Sebastien Diaquoi

Intro to Theater Process

26 March 2020

As Long As The Canary Sings

Trifles is a one-act play by Susan Glaspell that explores justice and gender inequality in a

small farm town during a murder mystery. The linear plot unfolds in the disheveled farmhouse

that used to be home to Mr. John Wright, the murder victim, and Minnie Wright, John’s wife and

suspsected killer. The Sheriff and his wife, and the next-door neighbors of the Wright Family

look around the farm for clues as to what might have happened the night before. The men go

upstairs to get a closer look at the crime scene while the women make some shocking discoveries

downstairs.

This five-character play is short, sweet, and leaves the audience thinking about important

topics. Among the five characters, there is George Henderson, the County Attorney, Henry

Peters, the town sheriff, his wife, and neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Hale. The protagonists of this play

are clearly Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale who find more incriminating evidence than their husbands.

The two women are just on the scene to pick some things up to bring to Mrs. Wright at the

Sheriff's Station. The first piece of evidence they find is Mrs. Wright’s quilt which has messy

stitching. They know well that a woman in her right mind would never leave a quilt like that.

This inciting incident turns the woman into the real detectives. On their search for clues to what

happened here, the women find an empty birdcage. The next clue they find sends them into the

crisis of the play. A strangled bird; wrapped in cloth and tucked away in the sewing kit catches

the two women off guard. The climax of Trifles is when the men come back downstairs with no

evidence. The women have to decide if they are going to reveal the evidence they have. If they
give up the strangled bird; there is a motive for Mrs. Wright to kill her husband. If they don’t

give up their evidence, Mrs. Wright goes away free. Mrs. Hale grabs the box and puts it away in

her pocket. In the denouement of the play, Mrs. Wright gets away with the violent murder of her

abusive husband.

Relationships are important in this play because they help the audience understand the

full story. The most important relationship in this play is between two characters that are not met

by the audience, Mr. and Mrs. Wright. It is revealed by Mrs. Hale that John Wright has always

had abusive tendencies, and when the women find a strangled canary tucked away in a sewing

box, it is revealed that his tendencies were possibly not outgrown. This abusive relationship

between Mr. and Mrs. Wright could be the motive for Mrs. Wright’s decision to violently murder

her husband, and the evidence necessary to lock her up.

The main theme of Trifles is justice. The two women are tasked with deciding the fate of

Mrs. Wright; an old widow who has lived her life in fear of her abusive husband. The audience

of this play has to question whether or not Mrs. Wright should be found guilty for killing her

abusive husband. What is justice, and who gets to decide that?