To Kill a Canary...
[They look in the sewing basket.]
MRS. HALE. Here's some red. I expect this has got sewing things in it. [Brings out a fancy box.] What a pretty box. Looks like something somebody would give you. Maybe her scissors are in here. [Opens box. Suddenly puts her hand to her nose.] Why--[MRS. PETERS bends nearer, then turns her face away.] There's something wrapped in this piece of silk.
MRS. PETERS. Why, this isn't her scissors.
MRS. HALE. [Lifiting the silk.] Oh, Mrs. Peters--it's--
[MRS. PETERS bends closer.]
MRS. PETERS. It's the bird.
MRS. HALE. [Jumping up.] But, Mrs. Peters--look at it! Its neck! Look at its neck! It's all--other side to.
MRS. PETERS. Somebody--wrung--its--neck.
--"Trifles" by Susan Glaspell, pg 398-399 Writing About Literature
This passage of the play not only serves as the climax of the production. It also gives the audience a chance to really question Mrs. Wright's sanity.Up until this point, we follow the female characters, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters around the Wright household as they discuss Mrs. Wright's lifestyle, her husband, and most importantly, whether or not they think she murdered her husband. Although all evidence points to this conclusion, the audience does not experience any dramatic irony--that is, we do not know if she did commit the crime. All we have to go by are the witness's stories provided at the start of the play, along with the banter between the two women.
Up until this part of the book, I wasn't entirely convinced that Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. Call me a skeptic--or perhaps I've watched one episode too many of Law & Order, but I just felt like something was missing. Clearly Mrs. Wright was not all there (sanity wise), but that didn't mean she killed her husband. I'm pretty sure that if I woke up with my husband lying strangled to death next to me, I'd go crazy too. So, I gave her the benefit of the doubt. However, once the dead bird was introduced into the story, my opinion slightly changed. Now I'm still not 100 percent sure that Mrs. Wright committed the crime, but at this point, I'm pretty sure that with the bird as evidence, she would be convicted for it regardless of her guilt.
That being said, I thought it was more interesting to read more about the womens' reactions to seeing the dead bird--and to be quite honest, it really surprised me that both women were so eager to cover up the evidence and hide it from the men. Now the dramatic irony comes into play. Both the audience and the women know about the dead bird in the box underneath the clothing. I could feel the suspense rising as the County Attorney *almost* rifled through the garments. Would he have found the bird had he not been such a gentleman? I guess at this point we'll never know--the end will always be up to interpretation, something I really like about this play. What do you think?
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Aja Hannah on To Kill a Canary...: Like we were saying in class,
Jessie on To Kill a Canary...: I agree. It's kind of a shame
Melissa Schwenk on To Kill a Canary...: I, too, gave Mrs. Wright the b
Jessie on To Kill a Canary...: I agree. It's kind of a shame
Melissa Schwenk on To Kill a Canary...: I, too, gave Mrs. Wright the b
I, too, gave Mrs. Wright the benefit of the doubt until the bird was introduced into the story, but right away I knew she had done it. This is probably because there weren't even any other suspects as to who could have killed Mr. Wright. Up until that point was uncertain as to whether or not Mr. Wright had killed himself, but since there was absolutely no evidence of it being a suicide, it practically had to be Mrs. Wright.
I agree. It's kind of a shame that we never get to hear Mrs. Wright's side of the story. Sure, we understand through the dialogue between Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters that Mrs. Wright was probably very depressed, but I feel like there's still a huge piece of the puzzle missing. Why did she kill the bird? And without the bird as evidence, would we have still suspected her?
Like we were saying in class, it's funny how Mrs. Peters can't seem to hide the box when they are about to leave, but Mrs. Hale can.
Also, the men shuffled through everything half-heartedly. I suppose they didn't think the women were clever enough or would smuggle anything out in defense for Minne.