"Trifles" Analysis

A.    Synopsis

”Trifles” presents an investigation of John Wright’s murder case. County Attorney and Sheriff were the person who responsible to do the investigation. They came to John Wright’s house with the neighbor of Wright’s family; Mr. Hale and Mrs. Hale and also Sheriff’s wife; Mrs. Peters. Mrs. Wright is the one who seemed do the murder, but they needed evidence; a motive of the crime. That’s why they came to John’s house. The men did their investigation by their methods (professional methods), and the women did their investigation in different way (pay many attention over trifles such as ruined fruits, quilts, dirty towel, broken-empty bird cage and dead canary). The men laughed at the women because their much attention over such trifles, but finally by those trifles the women found the motive and evidence of Mrs. Wright’s guilt, meanwhile the men got nothing. However, because of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters’ empathy, women solidarity and strong sisterhood, they conceal the evidence of Mrs. Wright’s guilt from the men.

2. Analysis

Ø  Setting

v  Place

The place of setting of Trifles is in Wright’s kitchen, where many things that look like trifles are there. Where the women used to spent many time in, and also where the women feel so comfortable being there. Wright’s kitchen itself was so terrible; there are unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf bread outside breadbox, ruined fruits, dishtowel on the table, broken-empty bird cage and a large serving basket which full of pieces quilts & sewing equipments in the under part of small corner table. It seems that Mrs. Wright did nothing much in her kitchen lately day. Even Mrs. Hale defended Mrs. Wright by saying that maybe she had many things to do in farm, but it is a little queer. It seems that she may have another business that more important than doing her work in the kitchen or she just forget to do her work because something important had happened.

Ø  Characters of Trifles

      John Wright : The victim murder

ü  He is the husband of Minnie Foster / Mrs. Wright.

ü  Mrs. Hale described him as a good man but a hard man as well.

MRS. PETERS : No; I've seen him in town. They say he was a good man.

MRS. HALE : Yes--good; he didn't drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him--[Shivers.] Like a raw wind that gets to the bone. [Pauses, her eye falling on the cage.] I should think she would 'a wanted a bird. But what do you suppose went with it?

ü  However, what he did to the canary made us see the real him. He is a cruel, hatred & callous man. How could a man wrung canary’s neck? What kind of fault that done by that small and fragile pet that made him so mad?

ü  He is an antagonist character in this play.

      Mrs. Wright / Minnie Foster : the murder of John Wright

ü     She is Mr. Wright’s wife.

ü  Mrs. Hale described her as a woman who used to happy and lively before married to John.

MRS. HALE : [Examining the skirt.] Wright was close. I think maybe that's why she kept so much to herself. She didn't even belong to the Ladies Aid. I suppose she felt she couldn't do her part, and then you don't enjoy things when you feel shabby. 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. This all you was to take in?

MRS. HALE : She--come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself--real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and--fluttery. How--she--did--change. [Silence; then as if struck by a happy thought and relieved to get back to everyday things.] Tell you what, Mrs. Peters, why don't you take the quilt in with you? It might take up her mind.

ü  She is also a patience and creative woman. We can see that from the quilts; only a patience and creative woman who like and can do quilting.

ü  She is protagonist character.

      Mrs. Hale : the neighbor of Wright’s family

ü    She is Mr. Hale’s wife.

ü    She has a comfortable looking.

ü  She is loyal to her gender and has a great solidarity of women by defends Mrs. Wright and women in general when County Attorney criticized Mrs. Wright’s housemaking ability.

COUNTY ATTORNEY : [With the gallantry of a young politician.] And yet, for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies? [The women do not unbend. He goes to the sink, takes a dipperful of water from the pail and pouring it into a basin, washes his hands. Starts to wipe them on the roller-towel, turns it for a cleaner place.] Dirty towels! [Kicks his foot against the pans under the sink.] Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?

MRS. HALE [Stiffly.] There's a great deal of work to be done on a farm.

