Trifles Summary
“Trifles” was written by a female American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress, Susan Glaspell. This play chronicles the day after Mrs. Wright is arrested on suspicion of murdering her husband. Though the play is about the Wrights and the circumstances of Mr. Wright’s death, Mrs. Wright never appears on the stage. The audience learns about her from the perspective of her neighbours and their reactions to items they find inside the Wright’s home.
The main characters of this play are George Henderson (County Attorney/ District Lawyer), Henry Peters (Sheriff and husband of Mrs. Peters), Lewis Hale (A neighbouring farmer of the Wrights), Mrs. Peters (wife of the Sheriff) and Mrs. Hale (neighbour to the Wrights and wife of Lewis Hale).
This play takes place after the murder of Mr. Wright and his wife, Mrs. Wright has been arrested suspecting her in murdering her husband. So, an investigation is going on to find the criminal for the verdict. Although Mrs. Wright seems to be a major character, she is not seen on the stage and the investigators get her information from others if she has killed her husband. Hale calls the investigators to find out the case.
The Wrights’ house is a little far away from the road in the hollow from where the road is not seen. It is located in a lonely place so that people rarely reach there. The investigators are already in her house to find out the case. They are in the kitchen where they find that everything is in messy condition. But, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters remain at the door. The things in the kitchen are not kept properly. The dishes are not washed and the room looks dirty. In other words, the housekeeping is not good. When County Attorney asks Hale about the case, he says that he is also unknown about it. He says that when he went to The Wright’s house for telephone connection, he found that Mrs. Wright was sitting on the rocking chair and rocking front and back. At the same time, she was folding her apron. She looked strange and nervous, When Hale asked her about her husband, Mr. Wright, she says that he has been killed in his bed. He asked her whether she knew about it because she was sleeping together with him. She says that she was in a sound sleep and she did not know about it and someone had killed him tightening around his neck with a rope.
During investigation, the male characters do not give due importance to the female characters. They do not listen to them carefully; instead, they think that they are trifles (insignificant matters) for them. Being females, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are in favour of Mrs. Wright and they want to hide some information about Mrs. Wright. The investigators find the bread crumbs and the box. They also found a cage with a canary but the bird is wrapped in a silk clothes. From these all evidences, they want to make a conclusion that Mrs. Wright has killed her husband. When they ask about the bird, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters say that is damaged by a cat. They find that the mattress is also not completed and the investigators ask about it; they say that she wanted to complete it and they want to complete her task. But, the male characters do not give any concentration on their sayings.”
But Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters tell that she was a beautiful girl in her youth. She dressed up very impressively and sang songs in choir. She was called as Minnie Foster. In contrast, her husband was cruel and he did not give any freedom to his wife. He even did not allow meeting her friends. So, from these all things, we know that Mrs. Wright has the feeling of revenge and she was not satisfied with her husband. She finally killed her husband while he was in a sound sleep.
This play shows the superior feeling of the male characters. They are sex biased and take all the female things very lightly as the trifles. It shows the women’s status of the then American society that there was a male dominance and women did not have any freedom and place in to keep equal status with the men.
Trifles Questions And Answer: Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
a.Do you believe that Mrs. Wright killed her husband ? Explain.
Ans: Yes, I believe that Mrs. Wright killed her husband because she was very cool on her rocking chair after her husband’s death and she was just busy in pleating her apron rather than being tensed in his death.
b.Do you think Mr. Wright’s death would have been uncovered if Mr. Hale hadn’t stopped by the Wrights’ home?
Ans: I don’t think Mr. Wright’s death would have been uncovered if Mr. Hale hadn’t stopped by the Wright’s home because the Wrights’ house was very far away from the road and there was a less chance to visit that house by any person. If Mr. Hale hadn’t stopped there, the dead body could have been decayed and that case could be covered forever. So, it is Mr. Hale, because of whom, the case would have been uncovered.
c.Why does Mrs. Hale think that Mrs. Wright’s worries about her preserves indicate her innocence?
Ans: Mrs. Hale thinks that Mrs. Wright’s Worries about her preserves indicate her innocence because she thinks that a person who is very much concerned with her preserves may not commit a murdering case.
d.How does Mrs. Peters’ homesteading experience connect her to Mrs. Wright?
Ans: Mrs. Peters’ homesteading experience connects her to Mrs. Wright because she had a kitten when she was a girl and a boy killed the kitten with a hatchet. Then she was furious with the boy and she felt of revenge with him; this event connects Mrs. Peters to Mrs. Wright’s revenge against the murderer of her canary. Another reason is the loss of her first child connects her to Mrs. Wright’s unfavourable time without her canary.
c.How do the women’s perspectives on men differ?
