Trifles

Glaspell's Trifles takes place in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wright. The men and women of the play are gathered in this home because Mr. Wright has been murdered and Mrs. Wright is the chief suspect. The men. While the men are upstairs trying to find evidence that Mrs. Wright did kill her husband, the women stay downstairs and actually do solve the case. The most interesting part of the play is when the women discover a dead canary in Mrs. Wright's sewing basket and conclude that Mr. Wright broke the bird's neck and after losing the one thing in her life that brought her joy, Mrs. Wright killed her husband in the same way. The men would never have thought to look in the sewing basket, because in their eyes, the things women concern themselves with are unimportant. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale ultimately decide to hide the dead bird from the men, because they sympathize with Mrs. Wright.

"Hale: Well, women are used to worrying over trifles."