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Susan Glaspell's Trifles

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Drama Essay: Trifles Award winning playwright, actress and novelist, Susan Glaspell, is widely known for her classic writing style and polarizing content. Glaspell’s work usually tackles existing issues of race, gender, and social norms, which are centered on a pentacle like character that makes readers question the roles that they play in the world. Trifles is one of Susan Glaspell’s most famous pieces because of the underlying messages that are woven into the larger piece of work which, without question, help to enrich Glaspell’s play. Each message is then enriched through supporting elements such as theme, symbolism, and characterization, which help to develop the play. Though there are many themes that can be applied to this particular play, the one that rings the loudest is that of gender loyalty. The …show more content…

The canary in Trifles is a symbol of the unspoken martyr of the play, Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Wright has no true identity except for what is given to her through the symbolism of the canary. The women find the birdcage and they realize that the bird it no longer in the cage, but instead has been strangled. Mrs. Hale says, “She, come to think of it, was kind of like a bird herself- real sweet and pretty but kind of timid and fluttery” (Glaspell). Glaspell associates the oppressed life of the bird to that of Mrs. Wright’s. The canary was a beacon of hope and music for Mrs. Wright. Because of the dreary life that she led, the bird was the only thing that gave her purpose and stability. Mrs. Wright equated her entire happiness and joy into the canary and that was taken away from her. She avenged the stolen life of the bird because of her inability to obtain the life that was stolen from her by her husband. Mr. Wright took the light out of the bird as he had taken the light out of his wife. The death of the bird was a direct symbolism of the death of Minnie

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