Apparent Feminisms in the Play Trifles Male domination in 1916, when Susan Glaspells play Trifles was written, was the way of life. Men controlled most women and women were not very outspoken during that time period. Mr. Wright in her play was no different from the rest, but she made him a symbol of all the men in the community. The play opens at the scene of the crime. The first three characters who enter the room are the three men involved in the investigation of the murder at hand. The purpose of their visit is to find evidence of motivation of murder, but the women who they leave downstairs find the very evidence that they are looking for.The men presume the women to be harmless for a couple of reasons one being: the women are left in the kitchen where, according to the Sheriff, there are nothing but kitchen things(1174). His comment was in response to the County Attorneys question about the Sheriff being convinced that there was nothing important in the kitchen nothing that would point to any motive (1174).The concerns of the women are considered little or silly and insignificant and this is the most important reason for the mens comments about them. The Sheriff laughs when the women express that maybe the frozen preserves have some meaning (1174). Mr. Hale, who is the husband of one of the women, comments women are used to worrying over trifles (1174). They figure the women are not dangerous because they are in a room where there could not possibly be any evidence, but also because they believe that the womens minds are so limited to trifles that they are not a threat to the investigation. The men feel that the women cannot think, cannot act, and cannot do any harm to their investigative work. However, the women find lots of evidence in that room. They do think, act, and sabotage the investigation. They find the very evidence that the men are looking for. In most stories of this nature the men are the center of attention...
