"Trifles"

            “Trifles” is a play that was written by Susan Glaspell. This play is mainly about the murder of Mr. Wright. The men in this play are trying to look for obvious hints to the fact that Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. In the beginning of the play, Mr. Hale tells the Court
Attorney what he observed the day that he arrived at the home to find that Mr. Wright was murdered. The women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, try defending Mrs. Wright. As they investigate the crime scene, which is Mr. and Mrs. Wright’s home, the men just look for obvious things that would make Mrs. Wright a bad wife. An example that the men find would be her bad housekeeping and the women observe her bad sewing. The women look for more sentimental reasons for why Mrs. Wright would murder Mr. Wright.

            I believe the most important part of this play is the bird that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find. First they find an empty bird cage, and then they find that the hinge is broken on the bird cage. Then they find the bird dead in a box, its neck was wrung.  Then women begin to try to come to a conclusion of why its neck had been wrung. As the readers, we have to observe that previously in the play the women were speaking about Mr. and Mrs. Wright not having children and being lonely. We have to relate to the fact that Mr. Wright didn’t want children because they were noisy. The bird could be noisy as well. Did Mr. Wright kill the bird? If Mr. Wright killed the bird, did Mrs. Wright kill him for killing her only loving companion? In the beginning of the play it is stated that Mr. Wright was not a drunk but he was quiet and not much company. We get the idea that Mrs. Wright would be mad that the bird was killed because Mrs. Peters relates to her feelings when a boy killed one of her kittens when she was just a young girl.

            The women come to the conclusion that Mrs. Wright liked the bird very much because she was going to bury it in a pretty box. The women are not certain about who killed the bird or Mr. Wright, but they have an idea that it was Mrs. Wright. Even though they think it was Mrs. Wright that committed the crime, they think that she should not be punished for it because of the life that she had to live with Mr. Wright. They decided to hide the evidence because they knew it was the violent evidence that the men were looking for to prove Mrs. Wright committed this horrible crime. The men think that since Mrs. Peters is the wife of the sheriff, she is married to the law.

            I think that the women in the play are not doing this to make themselves feel better. I believe that they think that they could have kept this from happening by visiting Mrs. Wright more often. If they visited more often, they would have knew the situation and kept her company. If Mrs. Wright felt part of the women society, maybe she would have gotten out more and wouldn’t have only had a bird as a companion, leaving her alone when Mr. Wright killed it.