The Trifle Isolation
The Trifle Isolation
Have you ever felt as though you were alone? Susan Glaspell wrote a play called Trifles. The story tells of the untimely death of Mr. Wright and the subsequent investigation. The investigation is being overseen by the county attorney, the sheriff and Mr. Hale who have brought their wives along to retrieve Mrs. Wright’s personal effects from the home. Everyone suspects Mrs. Wright of the death. The story has many themes but the one that stands out to me is isolation. This unfortunate theme resounds throughout Trifles. Isolation can occur in many forms, internal, from society, and from those closest to us and is illustrated within the story. Mrs. Wright fought a battle that no one could or perhaps wanted to see. The house is described as “not cheerful (Glaspell, 971)”. Mrs. Hale had indicated that the house was “down in a hallow…a lonesome place (974)”. From the moment that Mr. Hale walked into the home Mrs. Wright was sitting in her rocking chair repetitiously folding her apron not willing or able to engage with Mr. Hale. Whatever her reasons for isolation were whether they were due to her husband or even if she chose the isolation, people noticed the degradation in her appearance. She went from well-dressed to shabby in appearance. Mrs. Hale wondered if the lack of children made the house quiet relating to how that can make a person feel when they are all alone. For Mrs. Wright, isolation did not serve her well. At the time this play was written in 1916, women were not seen as equals, but rather as property. From the beginning of the play as Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are kept off to the side and not talked to directly as the men sought to try and investigate the death by searching for clues and evidence. They were keenly aware of the isolation that was going on in that house even from her own husband saying that “women are used to worrying over trifles (971)”. Later Mrs. Hale tells Mrs. Peters that they as women “live close together and
Have you ever felt as though you were alone? Susan Glaspell wrote a play called Trifles. The story tells of the untimely death of Mr. Wright and the subsequent investigation. The investigation is being overseen by the county attorney, the sheriff and Mr. Hale who have brought their wives along to retrieve Mrs. Wright’s personal effects from the home. Everyone suspects Mrs. Wright of the death. The story has many themes but the one that stands out to me is isolation. This unfortunate theme resounds throughout Trifles. Isolation can occur in many forms, internal, from society, and from those closest to us and is illustrated within the story. Mrs. Wright fought a battle that no one could or perhaps wanted to see. The house is described as “not cheerful (Glaspell, 971)”. Mrs. Hale had indicated that the house was “down in a hallow…a lonesome place (974)”. From the moment that Mr. Hale walked into the home Mrs. Wright was sitting in her rocking chair repetitiously folding her apron not willing or able to engage with Mr. Hale. Whatever her reasons for isolation were whether they were due to her husband or even if she chose the isolation, people noticed the degradation in her appearance. She went from well-dressed to shabby in appearance. Mrs. Hale wondered if the lack of children made the house quiet relating to how that can make a person feel when they are all alone. For Mrs. Wright, isolation did not serve her well. At the time this play was written in 1916, women were not seen as equals, but rather as property. From the beginning of the play as Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are kept off to the side and not talked to directly as the men sought to try and investigate the death by searching for clues and evidence. They were keenly aware of the isolation that was going on in that house even from her own husband saying that “women are used to worrying over trifles (971)”. Later Mrs. Hale tells Mrs. Peters that they as women “live close together and