COUNTY ATTORNEY To be sure. And yet [With a little bow to her] I know there are some Dickson county farmhouses which do not have such roller towels.

[He gives it a pull to expose its full length again.

MRS. HALE Those towels get dirty awful quick. Men's hands aren't always as clean as they might be.

COUNTY ATTORNEY Ah, loyal to your sex, I see. But you and Mrs. Wright were neighbors. I suppose you were friends, too.

ü        She is protagonist character.

      Mrs. Peters : the wife of Sheriff

ü        She is a slight wiry woman with nervous face.

ü        She pays much attention over trifles.

PETERS [To the other woman.] Oh, her fruit; it did freeze. [To the Lawyer.] She worried about that when it turned so cold. She said the fire'd go out and her jars would break.

MRS. PETERS [Who has gone to a small table in the left rear corner of the room, and lifted one end of a towel that covers a pan.] She had bread set.

[Mrs. Peters takes off her fur tippet, goes to hang it on hook at back of room, stands looking at the under part of the small corner table.

MRS. PETERS She was piecing a quilt.

MRS. PETERS [Looking in cupboard.] Why, here's a bird-cage. [Holds it up.] Did she have a bird, Mrs. Hale?

ü        She used to follow the law.

MRS. HALE [Who is standing by the table.] Well, I don't see any signs of anger around here. [She puts her hand on the dish towel which lies on the table, stands looking down at table, one half of which is clean, the other half messy.] It's wiped to here. [Makes a move as if to finish work, then turns and looks at loaf of bread outside the breadbox. Drops towel. In that voice of coming back to familiar things.] Wonder how they are finding things upstairs. I hope she had it a little more red-up up there. You know, it seems kind of sneaking. Locking her up in town and then coming out here and trying to get her own house to turn against her!

MRS. PETERS But Mrs. Hale, the law is the law.

MRS. HALE [Her own feeling not interrupted.] If there'd been years and years of nothing, then a bird to sing to you, it would be awful--still, after the bird was still.

MRS. PETERS [Something within her speaking.] I know what stillness is. When we homesteaded in Dakota, and my first baby died--after he was two years old, and me with no other then--

MRS. HALE [Moving.] How soon do you suppose they'll be through, looking for the evidence?

MRS. PETERS I know what stillness is. [Pulling herself back.] The law has got to punish crime, Mrs. Hale.

ü        However, at the end of play she decides to conceal the evidence.

[Hale goes outside. The Sheriff follows the County Attorney into the other room. Then Mrs. Hale rises, hands tight together, looking intensely at Mrs. Peters, whose eyes make a slow turn, finally meeting Mrs. Hale's. A moment Mrs. Hale holds her, then her own eyes point the way to where the box is concealed. Suddenly Mrs. Peters throws back quilt pieces and tries to put the box in the bag she is wearing. It is too big. She opens box, starts to take bird out, cannot touch it, goes to pieces, stands there helpless. Sound of a knob turning in the other room. Mrs. Hale snatches the box and puts it in the pocket of her big coat. Enter County Attorney and Sheriff.

COUNTY ATTORNEY [Facetiously.] Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to--what is it you call it, ladies?

MRS. HALE [Her hand against her pocket.] We call it--knot it, Mr. Henderson.

ü        She is protagonist character.

      George Handerson : County Attorney

ü        He is a young man and a serious minded person.

COUNTY ATTORNEY I guess before we're through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about.

SHERIFF I Suppose anything Mrs. Peters does'll be all right. She was to take in some clothes for her, you know, and a few little things. We left in such a hurry yesterday.

COUNTY ATTORNEY Yes, but I would like to see what you take, Mrs. Peters, and keep an eye out for anything that might be of use to us.

ü        Professionals in his job.

