A 1916 dramatic one act play, Trifles makes the reader wonder what justice means and when is it applied correctly. When the farmwomen decide to hide the evidence in order to exonerate their friend from a guilty verdict, they have taken justice in their own hands and applied it as they thought best. Glaspell used the play to help the women in the society to realize their rights and make them question their ability to follow rules that they did not create. The thesis statement of this paper is ‘Mrs. Wright was not guilty of murdering her husband and therefore the verdict passed by the snoops was justified.’
Justice as a major theme in the play
As a murder mystery, the main theme of the play is the solicitation of justice. When Mr. Wright’s body was found in his house with his wife oblivious of his death, she immediately became the first suspect. The men rushed to the scene to try and find the murder weapon so that they can be able execute the Mrs. Wright. The women who were also at the house at the time were also interested in solving the murder. While the men were looking for conspicuous clues, the women were looking at the trivial issues that could have pushed the woman to commit a homicide. By the end of the day, the men found nothing that could link the wife to her husband’s murder while the women were able to hide the evidence. The women played the part of the investigators and the jury at the same time. They were able to find the probable cause for the murder and they gave their verdict.
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Describe whether or not justice has been served
In ‘Trifles’, justice was served for Mrs. Wright; it may not be the tradition kind of justice but it was justice. When Mrs. Wright was question about her husband whereabouts and the cause of his death, she answered, ‘he is dead… he died of a rope around his neck… someone must have come in during the night and strangled him… I did not hear him because I sleep sound.’ From the first impression and the way she answers the questions, it is clear that she is guilty and unremorseful. When the women keep probing and sleuthing, they find the evidence that could be used to prosecute Mrs. Wright and hid it, they passed the verdict that Mrs. Wright was justified in killing her husband. From their argument, we learn that Mrs. Wright was a bubbly woman before marriage; she would join social functions and even sing in the choir. However, after marriage, she became isolated from everyone and lived her life alone. She was not able to sing and even the bird that she would listen to was presumably killed by her husband. Due to the loneliness and isolation, she was drained psychologically thus leading to emotional distress. Therefore, her decision to allegedly kill her husband was not of her accord but her quest for freedom that no one was able to grant her. The problems that she was going through as a married woman were to last for a lifetime and she could not take it. As Mrs. Hale convinces everyone, “true justice will be to punish everyone that isolated and neglected Minnie Wright… she is perhaps justified in her retaliation against her husband,” (Cummings, 2008)
The social, cultural and political situation as presented in the play
At the time when the novel was written, men were known to make and enforce the law. They would make sure that citizens abide by the rules and would punish any law breaker. Women on the other hand, had to follow their husbands. Mrs. Peters acknowledged that just because she is married to the sheriff, she is married to the law and is therefore a reliable follower of the law (p. 1).
Socially, women were seen as people who would only care about the trivial things and they should leave the important things for their husbands. They would do the house chores, take care of the children and their husbands and do everything they are told; this boring fate is what awaited all women of that society. As Mrs. Hale concluded, “All women go through the same thing- it is all just a different kind of the same thing (p. 1)” (Cummings, 2008)
Reference
Cummings, Michael J. Trifles: A Play by Susan Glaspell (1876-1948). Cummings Study Guide. 2008. Print
