The theme of isolation in Trifles

¶ … play Trifles? Analyze and support the theme by giving examples from the story

Susan Glaspell's play Trifles is intended to illustrate women's superior 'ways of knowing,' and the callousness of males towards women. It asserts the importance, even the superiority of the feminine perspective. Author Susan Glaspell is called one of the "first feminists" of American theater, and Trifles was groundbreaking when it was first produced in 1921. Her "works deal with the theme of the 'new woman,' presenting a hero who represents the American pioneer spirit of independence and freedom" ("Susan Glaspell: Biography," English Teacher's Network, 2012). The play depicts the investigation of a murder scene in which a man, John Wright, has been killed in his home. His wife Minnie is the most likely suspect. The police gather evidence, while two women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, look over the Wright home. Over the course of the one-act play, it gradually becomes clear to the women, but not to the men, that the murderer of John Wright is Minnie, but she was abused by her husband and thus likely justified in her actions.

The play's title refers to the fact that women's matters are often referred to as mere trifles, rather than issues of significance. Minnie's unhappiness was ignored, just as Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter's insights into her condition, based upon the small details of the house are ignored by the male investigators. Eventually, the women decide to hide the evidence that the men refuse acknowledge, because they believe that Minnie was justified in her actions. They also feel guilt that they did not intervene to help Minnie, before she became desperate. The women gain a sense of solidarity, as they look through Minnie's things: "Oh, I wish I'd come over here once in a while! That was a crime! That was a crime! Who's going to punish that?" The men see evidence of a poor housekeeper, but the women find evidence of utter desperation. Minnie is described as being happy and carefree before marriage, until her husband terrorized her into submission.

Ironically, at the beginning of the play, Mr. Hale says: "Well, women are used to worrying over trifles" when Mrs. Peters expresses her dismay that Minnie's preserves froze, as the woman feared, on the night of her husband's murder. This phrase takes on an ironic significance, as it becomes clear that by worrying over trifles, the women discover the cause of the murder, unlike the men, who merely search for more obvious evidence of intrusion. "I don't know as there's anything so strange, our takin' up our time with little things while we're waiting for them to get the evidence) I don't see as it's anything to laugh about." The word has a double meaning, however, given that 'trifles' indicate Minnie's unhappiness and suffering, which were never acknowledged or properly regarded by society. Women's emotions and abuse in marriage are regarded as trifles. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale reflect on how unhappy Minnie was, which even they themselves did not recognize.