Gender Roles In Susan Glaspell's Trifles

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Pages: 3
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Alexius Sparkman
Dr. Ernest Williamson III
English 101
27 August 2016
Trifles: Gender Roles Throughout history, there has been many works of literature that used the concept of gender roles. An example of one of these literary works is Trifles, written by Susan Glaspell in 1916. Glaspell uses the story of a murderess to demonstrate the roles of women in the early nineteenth century. These roles were given to them by men who thought that all that women had to do was to concern themselves with trifles, or unimportant things. This idea is repeated several times throughout the play and the consequences of which are very ironic when it turns out that the women discover what the men were searching for while taking care of the so-called trifles. …show more content…
In today’s society, men and women are divided into two stereotypical gender-roles; the feminine role and the masculine role. Men have been described as being insensitive, dominant, strong, and aggressive whereas women have been described as sensitive, emotional, weak, and passive. In Trifles, women begin a rebellion against a male dominated society. As the play progresses, the author tries to show that the omission of the clues found in the kitchen and the complete disregard for women serve as a consequence to solving the case. In the one-act play by Susan Glaspell, the plot, the actions of various characters and the dialogue communicate the author’s disapproval of gender role stereotypes.
Glaspell uses dialogue to convey gender-role stereotypes. From the very beginning of the play, she presents a patriarchal society through the setting. According to gender-role stereotypes, women are thought to be domestic and live in the confinements of the house specifically the kitchen, the place where the women in the play remain. Men are presumed to stay away from the chores and provide for the family as indicated by the jobs the male characters hold. They are inclined to overlook trifles and look for the big picture of situations, Glaspell illustrates this scheme in her
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