The story “A Jury of Her Peers” was first published in 1917 and was based on a authors one act play “Trifles”. “Trifles” was written in 1916 by Susan Glaspell. Susan Glaspell was a Nobel Prize winner for literature and Trifles is seen as one of her most famous works. Trifles tells the story of Mr. Wright, who has been accused of murdering his wife Minnie. He married Minnie when she was very young and they had no children, which over time brought their relationship to an end. After Minnie has gone missing for some time, the police find her body.
Trifles is a play centered around women and their role of power within the town they live in. The male dominance over women is prominent throughout Trifles. In Trifles, Mr. Hale and Sheriff Peters represent this male dominance of how men view women as less than men, as Trifles is a male dominant story. They do not take women seriously and can be seen as patronizing towards them. Glaspell uses the men of Trifles to show this by using their conversation with each other to show what they think about women.
For example, when speaking about Mrs. Peters “There’s no fool like an old fool. ” This quote shows how the men of Trifles see women as helpless creatures who need help to accomplish anything, which is clearly seen in this scene. They are slow-witted and can not think for themselves because they lack all reasoning. Glaspell uses Mrs. Hale’s character to show that women are more complex then they seem on the outside due to her involvement with the investigation into Minnie Wright’s death.
In “A Jury of Her Peers”, Susan Glaspell changes Trifles from a one act play into a short story by including Mr. Peters and Sheriff Peters’ wives, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale respectively Susan Glaspell also changes Trifles by adding another layer of complexity through her use of a woman perspective in the text. The perspective is not only from Mrs. Hale, but also from an omniscient third person point of view. This allows for Glaspell to give insight into all of the characters’ mindsets, especially that of Mr. Wright’s, Trifles main character and the alleged murderer in this short story.
There are several reasons why Glaspell used the title “A Jury of Her Peers. ” The most important one being that Trifles is about two female characters who prove they are just as good at solving crimes as men are. This play was written by a woman, for women, so they could be exposed to another perspective on how society views them. Trifles was written in 1916, a time where women were expected to just cook, sew and have children with no regard for their own opinions at all.
Another example of how Trifles is about Trifles being a jury of her peers is found in the fact that Trifles’ husband thinks he can do whatever he wants because he has power over her, but Trifles proves she can be his equal without ever saying anything out loud (Kelly). Susan Glaspell uses the act of sewing as symbolism for Trifles’ imprisonment by her husband; Trifles is like an animal that’s bound by its leash (Kelly).
The men who come to investigate the crime make fun of Mrs. Peters for baking a cake to take to town for the inquest of Trifles’ husband, but it is eventually revealed that Trifles baked a cake for her husband’s funeral (Worthen). Trifles knew her husband was dead before any of the men did because Trifles saw him die and didn’t say anything while they were all in the same room with him. It wasn’t until Trifles got outside that she finally spoke up (Kelly).
Glaspell uses the name Mrs. Wright and Mr. Peters to symbolize what Trifles and her husband were like as individuals; Trifles is married to an older man named Mr. Wright whose last name comes from his wife while Peters has a very masculine, young first name (Kelly). Another use of symbolism in Trifles is when Trifles goes out into the chicken coop to commit the murder. Trifles is secretly killing an old rooster that’s been crowing all night long, which Trifles’ husband claimed he could sleep through but Trifles couldn’t (Worthen).
Trifles stabs Mr. Wright in the back with a pair of his own scissors because she knows he won’t allow her to buy any new ones (Kelly). Glaspell uses this act as symbolism for women not being able to buy their own independence or freedom if their husbands won’t let them; Trifles can kill him with something just as sharp as what he used on her because Trifles is still his equal even after he treated her like she was his possession (Kelly). Trifles ended up being Glaspell’s most well-known play, but Trifles hasn’t been seen that much since Trifles was first produced.
Trifles is about a woman who killed her husband after he murdered their best laying hen and Trifles’ best friend because Trifles’ husband believed the only use for a chicken was to lay eggs and have their meat eaten. Trifles didn’t say anything while they all sat in the kitchen where Mr. Wright died so Mrs. Peters made Trifles go out to the coop with her alone without any men present so she could tell Trifles what really happened (Worthen).
Later on, when the men come back into the kitchen, they tell everyone that Mr. Wright killed himself by hanging himself from a beam in the chicken coop because Trifles’ husband didn’t want to leave Trifles or his children destitute (Worthen). Trifles is about how men look down on women and see them as their equals. Trifles has two male characters, but Trifles has four female characters; this shows that Glaspell wants the audience of Trifles to be mainly women so they can relate to Trifles’ experiences of being looked down upon by her husband (Kelly). The use of symbolism in Trifles also helps establish why Trifles would kill Mr.
Wright even though he was her husband; the play is not just about showing how women are treated unfairly, but it’s also about showing some women will do if they’re provoked enough (Worthen). Trifles shows the audience that it doesn’t take much for a woman to kill someone who looks down on them, Trifles’ husband didn’t treat Trifles like an equal so Trifles killed him without saying anything except what Trifles had to say about baking a cake for Trifles’ husband’s funeral (Worthen).
Susan Glaspell wrote Trifles after she went through some difficult times in her marriage; Glaspell used Trifles as therapy instead of writing letters to her friends about how unhappy she was. After Glaspell divorced her first husband, she later married George Cram Cook and started teaching at the University of Iowa where she met Floyd Dell who turned out to be instrumental in getting one of Glaspell’s earlier plays, Trifles produced when Trifles was still in manuscript form (Worthen).
In Trifles the women are in the kitchen and men are in the living room/ sitting room. Trifles help Poehlmann explain how gender roles work by showing where women belong in a house. The reason why Trifles has four female characters is because Trifles can’t be controlled like other women; Trifles won’t let her husband control every aspect of her life (Kelly). Trifles also continues discussing gender roles even after Mrs. Peters said she made up her mind; Trifles says that there’s no difference between making or buying one thing or another (Poehlmann).