Analysis of Trifles by Susan Glaspell - Essay Example

The playwright provides an elaborate description of the setting in her stage directions. The first scene of the play begins in the kitchen of the ‘abandoned farmhouse of John Wright’ and the dramatist describes the kitchen as ‘gloomy’- “left without having been put in order-unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the bread-box, a dish towel on the table-other signs of in-completed work” (p. 935). The setting of the play suggests both isolation and depression: “Mrs.

Wright lacks contact with other people, sees neither neighbors nor friends. Her only source of companionship is a husband who rarely talks to or interacts with others” (Schakel & Ridl 946). A detailed stage direction is offered by the playwright regarding the furniture and things in the room such as the sewing basket, a small chair, a roller towel, and a low shelf on which the breadbox rests. However, as a reader one need not have to follow the setting as described by the dramatist; one should bear in mind that “there is no single set design, or a single interpretation of the text, that all readers must seek to attain” (Schakel & Ridl 947).

The reader is kept in extreme suspense in the initial scene (exposition) as he/she grasps from Attorney’s and Hale’s conversation that something unusual has happened in the house. The story of the death of Mr. Wright and the mysterious behavior of Mrs. Wright is told in flashbacks and the reader can sense some sort of mystery behind the death of Mr. Wright as “he died of a rope around his neck” (Schakel & Ridl 937). Dramas are written to be performed rather than to be read and as such reading drama necessitates a great amount of imagination and active reading that takes into account the cast, the stage directions given by the dramatist, imagining the actions, and knowledge regarding the various theatrical techniques and devices from the part of the reader.