Essay --

A Feminist Approach to Susan Glaspell’s â€Å"Trifles† The approach being used for Susan Glaspell’s play is feminist criticism. Glaspell’s play was written in 1916. In the 1900s women were expected to stay home, clean, cook, and take care of the family. Men were the providers of the household, smarter, and in control. Today women are more independent. They are running businesses and taking on more masculine jobs such as, firefighters and police officers. Women are even working and raising families. In some households the wife works while the husband stays home. A woman can do a man’s job and maybe sometimes better. Linda Napikoski explains, â€Å"Feminist criticism is the analysis that arises from the viewpoint of feminism, feminist theory and/or feminist politics. Feminist literary criticism suggest that women in literature were historically presented as objects seen from a male perspective. Feminist literary criticism actively supports including women’s knowledge in literature and valuing women’s experience. It has since intertwined with postmodernism and increasingly complex question of gender and social roles.† â€Å"Trifles was based on true events. In 1900, a man named John Hossack was murdered with an ax while he slept. His wife, Margaret claims to have slept through the murder. The Jury did not believe her story and found her guilty of murder. Susan Glaspell, who was a journalist with Des Moines Daily News, covered the trial for her newspaper. Even though she did not have any criminal justice background, Glaspell acted like a true detective. She investigated the murder by visiting the farmhouse where Hossack and his wife Margaret lived. She also interviewed attorneys and studied testimonies. Glaspell became very impressed with the st... ...what his life was like behind closed doors. He could have been abusive and angry towards his wife causing her to snap. â€Å"She – come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself – real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and – fluttery. How – she – did – change† (1074). Mrs. Wright did change. She felt trapped in her marriage and she needed to escape. Her life was stolen from her. She strangled her husband and took his life. She probably felt that her life was already over and it wouldn’t matter if she were put in prison or not. Women might see things in a different light than men. They want to please the man in their life, but at the same time they want to be respected and seen as a human beings with feelings. Women today are stronger and more in charge and they don’t allow for a man to come into their life and destroy what they have built for themselves.