Hamlet
Hamlet once stated, "Frailty, thy name is woman"(qtd. in Starr 225). An idea that women are weak is not a new idea to society; it is one that has been examined and documented by sociologist all over the world. Sociologists have studied the idea that men control society and women are submissive to men. This form of social organization in which males dominate females is known as a patriarchy (Macionis 358). Patriarchy literally means "the rule of fathers" (Macionis 358). Historically, a patriarchy has rested upon a belief in the innate superiority of males who, therefore, legitimately dominate females (Macionis 358). In today's society, this belief is also known as sexism. Sexism, defined as the belief that one sex is innately superior to the other (Macionis 358), plays a large role in the actions of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in Susan Glaspell's Trifles. In Trifles, the women show their motivation to prove Mrs. Wright innocent, through actions and words in response to th!e attitude of sexism displayed by the men toward them. The idea of women being inferior to men only produces a theme for the play and shows how many different conflicts drive the plot. In the play "trifle
he women have pieced all the evidence together and why they believe Mrs. Wright killed Mr. Wright, and instead of showing this evidence to the law and their husbands, they choose to suppress the evidence. This rebellion by Mrs. Hale is immense because the County attorney comments that she is married to the law. "No, Mrs. Peters doesn't need supervising. For that matter, a sheriff's wife is married to the law."(Glaspell 936) The Sheriff insinuates that Mrs. Hale is not only married to her husband but that he is the law both literally and in the Hale household. The women coming together is what drives the central plot between men and having the lowerhand, and women and having the upper hand. he woman! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves" (Glaspell 928). The thought that a woman is more worried about fruit than her life seems simple and proves women's inferiority to the sheriff. In fact, Mrs. Wright could choose to worry about the preserves rather than her life as a way to distract herself while in jail or possible to appear innocent. Starr, Tama, ed. The "Natural Inferiority" of Women. New York: Poseidon Press, 1991. hey are the only ones that Mrs. Wright has and that they can hide the little things. Their reason for doing this could be for strength in themselves, that they believe they need in order to stand up to one man, or they could move closer together to bear the insult together. Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Literature, an introduction to fiction, poetry and drama. X.J. and Kennedy and Dana Gioia 2000. 925 - 936 d the men tell the ladies that it is little of importance So after glancing at each other and the door through which the men have just left, Mrs. Hale defies the Sheriffs order not to do anything but get clothes, and proceeds to rip out the stitches and restitch the section. This response is due to the men laughing at the conversation between the women about the stitching. Both Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters realize that the men think that they are inferior to them and as a result are motivated to keep all the evidence that they have found concealed.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Hale Peters, John Wright, Professor Dinolfo, Ben-Zvi Linda, Wright Sheriff, Trifles Trifles, County Attorney, hale peters, Trifles Literature, Theatre Journal, Dana Gioia, macionis 358, move closer, ben-zvi linda, county attorney, trifles susan glaspell, strict requirements, glaspell's trifles, requirements law, susan glaspell's, women move, play trifles susan, glaspell watch central, susan glaspell watch, conflicts drive plot,
Approximate Word count = 1513
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
