“Trifles”

Introduction

Perhaps generalizing the content of the play “Trifles” from the title would judgmental due to the ironical richness of important social issues in the modern world. From the title, one would expect to find the proverbial creation of a mountain from a mere anthill, which is strongly but artistically negated in the plot. One would be tempted to think that it is almost nearing a conclusive end until the reality of the severity of fate of the toppled “stronger sex” gets clear. As inspired by a true story, “Trifles” brings out three main themes where each of the two genders struggles to steal the show, with one unexpectedly making a bigger impact (Ben-Zvi 90). “Trifles” deals with gender perception; a sensitive reading of the drama involves understanding how the men view the women, how the women view the men, and how the women ultimately triumph over the men.

Men are presented as an egoistic species that reserve the back roles for the women right from the beginning of the play. Throughout the development of the play, women seem to be placed in the dark and they consequently withdraw themselves to trivial details that men count as unimportant in the case. “She didn’t pay much attention,” are examples of words men use in the play to refer to women (vcu.edu, 6th conversation by Hale). At one point in the play, women are depicted as a species that concentrates on trifles at an instance when men plainly mock them for linking a quilt to murder case evidence. “Trifles” deals with gender perception; a sensitive reading of the drama involves understanding how the men view the women. Other trivial details that the women fall on in their assistance to unravel the murder are equally rejected by the chauvinistic men in the play. In aromatic turn of events, the very rejections termed trivial become the main pieces of reliable evidence.

“Trifles” deals with gender perception; a sensitive reading of the drama involves understanding how the women view the men. In a contrasting development of the play, the playwright illustrates how women stick to fine detail that affects both their life and for those around them. Interestingly, the murderer sought after in the play happens to be a woman who was fighting against mistreatment by an insensitive husband. The domestic setting in which the murder happens portrays women as victims of a hostile treatment from a chauvinist male domination. The fact that the women in the play seem to read from the same page in all of their ideas shows how the well spirited fight against their mistreatment seems to gain momentum and support from each other.

By stating that “way of knowing leads them not simply to knowledge; it also leads to the decision about how to act on that knowledge” present women as keen on their decision making (Holstein 282). Contrary to any illustration of men throughout the play, the playwright is capable of convincing the audience that the women’s side of battle is more tactical and likely to win (Keller, 15). Consequently, the admissibility of evidence raised by the women is more telling of their ranking in the war. “Trifles” deals with gender perception; on how the women ultimately triumph over the men.

In conclusion, the play “Trifles” is a piece of drama that captures the gender perceptions in a threefold dimension; how men perceive women, how women perceive men and how the later find themselves in a winning position. Giving the last answer in the conversation “She was going to–what is it you call it, ladies!” shows that women are the clear winners (vcu.edu, County Attorney’s last conversation).

Works Cited

“”Trifles” by Susan Graspen (1916),” n.d. Web. HYPERLINK “http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/trifles.htm” http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/trifles.htm (7 April 2011)

Ben-Zvi, Linda Susan Glaspell: Essays on her theatre and fiction. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2002. Print

Holstein Clarkson, Suzy. “Silent Justice in a Different Key: Glaspell’s Trifles.” The Midwest Quarterly 44 (2003): 282-290.

Keller, Matthias Symbolic realism in Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles”. Berlin, Germany: GRIN Verlag Publishers, 2007. Print