If You're a Bird, I'm a Bird...

Mrs. Hale- She- come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself- real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and fluttery. How- she- did- change. (398)

How would you feel if every means you had for enjoyment and happiness were taken away? I had to ask myself this question as I read Trifles. The play is absolutely stuffed with deeper meanings and almost guarantees analysis. Even before the aforementioned line is stated in the script, I began to come to this conclusion- Mrs. Wright is like a caged bird in her own way.

First, I noticed the double meaning in Wright's name. I do not know if it was intentional on the part of Glaspell, but Mrs. Wright's name immediately brought to mind the fathers of flight, Orville and Wilbur Wright, who made the first sustained flight in 1903. Historically, this makes perfect sense- Glaspell, who wrote Trifles in 1916, may have intentionally wanted her readers (or viewers) to associate Mrs. Wright with flight (and later on- the flight of a bird).

Additionally, I found it coincidental that Attorney Mr. Henderson, when examining Mrs. Wright's kitchen, stated that he "shouldn't say she had the homemaking instinct" (395). The "homemaking instinct" is a man-made "instinct," and is had by all women at that time. By stating that Wright lacked this instict, Henderson is suggesting that Wright posessed an opposite instinct, an animal instinct that identifies her more with a bird than with the human housewives with which she associates.

Finally, it was clearly evident that Mrs. Wright attempts to live a creative and unstifled life through the musicality of her canary. When Mr. Wright, whose harsh and unbending nature is detailed in the very beginning of the play ("all he asked was peace and quiet" (393).), kills the canary, it is symbolic of Mr. Wright killing a part of his wife, as well. In order to seek revenge for this cruel act, Mrs. Wright utilizes one of her only remaining means of creativity, a quilting knot. She kills her husband, avenging not only one death, but two.