An actual murder Glaspell covered during her time as a journalist in Iowa inspired her to write Trifles. The murder involved a farmer, John Hossack, and his wife, Margaret. To this day it remains unsolved. If you’re interested in learning more about the case, check out this link. A number of recent podcasts have also covered the case. In addition, Glaspell wrote a story version of her play titled “A Jury of Her Peers.” The title clearly shows Glaspell’s feelings about gender inequality during her life, and like the play, the story highlights this inequality.
Here are some things to remember as you read and think about Trifles:
1. During this time period in the United States (1916), women could not serve on a jury.
2. With rare exceptions, American women were not able to have their own bank accounts or mortgages, divorce their husbands, go to college, or find employment in most fields, especially prestigious ones like medicine and law.
3. American society was heavily patriarchal and organized in terms of gender according to a separate spheres ideology. Women were confined to the domestic sphere, or home. Men had access to the public sphere, where the resources necessary for survival and power exist: money, law, education. Men could move freely within and between both spheres. Women were stuck. Misogyny is, of course, what underpins this ideology, or the belief that women are inferior to men, especially in terms of intellect. Western society has a long history of misogyny.
4. There is no question that Minnie Wright murdered her husband. The men in the play are looking for clues that show a motive. Without a motive, it will be more difficult to convince a jury to convict Minnie of first degree murder.
