Streetcar vs. Trifles

Good drama is built on conflict of some sort—an opposition of forces or desires that must be resolved by the end of the story. Conflict in one’s self is exactly what is portrayed in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. Self conflict was inevitable in the times in which these two plays were set, for in those times women were nothing but trifles. Throughout history women have broken off the shorter end of the stick against men. Even when women have been correct and justified in their opinions, they have often been ignored and had their opinions and thoughts vanquished. In the days of Mrs. Wright in Trifles and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, women were second to their men and found their selves inevitably in the reflection and shadow of the man in their lives. Both women were constantly searching for or desiring something that had been missing from their lives. In the case of Mrs. Wright, she was in search of the freedom she had as a young girl, which was stolen from her when she took on the name Wright. Blanche was hopelessly in search for love, which had been repeatedly taken from her through out her miserable existence.

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