Trifles: by Susan Glaspell

Scene: The kitchen in the now abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, a gloomy kitchen, and left without having been put in order-unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the breadbox, a dish towel on the table-other signs of uncompleted work At the rear the outer door opens, and the Sheriff comes in, followed by the county Attorney and Hale. The Sheriff and

Hale are men in middle life, the county Attorney is a young man; all are much bundled up and go at once to the stove. They are followed by the two women-the Sheriff's Wife first; she is a slight wiry woman, a thin nervous face. Mrs. Hale is larger and would ordinarily be called more comfortable looking, but she is disturbed now and looks fearfully about as she enters. The women have come in slowly and stand close together near the door.

COUNTY ATTORNEY (rubbing his hands). This feels good. Come up to the fire, ladies. MRS. PETERS (after taking a step forward). I'm not-cold.

SHERIFF (unbuttoning his overcoat and stepping away from the stove as if to the beginning of official business). Now, Mr. Hale, before we move things about, you explain to Mr. Henderson just what you saw when you came here yesterday morning.

COUNTY ATTORNEY. By the way, has anything been moved? Are things just as you left them yesterday?

SHERIFF (looking about). It's just the same. When it dropped below zero last night, I thought I'd better send Frank out this morning to make a fire for us-no use getting pneumonia with a big case on; but I told him not to touch anything except the stove-and you know Frank.

COUNTY ATTORNEY. Somebody should have been left here yesterday.

SHERIFF. Oh-yesterday. When I had to send Frank to Morris Center for that man who went crazy-I want you to know I had my hands full yesterday. I knew you could get back from Omaha by today, and as long as I went over everything here myself-COUNTY ATTORNEY. Well, Mr. Hale, tell just what happened when you came here yesterday morning.

HALE. Harry and I had started to town with a load of potatoes. We came along the road from my place; and as I got here, I said, "I'm going to see if I can't get John Wright to go in with me on a party telephone." I spoke to Wright about it once before, and he put me off, saying folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet-I guess you know about how much he talked himself; but I thought maybe if I went to the house and talked about it before his wife, though I said to Harry that I didn't know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John-COUNTY ATTORNEY. Let's talk about that later, Mr. Hale. I do want to talk about that, but tell now just what happened when you got to the house.

HALE. I didn't hear or see anything; I knocked at the door, and still it was all quiet inside. I knew they must be up, it was past eight o'clock. So I knocked again, and I thought I heard

1. In your view, what is the most significant conflict in Trifles? The conflict may be a tension between two ideas, two principles, or two points of view; it may be represented by two different characters (or more than two characters). Support your argument with specific examples from the play. How does Trifles resolve this tension? What does the resolution say about the overall theme and meaning of the play?

2. Choose one of the following figures in Death of a Salesman and write an essay showing how dramatic and situational irony reveal his or her character, as well as the larger meaning of the play: Willy, Happy, or Linda. How do these ironies suggest the themes of Death of a Salesman? Make sure to provide clear explanations of dramatic and situational irony; make sure you choose specific examples from the play to make your argument.

3. In his essay, "The Decay of Lying," Wilde argues that life does--and should--imitate art, in contrast to the more common idea that art should imitate life. How does this aesthetic philosophy play out in The Importance of Being Earnest? What is the nature and status of "truth" in this play? In what ways does the play privilege art-and artificial, the "made-up," the fictional-over the "natural" or the "real"? Who in the play best represents this philosophy and why? How does this philosophy contribute to the overall theme and meaning of the play?

4. Plays often work out problems of identity. In Shakespeare's King Lear, Lear asks, "Who is it that can tell me who I am?" At the end of Death of a Salesman, Biff says to Happy, "I know who I am, kid." Near the conclusion of The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack asks, "Lady Bracknell, I hate to seem inquisitive, but would you kindly inform me who I am?" Focusing on either Death of a Salesman or The Importance of Being Earnest (not both), write an essay on what the play has to say about the origins and nature of identity. Remember, your focus should be on what the plays say about this question, not so much your personal opinion. Questions to consider:

• Where do we get our identities?

• Are we born with them?

• Do we "find" them (say, after we go try to "find" ourselves")?

• Do we invent them?

• Are they given to us by other people?

• Are they socially constructed, by our families or others?

• Do we need other people to recognize, accept, validate, and understand them before they can fully exist?

Attachment:- Susan-Glaspell-Trifles-1.pdf