DRAMA

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Compare and Contrast Trifle by Susan Glaspell

Trifle is considered as one of the perfectly structured one act play Control is so wonderful that play encircles all aspect of the main theme . Although it has many turns and twists but it does not deviate from the main theme or provide irrelevant information . Although it belongs to genre of detective mystery but it has used all the literary tools and techniques of a great one-act play . Holstein (2003 ) regards Trifles as highly illusory as on the surface level it seems simple

br almost inconsequential (282 . It captivates the reader as story is gradually disclosed and plot is moved toward the final conclusion . The structure of Trifles shapes all of its most vital ingredients the plot characters , and themes

Play takes into accounts various social issues from a new perspective For example , Glaspell questions the concept of crime and concept of justice . She further considers certain social and moral dilemmas with a tone of feminism . Subtle illustration about the suppression of women and its social and moral roots remains a thematic thread that runs throughout the plot of the play

Trifle by Susan Glaspell is a highly symbolic story that epitomizes the spirit of its respective period and contemporary society . Glaspell 's work depicts influence of contemporary feminist thought that raised its voice against the male-female disparity and social injustice . Minnie Wright is the protagonist and focus point of the play . Glasspell has utilized the subtle literary technique i .e . although she is the major character she has no voice or virtual presence in the play . Glasspell want to illustrate the triviality of women characters in the contemporary society that they have no say in their own matters Although Minnie 's emotions , motives , and her fate are the issue around which the play revolves , but she is never noticed in the play

Glasspell uses symbolism as a valid literary device to convey thematic messages . For example she uses bird as a symbol of friendly alternative It is tool of escapism from the real life . For Minnie , the bird was a "child-substitute for the solitary Minnie the canary 's voice was to displace the silence of a coldly authoritarian husband and replace the sounds of the unborn children (Makowsky 62 . Makowsky further illustrates that "through the traditional literary metaphor of the bird 's song as the voice of the soul , the women acknowledge that John Wright not only killed Minnie 's canary , but her very spirit . There are several other profound symbols in the play like unfinished work , party telephone , jar of cherries etc . that depicts various thematic expressions (Makowsky 62

Glaspell 's play is based on a murder mystery that she reported as a journalist for the Des Moines Daily News . Glasspell does not provide the graphical but she looks at the psychological realism of the situations . Glasspell tries to locate the psychological interpretation behind every move (s ) of the character (s . For Smith has rightly pointed out "From their...