A Critique of Trifles, a One-Act by Susan Glaspell

During the 19th century, women did not have many rights at all. As a wife, a woman was essentially their husband’s property. Women were supposed to be submissive to their husbands. Due to this, there were many cases of abuse. However because they lacked rights, it was a common thing for it to go unnoticed or uncared about. In Margaret Hossack’s case, while there isn’t any definitive answer as to whether she was abused or not, there was still reason to believe. Whether or not the murder of her husband was justified is questionable. Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles” is based off this particular case, and potentially sheds light onto the situation.

It could not be said definitively whether Margaret Hossack was abused or not. There was no decisive evidence that pointed to it. However, it was alleged that he was an abusive husband. Most people were quoted saying that their “long marriage was known to be an unhappy one.” Margaret Hossack apparently even shared her grievances about her marriage and her abusive husband to her neighbors, who ended up dismissing her and calling John’s ways “tantrums”.

Again, because this was the 19th century it was common for women to be so easily brushed off. But if she was trapped in an abusive marriage, and was actively seeking help but kept getting ignored, it could cause her to feel as if murder was the only way she could escape. While murder is a horrendous crime to commit, it is also horrendous to abuse another person. Yet due to the circumstances of the oppressive lifestyle that Margaret Hossack most likely lived due to the restrictive lifestyle of wives in the 19th century, the murder was justified.

Susan Glaspell’s play was not entirely true to the story. Details had been changed, but the overall story remained the same; a woman is suspected of the murder of her husband because her story of being asleep in bed next to him during the murder doesn’t seem to hold true. In this play, Glaspell expands more on the wife’s living conditions. The character Mrs. Hale shows remorse for not visiting her, and says things like, “I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be for women… We live close together and we live far apart.”

In this quote it shows that she suspected the wife was living a life of misery and needed help from her abusive husband, but instead of helping her, Mrs. Hale avoided visiting. Glaspell also includes clues to the wife’s abuse, such as the dead canary that the women find. They suspect the husband killed it, which was a clear sign of abuse. Glaspell chose to include details like these to shed more light on the wife’s case. While this play includes a lot more details than the actual case itself, it is not too sympathetic towards the wife. Instead it gives everyone an opportunity to consider the details that might have been overlooked by the actual men who investigated the scene. In the play, the men were completely unaware of the things the women were discovering. Overall, this play gives insight to what could’ve been overlooked.

Women during the 19th century lacked a lot of rights. It wasn’t uncommon for wives to be abused by their husbands. Most of these cases went by without anyone noticing or caring enough to do something. Even if a woman talked about being abused, if their husband was well- liked by the community, the woman herself would most likely be scorned for daring to speak poorly of him, rather than receiving any help or being taken seriously. In the case of Margaret Hossack, the murder of her husband was justified, and Susan Glaspell’s play gave insight as to what could have happened between the husband and wife.