Trifles Written by Susan Glaspell

The play “Trifles,” written by Susan Glaspell, is a one-act play that is a cleverly written story about a murder. More importantly, it effectively describes the treatment of women in the early nineteen-hundreds. In the play, Minnie Foster Wright is accused of murdering her husband, John. Mrs. Wright is referenced many times during the play, but never actually makes an appearance. Susan Glaspell uses symbolism many times throughout the play to unravel the mystery of the play. In the play, Glaspell uses the broken bird cage, the title “Trifles,” and the knotted quilt as symbols to inform the reader of what is occurring in the play.

One symbol Glaspell expresses in the play is the broken birdcage. The broken birdcage is used in the play to express Minnie’s freedom from her husband, John. The article written by Latifa Jabboury explains, “Once she is free she takes her revenge for all of the years of abuse and oppression. She strangles the life out of John like he strangled her spirit and her bird.” This explains how Minnie was tired of being trapped inside the role of “Mrs. Wright." The birdcage symbol could also be viewed as the role of women in society. With the trapped bird being Minnie, and the cage being her husband. In the play Mrs. Hale says, “She was kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and fluttery… But I don’t think a place’d be any cheerfuller for John Wright being in it” (72). This shows that the other characters in the play knew how captive Minnie’s husband could be at times. This symbol Glaspell uses can have many different meanings, but this is not the only symbol she uses in the play.

Another symbol that Glaspell uses in the play is the title itself, “Trifles.” When this play was written, Women’s suffrage was occurring. This symbol reflects how men viewed women. Early in the play when Mr. Hale claims, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles,” he presents the conflict between men and women that occurs throughout the play. “The irony of the play is that while the men are running around looking for ‘clues,’ the women have discovered the key to the mystery among what the men consider silly womens work” (Jabboury). This explains how the men’s ignorance towards women can cause them to overlook female importance. In the play when the Sherriff claims, “Nothing here but kitchen things,” this again, shows how men acted toward women. Since the “kitchen” was sought to be a woman’s workplace during this time. Glaspell uses this symbol strictly based on the play's time period, and how men viewed women. Even though this symbol is conveyed throughout the play, Glaspell uses other symbols throughout the play.

A third example of symbolism Glaspell conveys in the play is the assertion that Mrs. Wright was going to knot rather than thread the quilt. Towards the ending of the play the County Attorney says, “Well, Henry,