Glaspell's Trifles: Broken Down

A classic murder-mystery, Glaspell's Trifles takes on a Nancy Drew-esque type plot. The towns' folk are gathered in the kitchen of Mr. and Mrs. Wright's farm house, after they have found out that Mr. Wright was dead and they believe that Mrs. Wright had strangled him in his sleep. The rest of the drama goes about trying to figure out who committed the crime and why.

The scene Glaspell decides on using for this drama plays an important role in how the action pans out. It sets a time period in the reader's mind, and by using a farmhouse with a wood burning stove and hand pump faucet, she tells us that it is going to be set in a time prior to dishwashers or modern indoor plumbing. Also, by having the room as disheveled as it is, with pans in the sink and bread lying on the counter, it adds to the complexity of the story. Glaspell also adds an element of "creepiness" by having the ladies constantly starting to do something, but then remembering that Mrs. Wright had been doing that before; Glaspell writes, "...I remember the afternoon I put up my cherries last summer. (She puts the bottle on the big kitchen table, center of the room. With a sigh, is about to sit down in the rocking-chair. Before she is seated realizes what chair it is; with a slow look at it, steps back. The chair which she has touched rocks back and forth.)" (Glaspell 1252). The reader senses Mrs. Wright in the room, while she is not in the house at all.

Glaspell uses an effective technique in play writing to allow her to set the audience's feelings towards characters, she never allows the Wright's to be seen on stage. The audience only hears the other characters talk about her. While reading the play, I never thought of this until I read the discussion questions and it makes so much sense. Without a physical person to represent with, the audience cannot come to conclusions before hearing what the main characters have to say about them. If Glaspell brought out a small cute lady to play Mrs. Wright and then had Hale say "...and at that she started to laugh, and then she stopped and looked at me - scared." (Glaspell 1250), the audience may have taken pity on her and had a preconceived notion that she could never murder her husband. If the situation was reversed and Mr. Wright had been this beast of a man whom looked like he could have beat his wife regularly, the audience would have been inclined to think that he had probably deserved what he got. By using the technique, she also can dictate the progress of the story, when, and how much information the audience can receive about the Wrights. If she only wants them to know one piece of information, she can give it to them subtly, as how the bird had set off Mr. Wright and lead to his ultimate death. Glaspell's Trifles is a play of intrigue, mystery, and conspiracy; all aspects work towards the culmination of the plot at the end of the play. She uses these ideas to almost force the reader to have certain views on Mr. and Mrs. Wright while keeping the reader on the edge of their seats. It was a fun and entertaining play to read.