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Vol. 6, No. 1, 2013, pp. 132-135 www.cscanada.net
DOI:10.3968/j.sll.1923156320130601.2613 www.cscanada.org

Representations of Rural Women in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles

Raja Al-Khalili[a],*

[a]
Assistant Professor, English Department, Hashemite University, Raja Al-Khalili (2013). Representations of Rural Women in Susan
Jordan. Glaspell’s Trifles. Studies in Literature and Language, 6 (1), 132-135.
*
Corresponding author. Available from: http://www.cscanada.net/index.php/sll/article/
view/j.sll.1923156320130601.2613 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/
Received 7 December 2012; accepted 27 February 2013 j.sll.1923156320130601.2613

Abstract As a representative of an early twentieth century American

Rural American women usually appear as marginal text, Trifles (1916) becomes important in revealing
characters in mainstream early twentieth century important facts about social views of women and their
literature. Susan Glaspell, however, sought to represent domestic roles. Yuval Davis in Gender and Nation states
the lives and hardships of the simple rural women residing that “women especially are often required to carry this
in various regions in America and forgotten by society. In ‘burden of representation’, as they are constructed as
Trifles (1916) the characters were molded after real people the symbolical bearers of the collectivity’s identity and
residing in the American countryside and the protagonist honour, both personally and collectively” (Davis, 1997:
resembles a real woman involved in a sensational murder 45). Susan Glaspell pays particular emphasis to the
case that Glaspell covered during her early days as a setting and especially to the home of rural women as a
journalist. Consequently, most critics link the domestic place, where power relationship takes place and as Hanna
murder to the playwright’s ideals of advocating political Scolnicov (1994) in Women’s Theatrical Space states:
rights for women. Moreover, the play written in 1916 The social position of women as well as the exigencies
preceding the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 is indicative of the plot often relegate the heroines to the indoors, in
of cultural transformations in American society. Critical circumstances not unlike house-arrest…The house itself
opinion, however, varies and Trifles is often regarded is so closely identified with the woman that entering the
as a one-act drama focusing on the individual hardships guarded house becomes a theatrical metaphor for sexual
of women and therefore does not reach an apogee of a conquest (64).
political play. However, the play’s vivid description of the Glaspell staged her heroine in a power struggle with
daily lives of rural women in America and their individual patriarchy which emphasized the domestication of women
struggle with patriarchy emphasize the play’s insistence as a source of security for the welfare of the household
on the importance of gaining political rights for women as and the nation. According to mainstream culture
a major theme. The present paper suggests that a reading maintaining traditional feminine behavior was often
of the political themes as relevant because the historical imagined as important in the stability of the home and if
setting and the precise account of rural American women not observed often leads to disastrous consequences as in
living in 1916 were accurately portrayed in the exposition. the example of Mrs. Wright. The house, closely identified
Key words: Domesticity; Space; American; Glaspell; with women and their environment, becomes important
Women; Rural; Twentieth century; Representation; as a location of the domestic struggle. However, the
Feminism; Minority; Regional writing; Drama; Literature violence in the Wright’s home undermines old-fashioned
perceptions that blame inappropriate female conduct as
the reason behind the destruction of a stable home.

