Susan Glaspell's play Trifles

Introduction

God has created men and women equally. But variegated issues that exist in our society give unequal status to men and women. There are scores of instances that prove behavior of society which predict that women are inferior creature. Women always have been treated by society as an inferior being. Males have always dominated the society and have treated women as their subordinates. But, things have changed now. A woman of today's world knows her value. She is capable of doing anything to prove her mettle. The notion that women are slave to their men has been jettisoned now. With her studious effort and remarkable achievements women have achieved a status that demands respect and integrity. There are examples of a number of literary works that talk about the feminism. One of the pieces of writing that has received immense criticism is the play Trifles of Susan Glaspell. The aim and objective of this paper is also to talk about the phenomenon of feminism in the perspective of this play Trifles.

Thesis Statement

The play Trifles is the representation of the idea for which the movement of feminism was started. This play is the voice of the idea of feminism in the perspective that the play pays immense emphasis that what women cannot be opinionated and often her ideas are rejected.

Discussion

Feminism is the theory that implies that men and women should be treated equally from all facets of life i.e. politically, economically and socially. From the social perspective the play can be related to the feminism. In the play, a housewife is shown as the murderer of her husband who does not listen to her. The play illustrates a feminist theme that points out the differences in how men and women see things, in how women's views are not given much credibility, and how men generally do not view a woman having any reason to want her husband dead (Hutchison, pp. 7).

In this play, in the settings of a family a picture is sketched of what a woman goes through in the society. Mr. Wright's one of the main characters of the play was of the opinion that woman cannot be opinionated. He was of the opinion that there is no reason to consult a woman or to get her ideas because she does not worth it. He does not consider the wishes, needs and wants of her wife Minnie. However, their kids used to support Minnie in every opinion that she used to have. Minnie had the support of her kids but not the support of her husband. In this way this is clear that a picture of a woman is sketched that shows that a woman is being treated in an unequal way. Various movements o f second wave mostly focused on reform rather than on revolution. These movements were more subtle in nature. The demand of women was to treat them equally and fairly. They demanded greater or equal participation in different existing institutions. Mothers in ...