with broken hinge.
After marring Minnie, he even changed her. Minnie could not go anywhere
and they had no children as well. There was an empty bird cage sitting in
a closet with a box holding a bird with its neck distorted. Seeing it, the
women realised that the bird symbolise the married life of Minnie. As per
Noh, the questioning that Glaspell provokes in this play is not necessarily
only about the roles of women in society but instead, how the perspective
and knowledge are valued and are devalued within the particular
contexts.
It is to note that the play “Trifles” reflects the preoccupation of the
author with the culture bound notions of sex and gender roles. The title
itself suggests that the trouble of women are highly considered to be
mere trifles and invaluable which bear very little or absolutely no
importance or value to the true work of the world- the world that is being
carried out by the men.

3CRITICAL RESPONSE OF TRIFLES
Work cited:
Ben-Zvi, Linda. "“A Different Kind of the Same Thing”: The Early One-Act Plays of Susan
Glaspell and JM Synge." The Eugene O'Neill Review 39.1 (2018): 33-47.
Gomes, Elisabete Pinto. "Between the theatre and the classroom: from Trifles to A Jury of
Her Peers by Susan Glaspell." e-Teals: an e-journal of Teacher Education and Applied
Language Studies 3 (2018): 57-75.
Hernando-Real, Noelia. "An Exorcism on The Outside, or Looking into Trifles—Before
Breakfast: Geopathic Crises in the Plays of Eugene O'Neill and Susan Glaspell." The Eugene
O'Neill Review 38.1-2 (2017): 74-92.
Makowsky, Veronica. "Susan Glaspell's Poetics and Politics of Rebellion by Emeline
Jouve." Comparative Drama 51.3 (2017): 421-423.
Noh, Aegyung. "Susan Glaspell's Poetics and Politics of Rebellion by Emeline
Jouve." Theatre Journal 70.2 (2018): 264-265.