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 132

 Raja Al-Khalili (2013).
Studies in Literature and Language, 6 (1), 132-135

Susan Glaspell used domestic violence as a motif to focused on finding a real domestic setting. The way
arouse questions concerning motives that lead women, Glaspell conceived the play shows the importance of
who are relegated to the house, to become physical domestic and the rural existence that gave shape to the
aggressors. In Trifles, the simple farmhouse which appears domestic arrangement in the play:
as a background to this domestic violence situation So I went out on the wharf, sat alone on one of our wooden
becomes an instrument that directs the audience not to benches without a back, and looked a long time at that bare
stage. After a time the stage became a kitchen-a kitchen there all
condemn the wife for the crime, as the motive displayed
by itself. I saw just where the stove was, the table, and the steps
through the careful scrutiny of the domestic space reveals going upstairs. Then the door at the back opened, and people all
a life of abuse. bundled up came in-two or three men, I wasn’t sure which, but
Mrs. Wright, similar to the other female characters in sure enough about the two women, who hung back, reluctant to
Glaspell’s literary production, wanted to play a greater enter that kitchen. When I was a newspaper reporter out in Iowa,
I was sent down-state to do a murder trial, and I never forgot
role than the ones prescribed by their society. Glaspell’s
going into the kitchen of a woman locked up in town”(154).
protagonists belong to particular regions, such as the
Woman from Idaho in The People, and the women
The significance of this passage has often been
were often portrayed as rebelling against traditional
commented on by critics as it shows the playwright
roles especially marriage which was an integral part
familiarity of the domestic situations in rural homes of
of a rural existence. Susan Gaspell was socially and
her time. The bareness and gloomy kitchen mapped out
politically active and played an important role, as part
in the exposition of the play show Glapell’s emotional
of the Provincetown Players, in staging plays that deal
involvement in the events. As Ellen Gainor points out,
with women, their problems and their environment.
the passage is a significant indication in the play’s
Yvonne Shafer considered Glaspell as part of “a radical
construction based on the idea of the female spectatorship.
group that believed in the New Thought and opposed
Similar to feminist theater, the spectator’s position is
conservative, small town politics” (Shafer, 1995, p. 36).
a site of human agency. Thus, the meaning of the play
Edwin Wilson in Living Theater: History comments on
the group as part of serious theaters under the name, becomes evident through the unfolding of events (Gainor,
“Little Theater Movement,” that was important as an 2001, p. 39-40). The play becomes universal and forces
alternative to commercial ones. The group incorporated the audience to observe the events as beatific, erudite, and
a new production style, especially the designs of incendiary.
Robert Edmond Jones, who is associated with the “new Glaspell’s depiction of dreary rural female existence
stagecraft”movement in the United States. This new in the play also came from being a journalist which gave
method of staging plays emphasized lighting and used her access to the disadvantages of women and their role
only detail that reinforced locale, character or dramatic in the power struggle in their homes. Barbara Ozieblo, in
action (Wilson, 2000, p. 426). Glaspell illustrates the Susan Glaspell: A Critical Biography, states that the play
reason that prompted her to compose Trifles in The Road deals with the dilemma of womanhood and therefore, the
to the Temple. For Glaspell, plays should appeal to the audience members at Greenwich Village identify with
audience’s imagination and also represent the real life of these frustrations (Ozieblo, 1990, p. 83). According to
individuals: Oziebelo, the play casts all the female figures as rebels,
We went to the theatre, and for the most part we came away but the women are silenced because the play offers no
wishing we had gone somewhere else. Those were the days solution (Ozieblo, 1990, p. 84). Moreover, Glaspell
when Broadway flourished almost unchallenged. Plays, like has managed through her absent protagonist to show
magazine stories, were patterned. They might be pretty good
woman’s irrelevance in the world of men and that in order
within themselves, seldom did they open out to – where it
surprised or thrilled your spirit to follow. They didn’t ask much to awaken man’s interest; woman had to resort to non-
of you, those plays. Having paid for your seat, the thing was all presence to successfully present a woman’s case (Ozieblo,
done for you, and your mind came out where it went in, only 1990, p. 137). Therefore, Glaspell came to the conclusion
tireder. An audience, Jig said, had imagination. What was this that the only available triumph for the silenced women
“Broadway,” which could make a thing as interesting as life into
a thing as dull as a Broadway play? (148-9).
is through friendship, or bonding with those of her sex
(Ozieblo, 1990, p. 146). The gloominess of the country-
Her dissatisfaction with the state of the theater’s side and the house would in fact support such a critical
inability to challenge the audience prompted her interpretation.
enthusiasm for experimenting in the theatre. However, For Glaspell, the reality and harshness of rural life
her husband, George Cook announced that a play was of women were familiar because her job as a journalist
going to be staged and in response to her objections he helped shape sympathy towards women. According to
responded by saying, “You’ve got a stage, haven’t you?” Ozieblo, Glaspell in her involvement with the origins of
(153). the play in the Hossack case for Des Moines Daily News
Even though Glaspell struggled at the beginning to held an initial hostility and orthodox attitude that helped
find an appropriate scene for the play, the choice was sway the audience against the accused woman. Later on,

133 Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture

Representations of Rural Women in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles

