Trifles Susan Glaspell's 1916 Play Research Paper

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In reality, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are even more invested in the investigation than the men, because they demonstrate an attention to detail that the men lack. By the time the men return from their fruitless investigations, the women have determined both why and how Mrs. Wright murdered her husband, and they even come to the decision not to supply the evidence without ever alerting the men. Furthermore, their attempts to hide the small box containing the dead bird (whose death was Mrs. Wright's motive for the murder) are successful precisely because the men disregard the value of their work, with the country attorney saying "oh, I guess they're not very dangerous things the ladies have picked out" (Glaspell). In reality, the lawyer simply does not care about closely investigating the things the women have decided to take, because he assumes that they will not have taken anything of any worth.

What makes the play feminist above and beyond its portrayal of the gendered characters is the fact that the women's valuation of their own and Mrs. Wright's labor leads them to a more comprehensive, accurate understanding of the situation. In turn, this understanding leads them to the realization that Mrs. Wright was likely justified in her actions, to the point that they decide to hide evidence for her. As Suzy Clarkson Holstein notes in her essay "Silent Justice in a Different Key: Glaspell's 'Trifles,'" the women's different "way of knowing leads them not simply to knowledge; it also leads to the decision about how to act on that knowledge" (Clarkson Holstein 282). This fact is important because it leads to a larger first-wave feminist theme, namely, that the equal valuation of women's labor will produce a healthier, more cooperative society.

The play reveals that a devaluation of women's work leads to ignorance and misunderstanding, while an equal valuation of that work allows people to actually understand the social world (and not just one half of it). Through the play, Glaspell makes the case that the traditional devaluation of women's labor has resulted in a kind of stunted, malformed society that cannot even achieve the goals it sets for itself because it refuses to recognize or understand the contributions of one half of that society.

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The women's decision to help Mrs. Wright in the end indicates a moral shift towards a more equitable, truly just society.

Susan Glaspell's Trifles represents a particular era of feminism extremely well, because it manages to sum up in a single act first-wave feminism's claims regarding the importance of traditional feminine labor, interest, and personalities. The crime is solved by the end of the play, but not by the supposedly critical and investigative team of men. Instead, it is solved by the actually critical team of women, who, because they value the domestic work done by women, are able to understand the murder within the larger context of the home as a whole. The men are baffled as to why Mrs. Wright might want to kill her husband, but they are only baffled because they are entirely uninterested in the experiences and life of Mrs. Wright herself. They essentially ignore the kitchen, which is where Mrs. Wright spent most of her time, because they cannot imagine that it would contain any useful information. In contrast, the women focus almost exclusively on the kitchen, because they know that if there are any clues to be found, they will be found there. By concluding the play with the women deciding to shield Mrs. Wright from prosecution, Glaspell makes the case that appreciating and valuing the work done by women will lead to a more comprehensive and accurate moral position, a position that could create a better future for both men and women alike.

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