Trifles by Susan Glaspell
Some Pointers for Essay #1
• The “Play” section of your essay should strike a balance
between your work and the original source.
• Follow the length requirements for the compare/contrast
section of the essay.
• Play formatting:
– Use the plays in your book as guides.
– Begin with the title of your play and a list of characters. (You
are not required to keep the title of the short story unless you
wish to.)
– Names of characters who are speaking should be in ALL CAPS,
followed by a colon, then the dialogue.
– Stage directions that interrupt dialogue are written in italics
and parentheses. (like this) Otherwise, stage directions/scene
descriptions are simply in italics and begin on their own line.
– Use scene breaks to indicate passage of time or a change in
setting.
The “Real” Murder
• On Dec. 22, 1900, John Hossack was killed in his bed
by two blows to the head from an axe. His wife,
Margaret, claimed to have slept through it. She was
arrested for murder on the day of the funeral, tried,
convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. However,
the Iowa Supreme Court overturned the life
sentence, and a second trial resulted in a hung jury,
so she went free. Susan Glaspell, who wrote "Trifles"
was one of the only female reporters who covered
the trial, and she used the Hossack murder as a
loose inspiration for the play.
• There is a book called Midnight Assassin that
discusses the real case, and if you are interested, it’s
a fascinating read.
Context and Historical Setting
• This is one of those plays where historical
context and setting are extremely important.
What historical facts/circumstances are
especially relevant to this play?
Historical Background
• In 1900, when the murder this play is loosely
based on took place…
– Women in the United States did not have the right
to vote. (This did not change until 1920.)
– Women were extremely unlikely to be chosen to
serve on the jury of a criminal trial. (Why might we
consider this to be a problem today, especially in a
case where the defendant is a woman?)
• How are these historical facts pertinent to the
theme of the play?
Discussion Questions
• (From your book, p. 798) What key events
have occurred before the start of the play?
Why do you suppose these events are not
presented in the play itself?
• (From your book, p. 798) What are the
“trifles” to which the title refers? How do
these “trifles” advance the play’s plot?
• What are the connotations of the word
“trifles”?
More Discussion Questions
• What are some of the symbols in the play?
What does each of them represent?
• Notice the difference between how the
women speak and act when the men are
around and when they are alone. Find
some places where this is especially
noticeable. Why is this difference
significant?
Difference between "quilting" and "knotting”
• One of the “trifles” in the play is whether or not Mrs.
Wright was going to “quilt” or “knot” the quilt she was
working on. As is the case for many of the “trifles” in this
play, the question is more significant than it seems.
• The final stage of quilting is to attach the top, batting,
and backing together. This can be done in two ways. One
way (quilting) is to sew elaborate patterns on it. The
simpler but just as effective way (knotting) is to sew a
thread through the pieces using large stitches, cut the
thread, and tie knots in it.
• The symbolism of the knotting is the fact that Mrs.
Wright killed her husband by tying (and knotting) a rope
around his neck. This is a simple, not elaborate, but very
effective way to kill a man.