Trifles By Susan Glaspell Essay

Gender perspective has become a significant part of our current culture and has been represented in the media for decades. In Susan Glaspell's play "Trifles", there is a clear message of the competing ethical paradigms between the men and women of the story, specifically the paradigms of justice. The differing perspectives of the two genders play a crucial element in the play's theme, identity, and perception of justice. Glaspell separates the men and women for the majority of the play. By separating the two genders, the audience is given a significant amount of time to fully grasp the differing perspectives that Glaspell is trying to convey. Glaspell also incorporates subtle objects and dialogue to confirm further the position of both genders'

Each perspective provided by both genders is not only their main opinion on justice but can be perceived in multiple ethical paradigms as well. By assessing the genders' perspectives of justice, the audience can develop a further understanding of why the characters of Trifles make the choices that they make. Ultimately, the women overrule the men as they had solved the case while the men were left with no conclusion of what had occurred. The form of justice provided from the perspective of the women was ultimately more effective compared to the men when solving this case. By interpreting the emotional context from Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale were able to comfort Mrs. Wright for the tragic decision she had made. The women keeping the evidence concealed from the men shows the ultimate power dynamic changes. The women enduring silence at the beginning of the play showed signs of control from the men as they talked for the first bit of the play, exemplified by the quote in paragraph one. However, by the end of the play, it was in fact the silence that gave power to the women. They had the information to assist the men in solving the case but chose not to do so. Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Hale all decided to act on what they believed to be

These differences in emotional and physical connections and perceptions allow the play to continue the theme of two competing ethical paradigms of what men and women think is justice. The early identification of the more demonstrative evidence that the woman explores allows the expression of the more physical evidence side of the men. The women avoid the subjectivity of falling under the 1900's societal roles of men and women. It was regular for the men to have all the power back in that time usually. However, by the end of the play, the women have the power to determine a fellow woman's fate. The version of evidence by the two genders can further express each individual's opinion of justice. With the men being more interested in the physical evidence of the crime, their opinion would rest on the physical action of what happened. They would not be able to identify the emotional impact of the investigation as the women did. By expressing concern and relating to the victim, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters were able to understand the perspective of Mrs. Wright, who had committed the murder. Trifles has exemplified that the physical surface of emotion may not always be the correct version. There should be a more extensive investigation to further the deeper emotional connection to get a full retrospect of what the situation