“a Doll’s Trifles” a Essay Comparing the Plays “Trifles” and “Dollhouse.”
“A Doll’s Trifles”
A essay comparing the plays “Trifles” and “Dollhouse.”
Joshua Long
English 102 Amy Lannon March 21, 2012
Our society’s gender roles are constantly evolving and changing, all in the name of “progressive thinking”, though not all for the good. With a new “social norm” appearing every few years or so, it comes as a surprise that it has been a relatively short time since women have broken through their defined roles to be seen on the same level as men on a social basis. Many of history’s pages are written from a patriarchal perspective, opening the way for the female protagonists and complimentary characters in Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” and Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” to make us rethink those gender roles through the events that occur during the plays and through their own complexity, providing interesting points of comparison and contrast between the plays and challenging audiences to think about gender roles in a new way.
Both these plays are centered around married couples and are told from the perspectives of their respective female characters. In “Trifles,” we are introduced to Mrs. Wright and her fellow cast of characters a day after the murder of Mrs Wright’s husband. The play takes place after the fact, and much of the script is built around a conversation between Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters (women from the same rural town as the Wrights) about whether or not Mrs. Wright really committed the murder. The reader believes the entire time that she did, but is compelled to continue to find out why. “Trifles” is about a woman who murders her
A essay comparing the plays “Trifles” and “Dollhouse.”
Joshua Long
English 102 Amy Lannon March 21, 2012
Our society’s gender roles are constantly evolving and changing, all in the name of “progressive thinking”, though not all for the good. With a new “social norm” appearing every few years or so, it comes as a surprise that it has been a relatively short time since women have broken through their defined roles to be seen on the same level as men on a social basis. Many of history’s pages are written from a patriarchal perspective, opening the way for the female protagonists and complimentary characters in Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” and Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” to make us rethink those gender roles through the events that occur during the plays and through their own complexity, providing interesting points of comparison and contrast between the plays and challenging audiences to think about gender roles in a new way.
Both these plays are centered around married couples and are told from the perspectives of their respective female characters. In “Trifles,” we are introduced to Mrs. Wright and her fellow cast of characters a day after the murder of Mrs Wright’s husband. The play takes place after the fact, and much of the script is built around a conversation between Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters (women from the same rural town as the Wrights) about whether or not Mrs. Wright really committed the murder. The reader believes the entire time that she did, but is compelled to continue to find out why. “Trifles” is about a woman who murders her