Custom «Trifles by Susan Glaspell» Essay Paper Sample

Men in Susan Glaspell's play are inattentive that is totally unacceptable for such professions as attorney and sheriff. Men leave untidy kitchen and start searching for evidence in the whole farmhouse. Little details or "trifles" in the kitchen are the clues to the riddle of family drama (desperate woman murdering her husband). Men are not interested in trifles and messy kitchen of Mrs. Wright, while little details reveal the very core of unhappy marriage life and motifs for murder. Sheriff's words "Nothing here but kitchen things" indicate absence of professionalism in Mr. Peters, because he is not even trying to search for clues in the most womanly place in the house, kitchen. Men overlook clues (i.e. fruit preserves, bread outside the breadbox, an unfinished quilt, a dishtowel on the table, an empty bird care) of Mrs. Wright's guilt taking them for mere trifles.

With the help of those trifles in the kitchen and conversation of two ladies the audience gets to know the reality of Mr. and Mrs. Wright marriage life. The woman who is a suspect in this play is under psychological breakdown. One of the major clues becomes a dead bird which used to be a symbol of freedom to Mrs. Wright in her unhappy marriage. Little details are like small pieces of a big puzzle that are overlooked by men.

Mrs. Wright is the main character of the play, because she is not only a wife of Mr. Wright, but also accused murderer. From the play we find out that she is kept in custody, so she never appears on the stage in the play. However, from the words of two ladies we find out a lot about Mrs. Wright's personality. The main fact is that the woman has changed a lot since she got married with Mr. Wright. Minnie has become bored and dissatisfied with her life. Moreover, she does not have good friends to share her problems with and ask for advice.

I would describe Minnie Foster Wright as quiet, good-looking, reserved woman, who emotionally drowned in family routine and everyday problems lacking emotional joy and spiritual growth. Under different circumstances Minnie could have been exemplary wife and mother. However, emotional breakdown altered her personality and led to a deadly sin and one of the worst crimes, which is murder.