Ans: We can see the feeling of superiority in men over women in this play as the men’s arrogance and dominance are shown. In the play, most of the time they make fun over women on pointless/trifle things. They do not seriously take the women’s responses throughout their investigation.
Reference to the context
Read the extracts from the play given below and answer the questions that follow.
a.”MRS. PETERS: (glancing around). Seems funny to think of a bird here. But she must have had one, or why would she have a cage? I wonder what happened to it? MRS. HALE: I s’pose maybe the cat got it.”
i.Who does ‘she’ refer to ?
Ans: ‘She’ refers to Mrs. Wright.
ii.What does the word ‘one’ stand for ?
Ans: The word ‘one’ stands for a bird.
iii. What is the full form of “s’ pose ” ?
Ans: The full form of “s’pose” is suppose.
iv. What do you mean when Mrs. Hale says, “the cat got it ?
Ans: It means the cat had killed the bird when Mrs. Hale says, “the cat got it”.
b.”MRS. HALE: Wright was close……. she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that- oh, that was thirty years ago.”
i.Why does Mrs. Hale refer to Mrs. Wright as “Minnie Foster” ?
Ans: Mrs. Hale refers to Mrs. Wright as “Minnie Foster” because she was very beautiful before her marriage to Mr. Wright and she used to sing songs in choir in pretty dresses.
ii.What does her description tell you about Mrs. Wright?
Ans: The description of her beauty and the way of wearing dresses and singing songs before thirty years and was called as Minnie Foster tells us about Mrs. Wright.
iii. What does Mrs. Hale mean by “that was thirty years ago?
Ans: Mrs. Hale by “that was thirty years age” means that she was very beautiful in her youth and
sang beautifully in her pretty dresses.
c.What is the main theme of the play Trifles?
Ans: The main theme of the play is the status of women in the then time in America in which men showed their superiority, arrogance, and dominance over women as most of the time they make fun on women’s responses in the play. They think that their responses are trifle/unimportant.
d.Discuss the symbolism used in the play.
Ans: The symbolism used in the play are:
i.The quilt: The quilt is not completed in sewing which symbolizes Minnie’s luck and the patches of fabric indicate each information.
ii.The birdcage: The birdcage symbolizes Mr. Wright’s behaviours to Minnie. His coldness and harshness prevents Minnie from being sociable and gregarious. It symbolizes the state of captivity.
iii. The rocking Chair: The rocking chair symbolizes the place for relax and rest for Mrs. Wright to be out of reality of murdering.
iv. The bird: The bird symbolizes that it did not die naturally and someone had killed and it leads that Mr. Wright death was also not natural and that was done by someone.
e.Discuss the setting of the play. Does it have an impact on the theme of the play?
Ans: The setting of the play is in the abandoned farmhouse of Mr. John Wright. The kitchen is gloomy and left without having been put in order. In other words, the housekeeping is not good which shows that there is something wrong happened in the house which is in the hollow and from where the road is not seen.
Yes, the setting has an impact on the theme of the play because it shows the status of women in the contemporary America as they were dominated by men and they were confined to their household works and prevented to be social and gregarious.
Reference beyond the text
a.The credibility of a character is determined not only by the character’s thoughtsnand actions but also by what other characters say and think about him or her. Discuss in relation to the characters of Trifles.
Ans: It is true that the credibility of a character is determined not only by the character’s thoughts and actions but also by what other characters say and think about him or her. In the play, Trifles; the two characters Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters give us information about Mrs. Wright. While they are investigating the murder case in Mr. Wright’s house, they talk many things about Mrs. Wright which reveals so many things and aspects of her which enable us to think about Mrs. Wright’s character, and her past. She herself does not say anything to us. The readers sympathize Mrs. Wright based on the information given by Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in the play. They have put their ample effort to make her stand positively.
b.Dramatic irony occurs when the reader or audience has information that is unknown to the characters in a play; it creates tension and suspense. Analyse the play discussing the author’s · use of dramatic irony based on these questions:
a. What information is crucial to the play Trifles ?
Ans: Dramatic irony occurs when the reader or audience has information that is unknown to the characters in a play; it creates tension and suspense because dramatic irony is a literary device that is used to reveal the past hidden things. The crucial information to the play is that Mrs. Wright has killed her husband and the readers get this information by the two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters and the leading characters involving in the investigation are unknown about the fact of murdering case.
b.How does the playwright use this information to create dramatic irony?
Ans: The playwright uses this information to create dramatic irony by creating suspense, tension,. twist and revealing them in an interesting way so that the readers will have a full interest to know about the facts of the murder to find the murderer for which they are going through.
c.What effect does the dramatic irony have on the audience and on the play?
Ans: The dramatic irony has a positive effect on the audience and on the play because of it the readers have interest, hope, fear, tension, and suspense regarding the plot and the characters of the play. It makes the readers curious and serious to know the facts of the case which has many twists in the play.