Portrayal of Women in Trifles Anonymous College

In 1916, Susan Glaspell chose to publish a controversial play entitled Trifles. The play investigates the murder of a man with the main suspect being his wife. This piece of literature, like others at the time, was ridiculed for its feminism. What makes the play bold is that it shows how women are overlooked by a male-dominated society and capable of fulfilling a purpose outside of the home environment.

Susan Glaspell was a journalist, novelist, and playwright who lived from 1876 until 1948. Unlike many women of her time, Glaspell was able to attain a college degree and hold a constant job outside the home. She was an active citizen in the early 1900s, when the women’s rights movement was at its peak and society was constantly changing. Glaspell was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her writing, and her writings were both unique and influential. Glaspell, though not directly a member of the women’s rights movement, did her part to support their cause. After being assigned a job to report on the murder of a man whose wife of 32 years murdered him with an axe, Glaspell wrote Trifles. Her writings are a clear defense to women and a plea for equality in a time where it did not exist. Glaspell was a woman ahead of her time, as she did not...