Death By Trifle
...from age fifteen to forty-four (Britannica Online). How much can a person take? What pushes the storm inside a passive individual into a fury of decisive action? Susan Glaspell's play Trifles shows us the lengths to which the circumstances of cruelty will push a woman. Here we behold the tale of abuse, of women controlled by their husbands and viewed as insignificant by the men around them. These women fight back against the patriarchal and patronizing society by banding together and supporting one of their own.
With the freedom women have today as a standard, it is difficult to understand the period in which Minnie Wright lived. During this time in history, "marital conflict, frequently including violence, was mostly taken for granted in many working-class communities; in itself, it was rarely sufficient to warrant communal censure" (Hammerton 19). In the 1840's, a judge affirmed a husband's right to kidnap his wife, beat her and imprison her in the matrimonial home (Women's Aid Online). Women had few resources and even fewer sources of support, no matter what was taking place in their homes. Women could not sit on juries nor give a judgement of their peers (Ruben).
Let us look at Minnie Wright. As a young girl, she was a described as by Mrs. Hale as, "kind of like a bird herself real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and fluttery" (Glaspell 107). Even her name, Minnie, diminishes her. Several clues point to the fact that John Wright was abusive to his wife. To the town's people, John Wright is seen as a "good man" (103). However, Mrs. Hale characterizes him this way, "he didn't drink, and he kept his word as well as most . . . But he was a hard man . . . Like a raw wind that gets to the bone" (104). His characterization as a "hard man" leads us look for clues of abuse in the "trifles" of Minnie's life.
As Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters begin...
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