The Importance of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in Susan Glaspells Trifles

The patented murder mystery, in all its addictive predictability, presents the audition with numerous cliches a stormy night, a shadowy figure, a fatal merelyler, and a mysterious phone call. Susan Glaspells Trifles does non fit this mold. Glaspells mysterious interrogative sentence into the murder of John Wright presents the reader with only one suspect, Mrs. Wright. Even though the court examiner and sheriff cannot find evidence against Mrs. Wright, the reader can belike argue the case against the neglected wife. Glaspells use of descriptive language and problematic hints established the mood, presents the motive, and uncovers the evidence needed to solve this murder mystery. Setting the fit mood is important for any play, especially one that requires that its readers be careful of the surroundings. The first glimpse the reader gets of the setting is that of an abandoned farmhouse . . . and a sorry kitchen (Glaspell 127). These first words give the readers a heightened st ate of tension and define them for darker events yet to come. Mrs. Hale repeatedly describes the cold house as not being a very cheerful place and mentions that it might not have been any cheerfuller for John Wrights being in it (130). These comments coming from a neighbor lead the reader to believe that Mrs. Wright was not happy in her surroundings largely because of her husband. Even the rocking chair in which Mrs. Wright sat seems taint with unpleasantness. Mrs. Peters ahs to shake off the mood which the empty rocking chair evokes (131) before she continues her confabulation with Mrs. Hale. The strange feeling the house provokes prods the women to think more deeply into the events leadership to John Wrights death. This curiosity allows the women to u... ...would have much more difficulty word picture the evidence to the reader. This portrayal not only makes the story more interesting, but it also increases the character development of this short drama. Works Cited Banner, L ois. Women in innovative America A Brief History. New York Harcourt Brace, 1974. Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Making literary works calculate An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Ed. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston Bedford / St. Martins, 2000. 127-137. Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Plays by Susan Glaspell. New York Dodd, Mead and Company,Inc., 1920. Reprinted in Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. X.J.Kennedy and Dana Gioia Eds. New York Harper Collins Publisher, 1995. Hewitt, Nancy. Beyond the hunt for Sisterhood American Womens History in the 1980s.Social History. Vol. 10 zero(prenominal) 3 (1985) 299-321