Gaby Rodriguez

Gad Guterman

Theatre History

27th September 2017

Trifles

As time goes by theatre “isms” have mixed to create new theatre. Playwrights started to

incorporate more than one type of theatre and the line between them gets more and more blurry.

A great example of this is Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles. In the introduction of this play, editor J.

Ellen Gainor writes that Glaspell “experimented freely with the various ‘isms’ that defined the

[early-twentieth-century] period, including realism, symbolism, and expressionism, often

combining these approaches to achieve a specific effect” (516), and that is a great description of

this show and the melting pot that theatre eventually became. Glaspell uses symbolism with the

canary, expressionism by creating the play from the point of view of the women of the story, and

realism by creating a familiar setting and given circumstances.

The caged bird in the play serves as a symbol for Minnie Foster. It is a reflection of how

she felt inside her own house and how her husband treated her. The canary used to have a free

happy life, where it wore the brightest of feathers and sang happily. Then he was imprisoned and

everything changed. That free canary is who Minnie Foster used to be before she married and

became Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Hale talks about this when she says: “She used to wear pretty clothes

and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that-

oh, that was thirty years ago.” (988) Like the canary, Mrs. Wright sang freely and happily one

day. With the suffocation of the bird, Glaspell lets the audience draw their own conclusion about

the reasons behind Mrs. Bright killing her husband. This use of symbolism not only conveys
Mrs. Wright, it can also show the way women felt in their marriages and even the way they are

being treated by the men in the story. Her use of symbolism is not only for the audience but also

for the characters within the play. One of the characters acknowledges the symbolic elements

when she says: “She-come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself- real sweet and

pretty, but kind of timid and fluttery. How she did change.” (389) Not only does the audience

understand the symbolism of the story, so do the characters within it.

On the other hand, Glaspell also uses expressionism as she builds the story aiming to

show how women felt under the misogynist men. The women are the ones that find out the

mystery, the ones that understand the suffering of Mrs. Wright, and even the ones that have the

solution of the story. From the beginning of the play, we know that Glaspell is looking for this to

be a play that showcases this point of view the women and draws awareness to it. Much like

Spring Awakening drawing attention towards the teenagers and The Mammaries of Tiresias

bringing attention to women and gender roles, Trifles brings attention to the mistreatment of

women and the Midwestern down look of women.

Glaspell also incorporates all of these elements in a realist world. She creates a setting

and environment that truly reflects life in society and life in that town. She does not need to place

the story in some abstract world because the issues that she is raising awareness for are issues

that are part of our everyday life. The house, the circumstances, and the dialogue in the story are

all relatable issues and things that an audience can automatically recognize. The character’s

realistic take on the situation is what makes it more impact in the way we read the story and

understand the women’s point of view.

The Dada movement was probably an inspiration for Glaspell to shape the story with so

many elements, while still keeping the realistic aspect of it. However, it was this type of
practices that created a theatre that incorporated more than one element and offered so much to

an audience.
 Work Cited

Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. The Norton Anthology of Drama, vol. 2, edited by Gainor,

Stanton B. Garner, and Martin Puchner, 2nd ed., W.W. Norton and Company, 2014, pp. 979-

990.