January 31, 2006
Trifles
Glaspell, ''Trifles'' (1916) -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
I had to read this play at work because I work every day...but at first glance this is what I thought was intersting...
County Attorney: Well, ladies, have you decided whether she was going to quilt it or knot it?
When I read this line, I kinda felt like the attorney was disrespecting the women. I guess it was just in the way that I was reading the play. I think that the attorney knew that the women were disturbed by what had recently happened in that house and maybe he was just trying to break the ice a little. As i said i just read the play pretty quickly, but when i started, I couldn't put the book down. I was so mad when I got to the end and they did not tell the ending...
Posted by MalloryWallace at January 31, 2006 10:49 PM
Comments
While the stage directions cleary do state what happens to the important bit of evidence -- the bird's body -- the script does leave some things open-ended, the director and the actors would have to decide among themselves how to stage it. For instance, do the women shrivel up at the County Attorney's question? Do they stand up and answer it to his face? Since the stage directions say that the women do decide to conceal the evidence, that should give us a bit of a clue as to how the final scene should play out.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at January 31, 2006 11:38 PM
I think the ending was particularly striking considering the earlier passage about Mrs. Peter's "marriage to the law."
It seems significant that Mrs. Hale is the one who conceals the evidence, because throughout the play she seems to be the one who is most sympathetic to Mrs. Wright.
Posted by: ChrisU at February 1, 2006 05:38 PM