Comparing Susan Glaspells Play Trifles with her Short Story A Jury of - Essay Example

14 May Compare Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles” with her short story “A Jury of Her Peers”Annotated bibliography:Alkalay-Gut, Karen. “‘A Jury of Her Peers’: The Importance of Trifles.” Studies in Short Fiction 21.1 (1984): 1-9. Print. A Jury of Her Peers is a short story version of the play titled Trifles written by Susan Glaspell. But, the short story more expertly throws light on male dominance and marginalization of women than the play does. It is more comprehensively detailed how men refused to attach any importance to women’s inputs in any serious matter as a murder.

Alkalay-Gut in her article “Jury of Her Peers: The Importance of Trifles” has emphasized that the wide gap between male and female perceptions constructs the bedrock of A Jury of Her Peers. The story surpasses Trifles in explicating how women were kept from offering their advice about matters which were conventionally deemed male-oriented. The sense of male authority more effectively forms the hallmark of the story, which is more than can be said about Trifles if acting in the play is left out of the question and just text is scrutinized.

Angel, Marina. “Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and ‘A Jury of Her Peers’: Woman Abuse in a Literary and Legal Context.” Buffalo Law Review 45 (1997): 779-844. Print. Angel appears to be deeply fascinated with the short story version of Trifles in her article. She claims that compared to the play, the story focuses on women’s perspective who were shunned from the legal system. These were women who had judgment skills far superior to any men around, but were not given credit for that because it was men and not women who made the law, who were judges, and who investigated murder trials.

The women in the story managed to see beneath the surface and reached different legal conclusions than men did. Women reached correct conclusions because of their different experiences and values than men and this difference is very superiorly explicated in the short story version of the play.Ben-Zvi, Linda. “‘Murder, She Wrote’: The Genesis of Susan Glaspell’s Trifles.” Theatre Journal 44.2 (1992): 141-62. Print.It is suggested by Ben-Zvi in her article that compared to Trifles, Glaspell goes further in her short story to highlight patriarchal power and its implications on women.

Trifles does not as brilliantly and as deeply analyzes the awkwardness of Mr. Hale’s character as the “Jury” does. In the start of the short story, the authoress dedicates many words to explaining how easily Mr. Hale is intimidated by fellow men like the County Attorney. However, when it comes to women of the house, he effortlessly undermines their perceptions of judgment. It is Mr. Hale and not the women of Mr. Wright’s house who gets to detail the murder report because of his gender.

He directly taunts the women refusing to acknowledge that they could possibly have any clue about murder. Such examples of patriarchal power and female marginalization are more efficiently detailed in the Jury. Mael, Phyllis. “Trifles: The Path to Sisterhood.” Literature/Film Quarterly 17 (1989): 281-84. Print.In her article, Mael explains that just as the short story version, Glaspell identifies the reasons which later went on to contribute to women’s freedom just fine in Trifles. Both the play and story reflect on what constituted the movement led by women.

It was the same kind of values, experiences, and perceptions which bonded women and made them realize that together they can thwart the power of male dominated legal system in America. Trifles very influentially manages to forward this idea that it was consciousness and bravery which helped women empower themselves. They stood together for this purpose because it was a feat which could not be achieved individually. This idea of unity is central to the play by Glaspell and evokes many important details about women’s movement.

But, the marginalization of women is better explained by the short story because it is written from women’s perspective which adds more detail to every scene.