Susan Glaspells's Trifles is a little gem of a play. In one short act, the playwright presents the
audience with a complex human drama leaving us with a haunting question. Did an abused Nebraska
farm wife murder her husband? Through the clever use of clues and the incriminating dialogue of the
two main characters, this murder mystery unfolds into a psychological masterpiece of enormous
proportions. Written in 1916, the play deals with the theme of the roles of women in society. This was a
time before women had the right to vote or sit on juries. Shortly after writing the play, Glaspell wrote it
as a short story entitled A Jury of Her Peers.
The scene is set in the cold, gloomy kitchen of a Nebraska farmhouse. The room is quite messy
with signs of uncompleted work everywhere; unwashed pots, a dirty hand towel, and bread left open on
the table. The first characters to enter the stage are two middle-aged men, the county sheriff, Henry
Peters, and Lewis Hale, a local farmer. They are followed by a younger man, George Henderson, the
county attorney. Then, the main characters arrive on stage, the sheriff's wife and the farmer's wife, Mrs.
The men have arrived to investigate the murder of the owner of the house, John Wright. The
women have come to gather some clothes and personal belongings for Minnie (Foster) Wright, who now
is in the county jail on charges that she killed her husband. The men are all caught up in the so called
"important" investigation of the case, belittling the women's concerns as being mere "trifles", when
actually the women are the ones uncovering the clues which could solve the case and reveal the
The "trifles" uncovered by the two women are intriguing to say the least. They tell the audience a
great deal about the home life and mental state of Mrs. Wright. The house
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