Trifles is a one-act play by American playwright Susan Glaspell. It’s inspired by an actual murder trial that Glaspell reported on while working as a journalist. Written in 1916, Trifles is a brief yet powerful mystery drama that demonstrates the reality of women’s perspicacity, even while that awareness is all-too-often classified as “unimportant” or “trifles” (Trifles, n.d)—in this case, solving a crime.

Susan Glaspell was an American by birth, born in the year 1876. A novelist, journalist, playwright and actress, she did it all. She was a co-founder of the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theatre company. She is most famous for Trifles and Alison’s House, the latter earning her the Pulitzer Prize in 1931. She died in 1948.

Trifles was prompted by the real life 1900 murder of John Hossack that Susan Glaspell was covering while working as a journalist. Hossack's wife was charged with her husband's murder. It was later developed into the 1916 short story A Jury of Her Peers and the 1916 one-act play Trifles.

The play takes place in the rural farmhouse belonging to the murdered John Wright. The home is cold, silent, and empty. The cast of characters goes to the house to search for the crime.

George Henderson – County Attorney

Henry Peters – Sheriff

Mrs. Peters - Wife of the Sheriff

Lewis Hale – Neighboring farmer

Mrs. Hale – Wife of Mr. Hale

John Wright – Murder victim (farmer)

Mrs. Minnie Wright (Foster) - John Wright's wife, suspected of murdering him

The play begins with the inquiry of John Wright’s death. The men — the sheriff, county attorney and neighbor — poke around the house for clues. They discount what the women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, think dismissing women's issues as irrelevant.

The men are upstair and in the barn and yard, but the women never leave the long, low kitchen. They note Telling Little Things: shattered fruit jars, a half- finished quilt with mismatched quilting, a shattered birdcage, and… a dead bird with broken neck.

And these “trifles,” as the men dismiss them, expose Mrs. Wright’s life of emotional abuse and profound loneliness. Once spirited and gregarious (as Glaspell’s Minnie Foster), she had been turned into a woman living amid loneliness and despair under her husband’s bleak, domineering style. Her bird, which is believed to have been her only solace, had also been killed — perhaps by her husband.

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters conclude that Mrs. Wright must have killed her husband in her desperation. The women silently opt to bury the evidence (the dead bird) knowing her agony and repression. Failing to interpret the meaning of the “trifles,” the men are unable to find a motive and depart, after failing to solve the case.

Gender roles and male domination – Men do not listen to women, even though women are the smarter of the two; women treat men as though they are smart and deserving.

Solitude – Mrs Wright’s isolation, both emotionally and physically, has an impact on her mental state.

Justice and moral conflict – The women are wrestling with truth vs. compassion.

Repression and psychological abuse—The play shows how psychic neglect can be equally destructive as the abusive act itself.

Dead bird – No joy, mute and suffocated emotions

Birdcage – Trapped and restricted life of Mrs. Wright

Rope – Vengeance or telling somebody to shut up!

Can - Feminy and care, crushed just like her spirit

Blackens a half-star – Half a quilt and bored to bits

The title is ironic. The men dismiss women’s chatter as “trifles,” but those same details add up to the secret truth. The play is a critique of how society dismisses women’s experiences and viewpoints.

Trifles is an early feminist work, written during the first wave of feminism. It probes the question of how different women see and experience injustice, and how they respond to it, often with more compassion than men. It's key message is the binary opposition of male logic and female empathy.

This article is written for you, Class 11 English students who are reading Trifles for your boards or other shit. It discusses the story, themes, characters, symbols, and origins in clear, easy-to-read language.