Trifles

5 Pages 1331 Words

Worrying over Trifles

In Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, she without a doubt challenges the morals, beliefs, and values of her audience. The play begins in an old Midwestern farmhouse. George Henderson, Henry Peters, Lewis Hale, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Hale enter the Wright residence to try to unravel a murder mystery. As the play unfolds, readers learn more of how isolated and unhappy Mr. And Mrs. Wright was. Although these two characters have no lines and are never seen on stage, the audience carefully learns who the assassin is through careful observations by Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale. The others, George Henderson, Henry Peters, and Lewis Hale, seem to overlook significant details that may lead them to solving the murder. In spite of the terrible tragedy, one must come to a decision whether the murder is a sin or a blessing. In Trifles, the men and women demonstrate their many differences through their thought process and the women’s sympathy for the accused.
The men portrayed in the play show few differences in their views and opinions. George Henderson plays the county attorney. He is at the Wright house to investigate the murder and question the witness. Henry Peters accompanies the county attorney as the sheriff in hope to solve the crime. The witness, Lewis Hale, is the one who found Mrs. Wright sitting in her rocking chair after her husband passes. All three men prove themselves condescending and proud throughout the play. In the opening of the play, the men comfortably walk in the home as if nothing tragic has occurred. Throughout the rest of the performance, there are many references to women and how they are less significant to men. Glaspell, through Lewis Hale’s character, gives a passive statement that confirms early judgment of women: “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (1240). The sheriff and the county attorney both support Hale in other statements directed towards the women.
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