however, Glaspell became more sympathetic towards mind as well as inside her home (Makowsky, 1993, p. 60).
the end of the trial and tried to sway public attention, but Makowsky sees the rebelliousness of Glaspell’s fictional
without any results (Ozieblo, 1990, p. 28). Ben Zvi in women as private, while those of her dramatic heroines
her book entitled, Susan Glapsell: Her Life and Times as lead to the public sphere of demonstrations, court, and
well as in her essay “Murder she Wrote,” observes the prison. The female protagonists compel the patriarchal
genesis of the trial. She argues that Glaspell by having world to consider their feelings and situation as something
the women assume a position different from the absent more than domestic trifles. Thus, many audience members
female protagonist, the emphasis on the subjective nature witness women’s ability to solve a murder case through
of evidence becomes clear for the reader or spectator (Ben “trifles” and find clues of Mrs. Wright’s husband abuse
Zvi, 1995, p. 175). Moreover, Minnie Wright’s absence through the compelling evidence that only the two female
compels the audience not to be swayed by her person, characters and members of the audience are allowed to
but rather by her condition as an abused wife driven to observe, a mistake in her quilting work and a pet canary
commit a terrible act. The few items that appear on stage with a broken neck.
the stove, chairs, and few rags create a powerful mis-en- Glaspell’s interest in the depiction of domestic
scène with expressionistic touches to externalize Minnie’s violence in Trifles shows her feminist ideals of advocating
desperate state of mind while the men are offstage and female bonding and her professionalism as a journalist
their presence is manifested in the shuffling sounds. Ben- who tries to be objective in portraying murder. Rachel
Zvi considers Glaspell’s acting the role of Mrs. Hale as an France considers Glaspell as a playwright who “has
apology because she refused to offer help at the time (p. clearly pointed out the dichotomy between men and
174). Other critical opinion such as Makowsky sees their women in rural life” and “the two women, with their
rebelliousness as one of passive resistance (Makowsky, sense of higher purpose, band together to protect another
1993, p. 63). woman from what is clearly the injustice of man’s law
The few items on stage along with the gloomy when applied to women” (France, 1981, p. 151). Thus, for
portrayal of the dreary kitchen of a rural farmhouse women the only possible avenue for struggle is through
in Trifles show Minnie Wright’s neglect of the many bonding together as several critics have noted. Noe
domestic duties as a reality of the everyday average considers the play as feminist and serves to unite woman
women and an indication of marital problems in the in sisterhood when confronted by male oppression based
Wright’s home. The scene, as indicated in the stage on the new findings of scholarship especially as it relates
descriptions, emphasizes the forsaking of traditional the original case to the fictionalized murder (Noe, 2008, p.
household responsibilities, for the audience are given 154). Other critics, however, consider Glaspell’s depiction
a full picture of “The kitchen in the now abandoned of passivity of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters as an element
farmhouse of John Wright, a gloomy kitchen and left of the predicament of women. A patriarchal spectator,
without having been put in order-unwashed pans under the therefore, would be eager to condemn the woman, who
sink, a loaf of bread outside the bread–box, a dish-towel murders her husband and Glaspell does entice the onstage
on the table-other signs of incompleted work” (1203). lookers and characters to play a role in the criminality by
The carefully selected description of a disconsolate and making Minnie Wright’s choices limited and by allowing
pathetic existence of a farmer’s life intensifies the horror Mrs. Hale to express her sorrow of not intervening sooner
of the living conditions of the accused woman. to aid her neighbor. Her plaintive mood and self reproach
The accused woman does not appear on stage and is are shared by the majority of female spectators. Grief-
only introduced through a careful scrutiny of her kitchen. stricken, Mrs. Hale, manages to deliver her emotional
The play stages two women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, response to the audience.
in Mrs. Wright’s private home in charge of providing Susan Glaspell seems to have encouraged the audience
Mrs. Wright with some of her personal items while she to share a role in investigating domestic violence. As Suzy
awaits trial. The two women speculate on the reason of Holstein demonstrates the play is “deceptively simple”
her requesting an apron and finally decided that it was to and the perceptions of the men and women differ in
“make her feel more natural.” Mrs. Hale repeatedly voices their interpretation of the protagonist’s action and guilt
her indignation at the sheriff and the other men, who were (Holstein, 2003, p. 282). Linda Ben-Zvi “Murder She
intruding on the woman’s privacy. “You know it seems Wrote: The Genesis of Susan Glaspell’s Trifles” states
kind of sneaking. Locking her up in town and then coming that the cultural markings of a woman who kills as close
out here and trying to get her own house to turn against to men. They evoke fear because the female acceptable
her!” (1207). Veronica Makowsky in Susan Glaspell’s codes are broken the women’s transgressions becomes
Century of American Women regards the relative lack of a theatrical thrill because a murderer “tests society’s
action and plethora of ideas and meditative speeches in established boundaries” (Ben Zvi, 1995, p. 19). She
the play, as part of the restricted sphere of the domestic cites other women writers who have female murderers,
where a woman’s life is mainly interior, inside her own such as Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal (1949) and

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 134

 Raja Al-Khalili (2013).
Studies in Literature and Language, 6 (1), 132-135

Wendy Kesselman My Sister in This House, but notices REFERENCES

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135 Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture