Tone in Trifles Essay

Well, women are used to worrying over trifles. (line 465) This quote from Susan Glaspell's play, Trifles, defines the tone of the entire play. The play is about a murder and how men and women will cover for their own sex, even if it means lying about something important. Therefore, the tone of this play has a demeaning attitude towards women and this quote emphasizes this point of the author.

The play, Trifles, explores the idea that women might pay attention to small, trivial things that could lead to solving a larger problem. Womens attention to details seems to be a possible starting point to solving a bigger problem. When the small pieces come together it is easier to see the bigger picture. In the play Trifles, men seem to think that women only care about the things that dont matter, or in other words trifles. Something that the men dont realize is that the women are actually solving the murder by worrying, or trifling, over the small details. If Mrs. Wright had not been preoccupied over small, trivial things she could have started a fire to keep the preserves from freezing. Another example of trifling is that the women were noticing that Mrs. Wright did not awake while her husband was being strangled to death. This should have been an obvious thing that Mrs. Wright noticed. This quote is just emphasizing the tone of the play even further with all of these examples.

During the time that this play was written it was the end of the nineteenth century and society saw that many woman writers were emerging to deal with issues similar to Glaspell. Glaspells play Trifles is typical of this focus, for the play takes place in a kitchen, the domestic sphere, and revolves around the lives of women. If one were to look further into this and really focus on where the play takes place it would be obvious to point out this bias men have towards women. Time had an important part in why this play was so bias and had such a tone. Because this play was written by a woman who was trying to make a point that men think women only concern themselves with unimportant things it changes the tone and attitude of the poem. By having a woman author the play emphasizes the intelligence of women and by focusing on the small things they discover the overall meaning. Glaspell also implies that men dont see that women look at the small things and therefore look down on the woman for doing this. The quote from the play is the perfect example of how Glaspell feels women are viewed by men.

This play is meaningful in showing that men sometimes see womans as being unimportant when it concerns big issues. This quote proves this point. Men feel that women dont focus on the big issues but instead on what they consider to be trivial and stupid. Also, by having a woman author it is obvious to point out the bias within the play. Both of these things emphasize the demeaning tone of this play.