Symbolism In Susan Glaspell's Trifles

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Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” was written in 1916 as a one-act play. “Trifles” is considered to be feminist literature and Glaspell’s most famous play. Susan Glaspell helped found Provincetown Players, which was a theatre that aimed to produce plays by only American playwrights. Glaspell was a very talented woman; according to her biography, “She not only wrote plays but she also acted in them, directed them, and helped produce them” (742). “Trifles” is a classic feminist play about two women, Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hale, that secretly uncover evidence of Minnie Wright’s murder of her husband, John Wright. In “Trifles,” Susan Glaspell uses symbolism as a major literary element to convey how Mrs. Wright’s life was and what lead to the killing of her …show more content…
Wright. When Mrs. Wright was young, she was full of life, color, and joy. The singing canary-like Mrs. Wright loved to sing, in fact, Mrs. Wright was in the choir. When John Wright killed Mrs. Wright’s bird it was like he killed Mrs. Wright’s spirit. “Somebody – wrung – its – neck” (750), the bird was strangled to death like John Wright figuratively did to Mrs. Wright when they got married. Mrs. Wright had no say about anything, John Wright made all the decision and Mrs. Wright put up with it for years. The bird was the only thing keeping her from going insane. When she got the bird she was happy again, but when John Wright killed it Mrs. Wright realized that was the only thing keeping her happy. How John Wright strangled the bird’s neck, Mrs. Wright did the same thing to her husband. In “Trifles”, Susan Glaspell uses symbolism as a literary element to convey how Mrs. Wright’s life was and what lead to the killing of her husband. In “Trifles,” Susan Glaspell uses the symbolism of trifles such as the quilt, birdcage, and the bird that Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale found to know that just because little things seem unimportant they can actually be vital to a story. All the little things that began in Mrs. Wright’s life to the death of her husband corresponds to the trifles in Mrs. Wright’s
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