Trifles and Duppressed Desires
Trifles and Duppressed DesiresThe play’s Trifles and Suppressed Desires wrap around a central theme of sexual tension between women and men. The characters are in search of life’s meaning and seeking self-definition. In Trifles, ignorance of sexism is exposed as a major theme. The play Suppressed Desires explores new feminist theories between a married couple. Both plays were written in the 1920’s way before the women’s movement began But this traditional way of thinking has surprisingly continued even today and is a very important issue in our society. This is what makes both plays very appealing to us now.
The play Trifles is a true murder mystery by Susan Glaspell. The setting is in a lonely, cold landscape of the Wright’s kitchen, where the action of the play takes place. The kitchen is in disorder with unwashed dishes, a dirty dishtowel and a loaf of bread sitting out. The scene gives the impression of a lonely household with little attention having been paid to cleaning up either recently or ever.
Mrs. Wright is placed in the kitchen in her rocking chair but does not speak during the production. She gives off much information by her expressions used throughout the play. I have read that in the original transcript of the play, the key characters never appear on stage. I believe seeing her gives a major impact to the setting. It helps the audience see the people surrounding the mystery. Even though she does not utter a word, her expressions help tell the story.
The characters enter the room from the outside and are bundled in heavy clothing indicating that it is extremely cold outside. There are three men, Sheriff Peters, who is dressed in a coat and hat. His clothes make him appear to be about middle class. Followed by the County Attorney, Mr. Henderson, who is dressed a little nicer and classier than the other men and the neighbor Mr. Hale. Behind the men are two women. One is Mrs. Hale, the neighbor’s wife who is dressed very homely and Mrs. Peter’s, the Sheriff’s wife, who is dressed very nicely but looks very uncomfortable. The costumes help give the idea of the status of these characters and help declare what they represent. The most distinguishing was Mr. Henderson who looked like he was in authority with his nicer outfit.
Both women stand by the door while the men go over to the stove to warm themselves up. The fact that the two women are behind the men is a way of introducing the fact that women are inferior to the men and are supposed to follow behind their husbands. In the beginning of the play you already see that women are living in a male dominated world. It is seen that the image of women...
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