Abused Women and Susan Glaspell's Trifles

When reading a story that was written almost a hundred years ago it is easy to apply insight to it based on the culture we live in today. It is easy for a modern reader to assume the story "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell is about feminist issues particularly issues of marginalization, suppression and abuse of women.

After all, the story is about the details of the life of a woman suspected of murdering her husband. The motive is hidden in the details of Mrs. Wright's life that go unseen by the men because the details are seen as trifles. Trifles are the small details "of trivial importance... having no great or lasting merit (Dictionary.com Unabridged). That is the irony of the drama. The details of the women's life are scorned by the men but understood by the women and hold the key to life and death for Mrs. Wright.

The details of the story are seamlessly integrated into the play impressively hidden from the reader. With the first reading there seems to be little to go on when trying to put together the motive for the murder. The women's final judgment and decision to cover up the evidence seem quick. Little is discussed between them. Their decision seems more intuitive
.
County Attorney George Henderson and Sherriff Henry Peters do not see the connection between the details of Mrs. Wright's life and the crime. Nor are they looking in the right place because they discount the women's activities and viewpoint as trifle. Mrs. Peters the Sheriff's wife and Mrs. Hale stumble upon the motive and immediately recognize it and understand why the crime was committed, although they are afraid to say it openly. They see the murder in a different light because they understand that Mrs. Wright's life was difficult, that she had no children to give her joy and purpose, and that the only thing she had that gave her drab life comfort or pleasure is dead. The bird that sang its sweet song and filled her lonely days lies hidden in a box; its neck wrung by Mr. Wright her difficult husband. Mrs. Hale speculates, "how it would seem never to have had any children around. (Pause.) No, Wright wouldn't like the bird--a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too" (Glaspell, 38). The women conclude that as he slept Mrs. Wright most likely wrung his neck with the rope that lies upstairs in the bed room at the crime scene.

The sheriff is looking for the motive, as his wife finds the bird in a box hidden under unfinished quilt squares. The irony again is in the Sherriff's comment, "They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it" (Glaspell, 35). And later at the end of the play the irony is repeated for effect when the women reply to the question once more, "We call it--knot it, Mr. Henderson"( Glaspell, 39), Just like the noose which Mrs. Wright took her husband's life with.

In understanding Mrs. Wright's circumstances, the other women to become willing to judge her. In the act of hiding the evidence they become the judge and jury. They knew Mrs. Wright when she was young, beautiful and full of life, "when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang" (Glaspell, 38).They see from the remnants of that life that Mrs. Wright's hope had been taken from her by a distant and harsh husband. Who Mrs. Wright was in her youth is as dead as the body of her husband that is found by Mr. Hale day the before on the bed.

It might be tempting in this day and age to make this play into a play about the Abused Women Syndrome even though there is no evidence that Mr. Wright physically abused his wife. In the legal frame work we have today, we recognize that threatening or harming a beloved pet is known as a hallmark of abuse. Today we understand that an abused woman often suffers in silence not believing others will pick up on the seemingly insignificant details of their lives that point to the loss of hope that could cause a woman to finally strike back.

Susan Glaspell did not deliberately write about abused woman as we understand them today. She, like her characters, understood something is amiss and intuitively judges that Mrs. Wright deserves to go unpunished. In fact Glaspell must have felt strongly enough about this shunned topic to expose the reality of emotional abuse in literature. In doing so, she chronicled it ahead of her time, waiting for the rest of society to catch up.

Works Cited

"trifles." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 13 Feb. 2008.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trifles>.

Glaspell, Susan. "Trifles."Text Book: Writing Through Literature. 3^rd ed. Robert Scholes,

Nancy R. Comley and Gregory L. Ulmer. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin.2002. 29-39.