Trifles+Summary

= = Summary of //Trifles//

//Trifles// is a one-act play written by Susan Glaspell in 1917. The play opens in the farmhouse of Mr. and Mrs. Wright. The previous night Mr. John Wright was strangled to death in his bed. The play centers on the investigation surrounding Mr. Wright’s murder in which his wife is being held in jail as a suspect. Sheriff Peters, the County Attorney, as well as Mr. Hale, gather in the Wright house searching for evidence that proves the guilt of Mrs. Wright or suggests another suspect. Accompanying the male characters are two women, Mrs. Peters, the Sheriff’s wife who was an acquaintance of the Wright’s, and Mrs. Hale who knows neither the victim nor the accused.

The scene begins with the Sheriff and Mr. Hale explaining to the County Attorney the events of that very morning when the body of John Wright was found. Meanwhile, the two women stand nearby overhearing and briefly participating in the discussion. The conversation begins with the sheriff telling of his visit to the Wright home earlier that morning. Mr. Hale tells the County Attorney that he went to the Wright house to speak to John about having a party-line installed in both of their homes. Mrs. Wright, he said, was sitting in her chair and acting very withdrawn and strange. When he requested to speak with her husband he said that Mrs. Wright responded very calmly, “…he’s dead”. At this point the sheriff went upstairs to the couple’s bedroom where he found Mr. Wright lying dead in his bed with a rope tied around his neck. According to the Sheriff, Mrs. Wright remained in this detached and abnormal state sewing on items from her sewing basket.

After relaying the events of that morning, as well as making several comments regarding the unkempt appearance of the Wright home, the men set out to search for the evidence they had come to retrieve, leaving the women alone in the kitchen. Mrs. Wright was given the task of gathering a few personal items belonging to Mrs. Wright that would later be delivered to the accused in jail. After retrieving a few articles of clothing belonging to Mrs. Wright the women stand beside the stove and engage in a very telling conversation about the Wright’s lives and relationship. The conversation begins with Mrs. Peters telling Mrs. Hale about Mrs. Wright’s life prior to marrying. She says that Mrs. Wright used to be Minnie Foster, a beautiful, lively, and talented lady who sang in the choir. All that changed when she married John Wright, Mrs. Peters says. Minnie Foster went from lively and pretty to withdrawn and shabby. According to Mrs. Peters Mr. Wright was a very unpleasant man.

The conversation then turns to the men’s earlier comments regarding the condition and messiness of the house. The women speak of their disapproval of the men’s rude comments and Mrs. Hale says, “You know, it seems kind of sneaking. Locking her up in town and then coming out here and trying to use her own house to turn against her.” At the conclusion of this particular conversation Mrs. Peters goes to hang up her coat when she notices a quilt under a corner table. Just as Mrs. Hale was asking, “I wonder if she was goin’ to stitch it or knot it?” the men make their way back downstairs, and over hearing the comment laugh at its insignificance. At this, the men leave the house and precede to search the barn leaving the women alone in the house again. As the women are discussing their annoyance over the men’s comment they discover something else. The women, while looking at the quilt Mrs. Wright had had been sewing as her husband lay dead in their bed, noticed that the stitching went from “nice and even” to “…all over the place!” At this Mrs. Hale rips out the messy stitches and re-sews the quilt. While Mrs. Hale sews, Mrs. Peters searches for paper and string to package Mrs. Wright’s belongings and finds a birdcage in one of the cupboards. The women aren’t aware of Mrs. Wright ever owning a bird; however, feel that it is strange that she’d have a cage but no bird. After further inspection Mrs. Peters notices that one of the hinges securing the door on the cage is broken, to which Mrs. Hale concludes, “Looks as if someone must have been rough with it.” Later in the conversation Mrs. Hale states that Mrs. Wright was similar to a bird, “-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and fluttery. How – she – did –change.” Just as the women are discussing this Mrs. Peters, rummaging through Mrs. Wright’s sewing basket, comes across the dead bird wrapped in silk. The women quickly discover that the bird’s neck is “wrung” just as John Wright’s had been. This discovery leads to the end of the play when the women hide the evidence they find that suggests Mrs. Wright’s guilt. The men return to the house and condescendingly ask the women if they had figured out whether or not Mrs. Wright was going to stitch or knot her quilt – still failing to realize the significance of the question.