In the play Trifles, a lot of the message of the play is unspoken. The viewers of the play get a great deal of the message from the setting and from symbols in the play. For example, the bird in the play was a symbol for Mrs. Wright herself. It is assumed that the bird was strangled for singing, just like Mrs. Wright was made quiet by her husband. The ladies talk about how much she had changed since marrying Mr. Wright, and that she had been “much like a bird herself” (755). There were other symbols in the play, and the understanding the setting and what it represents is important to understanding the play.
The play is set in the Wright farmhouse. The house is not very well kept and it is very chilly inside. The characters note that the house is not very cheerful and never has been. “Mrs Hale: It never seemed a very cheerful place. County Attorney: No – it’s not cheerful. I shouldn’t say she had the homemaking instinct” (751). The house was not cheerful because there was no happiness in it. There was no love in the house and no warmth.
The fact that the house is very cold also represents the lack of warmth in the Wright marriage. The characters all note how cold it is in the house, and the ladies even point out that Mrs. Wright’s fruit has frozen. The temperature in the house symbolizes the temperature of the marriage. There was no warmth, and Mr. and Mrs. Wright were very cold to each other.
Works Cited
Glaspell, Susan. “Trifles.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. Eds. Alison Booth, and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton & Company. Print.
