Trifles is a one-act play by Susan Glaspell. Her short story, A Jury of her Peers, was adapted from the play a year after its debut. It was first performed by the Provincetown Players at the Wharf Theatre in Provincetown, Massachusetts on August 8, 1916. It is loosely based on the murder of John Hossack, which Glaspell covered while working as a news journalist for the Daily News. Today Trifles is seen as an example of early feminist drama, because two female characters are able to solve a mystery that the male characters cannot, aided by their knowledge of women's psychology.
Characters
- George Henderson, the County Attorney (originally played by Robert Rogers)
- Henry Peters, Sheriff (originally played by Robert Conville)
- Lewis Hale, A neighboring farmer (originally played by George Cram Cook)
- Mrs. Peters, the Sheriff's wife (originally played by Alice Hall)
- Mrs. Hale (originally played by Susan Glaspell)
Plot
The play begins with the men (one who found Mr. Wright's body)& the other a sheriff, and the sheriff's wife, and a neighbor, enter into the Wrights' farm house. Mr. Hale, a neighboring farmer, describes his arrival at the house the previous day, when he visited to ask if the Wrights wanted a telephone installed. He describes how he came upon Mrs. Wright rocking in her chair. Mrs. Wright told Hale that Mr. Wright was dead, with a rope slipped around his head. Hale then describes finding Mr. Wright's body upstairs. The kitchen is in an unkempt state, pots, bread, and other kitchen items scattered about. Mrs. Wright's preserves have frozen and cracked, as Mrs. Peters says Mrs. Wright had worried about, this being one of the "trifles" that women are prone to worrying about. Hale dismisses Mrs. Peters' comment, saying, "Well, women are used to worrying over trifles." The men go upstairs to investigate the scene and the women continue to go through things and discuss Mrs. Wright. The men come back down and go outside to the barn. Then Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find quilting that Mrs. Wright was working on, and a bird cage. They wonder if there was a bird until, upon looking for sewing supplies to take back to Mrs. Wright they stumble upon a small box, and inside is the bird, with its neck wrung. At the end the women hide the box with the bird from the men to save Mrs. Wright from being found out. They deeply sympathize with the situation that she had with her husband. County Attorney: Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to-what is it you call it, ladies? Mrs. Hale: We call it-knot it, Mr. Henderson.
Resources:
Text of Trifles from the University of Virginia [1]