COUNTY ATTORNEY [To Sheriff Peters, continuing an interrupted conversation.] No sign at all of anyone having come from the outside. Their own rope. Now let's go up again and go over it piece by piece. [They start upstairs.] It would have to have been someone who knew just the-

COUNTY ATTORNEY I'm going stay here a while by myself. [To the Sheriff.] You can send Frank out for me, can't you? I want to go over everything. I'm not satisfied that we can't do better.

ü        Underestimate women because of their interest of trifles.

SHERIFF Do you want to see what Mrs. Peters is going to take in?

[The Lawyer goes to the table, picks up the apron, laughs.

COUNTY ATTORNEY Oh, I guess they're not very dangerous things the ladies have picked out. [Moves a few things about, disturbing the quilt pieces which cover the box. Steps back.] No, Mrs. Peters doesn't need supervising. For that matter, a sheriff's wife is married to the law. Ever think of it that way, Mrs. Peters?

COUNTY ATTORNEY [Facetiously.] Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to--what is it you call it, ladies?

MRS. HALE [Her hand against her pocket.] We call it--knot it, Mr. Henderson.

      Henry Peters : the Local Sheriff

ü        Mrs. Peters’ husband. He middle aged man.

ü        Reproach women.

PETERS [To the other woman.] Oh, her fruit; it did freeze. [To the Lawyer.] She worried about that when it turned so cold. She said the fire'd go out and her jars would break.

SHERIFF Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves.

ü        He is a Protagonist character.

      Lewis Hale : the neighbor of Wright’s family

ü        He is Mrs. Hale’s husband and a middle aged man.

ü        He is the first one that knew John Wright’s murder.

Ø  Plot

o   Exposition

George Handerson investigates Mr. Hale, and Mr. Hale tells him about how he knows Mr. Wright’s murder, also he tells Handerson how Mrs. Wright seems so queer when he came to her house.

o   Raising Action

The men do the investigation by their methods in the formal and professional way. Meanwhile the women do their investigation by talking about the personality of Mr. Wright and Mrs. Wright and also looking at trifles; quilts and broken bird cage.

o   Conflict

The conflict happened in “Trifles” is an internal conflict between Mr. Wright and Mrs. Wright in their marriage life because of their different personality.

o   Climax

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find a dead canary (the motive of the crime) that wrapped in a silk inside a real pretty box. Its neck was all to other side because someone wrung it.

o   Falling Action

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters reconstruct events of John Wright’s murder case and his marriage life. They conclude that the dead canary is Mrs. Wright’s bird which killed by her husband because her husband does not like something that sang. The bird is meaningful to her because it symbolizes herself. So, when her husband killed the bird it means that he also killed her soul. It makes her awful angry to her husband and decides to do the same to her husband – kill him as he killed her lovely bird. 

o   Resolution

The women solidarity and strong sisterhood to Mrs. Wright make Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters decide to conceal the evidence of Mrs. Wright’s guilt from the men. And the men do not realize that the women find what they are looking for because in their mind women could not do or pick up something important.    

Ø  Theme

 “Trifles” refers to gender differences between men and women. In this play the way they observe and investigate in a murder case. The men characters act as though, serious minded detectives and use the standard methods but they get nothing from their investigation. Meanwhile the women do their investigation by looking at trifles and use no methods like men do, but finally they find the most important evidence; the motive of crime that point at Mrs. Wright’s guilt.  

Ø  Style

The style of “Trifles” is arguing and reasoning in order to defend Mrs. Wright by using trifles. There are a lot of reasons and trifles (such as dirty towel, quilts, empty bird cage and also the dead canary) that find in the play.

Ø  Function

The play presents many differences between men and woman. Also, the way men treat women; the men never appreciate women. They think that men are greater and smarter than women, and have high sense self-importance. In this play Susan Glaspell show us that women are not always talking about trifles as men said, but women also can do and find something important, something that men cannot find out.

So, the function of this play is social critics to the men, who always underestimate women. To make the men open their eyes and change their views of women. In addition to make men appreciate women.