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Trifles By Susan Glaspell Gender Roles

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“Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is a murder mystery that takes place in the 1920s, during the women’s suffrage movement. A time when women had no voice in anything and were considered second-class citizens, being unequal to men. The men in the play are very dominate, and arrogant characters.
Society still believes men hold the higher power. There are certain ways people are supposed to behave based on gender. We all have different ideas of what the gender role is for both sexes. The county attorney states, “Minnie Wright, was not much of a housekeeper” (Glaspell 746). His manner towards women seems very superficial and dismissive. In the play, the men treat women as if they are mindless puppets whose only role is to serve them. Mr. Hale even says, “Well, women are …show more content…

But in fact Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are the only ones that figure out that Minnie Wright did commit the crime, and why she did it. Mrs. Hale discussed with Mrs. Peters, how she realized that the reason Mrs. Wright killed her husband is because, she had a songbird she loved to hear sing, but then Mr. Wright killed it. “My, it’s a good thing the men couldn’t hear us. Wouldn’t they just laugh! Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a dead canary” (Glaspell 751). The men are quick to judge Mrs. Wright with no evidence or knowing her side of the story. Mrs. Hale then goes on to discuss with Mrs. Peters, “I wish you’d seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and she stood up there in the choir and sang” (Glaspell 751). Here Mrs. Hale is suggesting that Mr. Wright turned his delightful confident wife into a shy, oppressed, and quiet woman. “ I wish I’d come over here once in a while!...I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be…We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same things, it’s all just a different kind of the same thing” (Glaspell

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