Literature

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The word trifles generally refer to the items of little or no importance. In the play, ‘Trifles’ Glaspell uses a lot of clues to which are known by the women alone while the men despise them regarding them as being of no importance. The plot takes place in the kitchen, and this is where all the trifles are, but the men spend their time in searching upstairs finding more substantial clues that are unavailable. In the play, the most significant trifles include, the quilt with elastic stitching, the bird cage as well as the dead canary in a pretty little box.

The trifles can alter and advance the plot of the play as in most of the fictional mystery plays, the plot is always endocentric and features an actively analytical male hero who discovers the identity of the murder through searching for the evidence and reasons his way through the crime. For example, Holmes is generally dispassionate in his pursuit of the murderers all over the scenes and bests the police at their jobs. Unlike the male detectives, the women in the play trifles avoid the ruthless search for the information to which would lead to the apprehension of the perpetrator. The women achieve their solution by the seemingly accidental observation of the kitchen to where they identify all the traces of murder that is ironical to the males. They develop the desire to protect rather than condemn the murderer. The continued use of the rifles in the play keep the play ongoing and as well point out to the ignorance of the male detectives in their work in search of evidence. The trifles have also been used to indicate the role of the females in the society and their position in regard to men and therefore stressing the theme of feminism.

Reference

Glaspell, S. (2010). Trifles. Baker’s Plays.