preview

Woman in Time Essay

Better Essays

The average woman’s role in society today, starkly contrasts that of the female social norm expressed in eras predating the current; however, similarities do exist. Women once existed in the background, limited to lives of household responsibilities, compelled by overwhelming societal expectations to obey their male counterpart, and preform a set of domestic duties specific to their gender. Today this is not the case, however certain gender related expectations remain intact, and for this reason gender roles are still a prominent aspect of everyday social dynamics. The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell exemplifies gender roles as they were practiced in the early 1900s, by identifying women's subordinate roles in their marriages, and …show more content…

Additionally women, during that time period, were expected to stand back, while the men took care of things. Women weren't believed to possess the capacity to perform the same jobs as men. Because of this, they were not given the opportunity to be in any situation where they had control of something. In fact women were even considered unfit to dictate their own wants and needs without male assistance. One instance that shows this type of chauvinistic social practice is seen when Mr. Hale states, “I guess you know about how much he talked himself, but I thought maybe if I went to the house and talked about it before his wife, though I said to Harry that I didn't know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John.” This showed that women were allowed no control over any aspect of their lives, men made decisions for them, because they weren't allowed, or even considered capable of making choices for themselves. The play was centered on an investigation, the goal of which was to determine Mr. Peter's killer. Throughout the investigation, the men continually express the belief that women were ignorant and entirely incompetent by disregarding any and all insight they had into the events leading up and involving the murder. For instance in the beginning of the investigation, instead of trying to get answers from Mrs. Wright, who possessed

Get Access