Voice/Voiceless

Introduction

In the three stories under discussion, we will discuss the six characters from the three stories. In Trifles, Susan Glaspell depicts the murder case of John Wright. Based on a trial that Glaspell covered as a journalist, the play takes place in the Wright home on the morning after John's wife, Minnie, was arrested for strangling her husband. Men enter the house on official business: The county attorney, the sheriff, and Mr. Hale are there to secure evidence and find clues that might aid them in solving the crime. In their search, they concentrate on the bedroom, where the body was found, and the entrance ways to the house to see if an intruder might have killed John Wright.

Discussion

In trifles , Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, while packing some things together for the incarcerated Minnie, find evidence among Minnie's things that not only prove Minnie's guilt, but also bear witness to her lonely and isolated life with a husband who did not care much about her. Minnie's quilt, a nice and carefully done piece for the most part, was sewn together haphazardly in other places—a sign to the women that told them of Minnie's distress and preoccupation. Furthermore, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters stumble over the body of a dead canary. They conclude that it must have been John Wright who had wrung its neck, and Minnie put it away lovingly in a box because the bird had been the only thing to ever bring some joy into her life. Full of sympathy and understanding for Minnie, the women conceal the evidence from the returning men who consider the kitchen as too unimportant to contain anything of value for their investigation.

The image of two women face to face becomes that of a woman haunted by his double. The reality of disrupted ...