Glaspell s Trifles And The Invisibility Of Women

Glaspell’s Trifles and the Invisibility of Women Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles and Henrik Ibsen s A Doll s House are plays that explore a number of important features of femininity and life as a woman. Trifles explores a number of thematic ideas surrounding a woman’s place and her propensity for violence. The Author explores a thematic idea that centers on the proper dispensation of justice: Glaspell critically investigates the question of whether an individual can truly receive justice from a group that does not consider her their equal. Ibsen presents to the audience hints of women s roles in society and how females were treated during that time. In the plays Trifles, and A Doll House both Authors use the invisibility of femininity to the male world to explore questions of femininity, prejudice, and justice in American society. Christian Dymkowski suggests that one of the defining features of many of the female characters in Glaspell’s work is that they are characters on the edge of a knife: the slightest change in their environment sends them toppling over into unthinkable behavior, like violence and even murder (Dymkowski 92). In Trifles, the murder has already occurred, and Mrs. Wright has already been arrested for the murder of her husband. The police believe that she is guilty of the crime, and have come to the house, along with two women to investigate the crime scene and look for clues regarding the murder. It is during this first introduction