Trifles
The rooms are cold and barren, the kitchen remains completely untouched, and the air is heavy with the death of John Wright still looming around the house. Susan Glaspell's Trifles is a wonderfully executed murder mystery style play. When John Wright is found dead in his bedroom four characters are left to search the house for any evidence that might uncover the truth behind his mysterious death. What made this script such an enjoyable read for me was the struggle between Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hales as they began to uncover the possibility that it was Mrs. Wright who murdered her own husband. On one hand the two women find themselves completely on the side of the law. If Mrs. Wright did in fact kill her husband then she deserves to remain in jail and be found guilty. But on the other hand, as they begin to search through the kitchen the women discover a new sympathetic understanding through their new perspective. This begins to unfold through a series of Mrs. Wright's possessions, all of which indicated signs of an utterly unhappy life. As Mrs. Hale proceeds to explain how happy Mrs. Wright used to be before she wedded the cold and harsh man that is John Wright. It almost justifies all of her actions regardless of how heinous they were. When trying to look through the playwrights perspective in creating these specific details I began to interpret what each of the characters represented. When looking at the big picture you have to look at whats happening. In the big scheme, a problem arises and you have to solve the problem. You can either handle the problem logically or emotionally. The Sheriff and the County Attorney in my interpretation represent the logical standpoint of the death. They are there to find hard facts and evidence to take a logical standpoint to prove why this all happened. Whereas the woman in the play take an emotional stance and try to understand why such a thing would happen in the first place. In doing this Glaspell is able to appeal to each reader. Some of us are logical thinkers and others are emotional thinkers thus, this play has the ability to generate different answers as to the guilt or innocence of Mrs. Wright
The rooms are cold and barren, the kitchen remains completely untouched, and the air is heavy with the death of John Wright still looming around the house. Susan Glaspell's Trifles is a wonderfully executed murder mystery style play. When John Wright is found dead in his bedroom four characters are left to search the house for any evidence that might uncover the truth behind his mysterious death. What made this script such an enjoyable read for me was the struggle between Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hales as they began to uncover the possibility that it was Mrs. Wright who murdered her own husband. On one hand the two women find themselves completely on the side of the law. If Mrs. Wright did in fact kill her husband then she deserves to remain in jail and be found guilty. But on the other hand, as they begin to search through the kitchen the women discover a new sympathetic understanding through their new perspective. This begins to unfold through a series of Mrs. Wright's possessions, all of which indicated signs of an utterly unhappy life. As Mrs. Hale proceeds to explain how happy Mrs. Wright used to be before she wedded the cold and harsh man that is John Wright. It almost justifies all of her actions regardless of how heinous they were. When trying to look through the playwrights perspective in creating these specific details I began to interpret what each of the characters represented. When looking at the big picture you have to look at whats happening. In the big scheme, a problem arises and you have to solve the problem. You can either handle the problem logically or emotionally. The Sheriff and the County Attorney in my interpretation represent the logical standpoint of the death. They are there to find hard facts and evidence to take a logical standpoint to prove why this all happened. Whereas the woman in the play take an emotional stance and try to understand why such a thing would happen in the first place. In doing this Glaspell is able to appeal to each reader. Some of us are logical thinkers and others are emotional thinkers thus, this play has the ability to generate different answers as to the guilt or innocence of Mrs. Wright
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