Trifles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Trifles - Essay ExampleThe women are there to collect a few clothes and necessities to take to Minnie. As they move go the house, the women find the cage of Minnies pet canary broken open and then find the corpse of the hoot in a box with its sleep with wrung. It is obvious to Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale that Wright has killed the canary and this is Millies motive for murdering her husband. In a show of feminine empathy and solidarity, the two women conceal Minnies crime from the men. The moral predicament of the play lies in the unspoken debate on Minnies guilt, or innocence, and the rightness of the action of the women. Minnie Wright should not be found guilty of her actions because of the personality of her husband, the concomitant that she has been punish enough, and the low chances of her receiving justice at the hands of a largely male jury. John Wright is a man of queer character. He is obviously not a sociable man and is critical of others. Refusing to join Lewis Hale in a party telephone, Wright says, folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was stillness and quiet (Glaspell, 5). It is clear that he is a taciturn, unsociable man who prefers to be a loner. His personality is characterized by the absence of any trace of joy. Mrs. Hale tells the County Attorney, I dont think a placed be any cheerfuller for John Wrights being in it (Glaspell, 11). It is acknowledged that, in outrage of being good in terms of being a teetotaler , truthful and paying his debts, he is undoubtedly a hard man (Glaspell, 22). Again, in every reference to the murdered man, there are suggestions that he was not a good husband. Hale hints of Wrights indifference to Minnies needs by saying, I didnt know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John (Glaspell, 5). Mrs. Hale confirms her husbands view of Wright by pointing out that he did not move over the homemaking instinct. Wright is so close-fisted that he does not give Minnie the little money she needs to join the Ladies Aid. His wife does not have the means to wear pretty clothes and is forced to be shabbily turned out. Above all, it is evident that John Wright had a cruel streak in him. This is demonstrated in his killing of the canary. There is no doubt that Wright is the one who wrung the birds neck. A man who could break open a bird cage and brutally strangle the helpless creature is not a man to live with. John Wrights character is definitely an extenuating gene in any estimation of Minnies actions and her guilt. Wrights character is such that any woman who is constrained to share his life undergoes a form of punishment. Minnie Wright has been punished enough over her years as John Wrights wife. When just a casual meeting with the man is like a raw wrap up that gets to the bone (Glaspell, 22), it is clear that being his wife is hell. The woman who used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir, (Glaspell, 14) is m odify by her marriage into a shabbily dressed, silent housewife. The transformation is so great, that Mrs. Hale exclaims in emphatic wonder, How she did change (Glaspell, 22). Wrights off-putting personality ensures that she has no visitors and remains in lonely isolation. His tight-fistedness closes Minnies door to any social life. Mrs. Hale regrets the fact that she never