JenniferPrex

In a fantasy setting, the elements of nature can be personified. But the city of New York or the culture of a small town can affect work of traditional fiction, too.

Would you say the rural setting of Trifles has a significant impact on the action in the play?

I definitely think the rural setting of Trifles has a big impact on the story. Because the characters live on farms, they are very isolated from each other. Mrs. Hale says that the Wrights' house was "down in a hollow, and you don't see the road." This, together with the fact that the Wrights didn't have a telephone, meant that Mrs. Wright had no connection with anyone outside of Mr. Wright except the canary. The sheer oppressiveness of being stuck in a house, unable to visit neighbors because she is separated from them by large rural distances in the middle of winter, could very well have driven her to kill Mr. Wright after he killed the only companionship she could reasonably obtain in her circumstances. Had the Wrights lived in a more urban area where Mrs. Wright could have gone out and taken a walk down the street to let off some steam after having fought with Mr. Wright, she might not have killed him.

I think this play would have been VERY different had it been set in a town or city. As I said in my blog, the seclusion of the Wright home has a HUGE impact on not only Minnie, but on Mrs. Hale too. Had the house been even just a little closer to town or to the road, Mrs. Hale might have come to visit, Minnie wouldn't have been so lonely, and John Wright might not be dead.

Geography can be a character and plays a large role in some writings. I do agree with Chera that the play would have been very different if it had been set in a town or city. Maybe Mr. John Wright would have not been "knotted" or maybe Mrs. Hale would have come to visit. But either way the setting has a major part within a story.