Susan Glaspell's Trifles is a short, one-act play centered on the investigation of the death of a man named John Wright. The main characters are Mrs. Peters, wife of the Sheriff, and Mrs. Hale, a neighbor of John and Minnie Wright.
George Henderson is the sexist, condescending, and self-important county attorney who harshly criticizes Mrs. Wright without knowing anything about her or her life.
The Sheriff and Mr. Hale both don't really have any defining character traits, other than that they are direct and straightforward with their actions. Though Hale is not as presumptuous or overtly rude as the other men, it becomes clear that these two, like Henderson, are sexist and undervaluing of the women in their lives, as all three men make insulting comments when the women talk about "trifles" like Mrs. Wright's preserves and her quilting project.
One of the main points of Trifles is that men often overlook things that women see as important, brushing off their thoughts and feelings as "worrying over trifles." It is Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale who uncover the truth of what happened between Mr. and Mrs. Wright, because they empathize and pay attention the details of Minnie's life, while the men are off acting important upstairs.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
How would you characterize Mr. Henderson and the other men in Trifles?
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