Play \'Trifles\' Brings Various Philosophical

¶ … play 'Trifles' brings various philosophical and ethical conundrums into play, one of these are the very thin line that is existent between law and between its exceptions. You have the two women arraigned against the men; both of these -- or at least one of these -- realizes that the victim is likely the murdered of her husband. They recognize her guilt, whilst they recognize her plight and conspire to shield her. By doing so, they collaborate in perverting justice, but even as they do so we, the reader, are unsure about the woman's guilt. She seemed to kill her husband -- the signs point to it. But the signs also clearly point to the fact that her husband, in a manner of speaking, killed her too. He killed the vibrant alive woman that she once was and tormented her by brutalities that included incapacitating her pet. Given this situation, we may also hesitate to sentence her to death. After all, justice may be too strict in this instance and the woman may need to be exonerated. Indeed, as the essay "Justice in Trifles" notes "Although we like to think of justice as a completely objective, impartial force, Trifles nicely demonstrates that this is not the case… we are confronted with various interpretations of what justice entails." These are the dilemmas that play out in this essay.

Mrs. Wright, we discover, was a once lively beautiful young country girl who, at one time, "wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang." She had been married to a husband who had abused her and apparently made her life as miserable and lonely as possible. Childless and friendless, she took refuge in a canary whose head her husband wringed one night. Most of this is unknown to the sheriff and his assistant. What they do know is the fact that Mr. Wright was found strangled in his bed the night before last and Mrs. Wright has been brought in for questioning. They are searching he house for clues.

In the meantime, their neglected wives (Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters) have been wandering around picking up trifles in their casual, female-characterized talkative manner. Each trifle points as clue to unraveling the enigma of the murder and to indicating who the murderer really is. Mrs. Peters, the Sherriff's wife starts out as someone who, married to the law, is resolute to reinforce her position, but, as the story unravels, she becomes increasingly insecure and shaken and, ultimately, collaborates in hiding the incriminating evidence from her husband.

At one point in the story, Mrs. Hale wonders how the men are doing 'sneaking about' upstairs whilst Mrs. Wright is in jail. This too is an ironic violation of justice perpetrated by an officer of the Justice. They have broken into a woman's house without asking her, doing so on the grounds of Justice. Mrs. Phillips responds: "But Mrs. Hale, the law is the law."

Mrs. Hale half-heartedly acquiesces: "I s'pose 'tis."

As Mrs. Wright's former exuberant character is evoked and the contrast to her consequent dismal experiences made clear, Mrs. Peter's adherence to the law is shaken and she refrains from impeding her friend from destroying the clues:

MRS. PETERS

Oh, what are you doing, Mrs. Hale?

MRS. HALE [Mildly.]

Just pulling out a stitch or two that's not sewed very good. [Threading a needle.] Bad sewing always made me fidgety.

MRS. PETERS [Nervously.]

I don't think we ought to touch things.

MRS. HALE

I'll just finish up this end. [Suddenly stopping and leaning forward.]

Later on, when discovering the dead bird, Mrs. Peters reflects on her childhood experience of a boy killing her own pet with a hatchet. She instinctively realizes that had she been there at that moment nothing would have stopped her from hurting him and, possibly, whether intentionally or not, killing him.

There was no difference then between her and Mrs. Wright. And more so, Mrs. Wright had had to endure long and drawn out years of unbearable loneliness and anguish from a husband who moment after moment, day after day without respite tormented her. Wasn't that a sort of killing?

Says Mrs. Pieter: "The law has got to punish crime, Mrs. Hale."

Mrs. Hale however reflects on the former Minnie Foster who "wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang."

Looking around the depressing and discomfiting room she remarks that her husband's deeds were a crime of a different order too -- probably just as severe. Who could judge… and who would punish that