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  • Essay / Susan Glaspell's Trifles: From Courthouse to Stage

    Susan Glaspell was only twenty-four years old when she covered the Hossack murder in Indianola, Iowa as a reporter. It would be many years before Glaspell wrote his play Trifles, a play which bears remarkable similarities to the real-life murder of farmer John Hossack. Inside the wooden doors of the Indianola courthouse, young Glaspell had witnessed an event that would influence the rest of her life. For the people of Warren County, the event inside that courthouse was a trial to determine a woman's innocence; for Glaspell, it was a testament to American injustice toward women in society. When she began writing Trifles, there was no doubt that her text was modeled on the events of the Hossack trial. The line is drawn as Glaspell the journalist becomes Glaspell the artist, and she makes careful omissions and additions to her work. Bagatelles is not simply a story; instead, to better exaggerate her concern about sexism, Susan Glaspell made several changes to her play. The addition of Mrs. Hale, the dirty roll towel, and the canary emphasizes Glaspell's emphasis on the injustice of men's feelings toward women and their work. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Glaspell first deviates from Hossack's true story with the introduction of Mrs. Hale. In the play, Mrs. Hale is the stern wife of Mr. Hale, the man who inadvertently discovers the crime scene. When the men search the house to belittle Minnie Wright, it is Mrs. Hale who retaliates. She is the voice of reason, “true to her sex” (Glaspell 5). Although aware of the men's sarcastic remarks, she never does anything other than mutter under her breath. No parallels with Ms. Hale emerged in the actual Hossack murder case, in which very few women were called to testify. Ms. Hale represents Glaspell herself – the only female journalist who was quick to notice the unequal treatment women received in the courtroom. When the women began to give their opinions in court, they were immediately silenced, for reasons including the assertion that "she [the witness, Ms. Keller] was not answering the question that had been asked." (Bryan and Wolf 146). . The end of Bagatelles recalls the silence observed by Glaspell; however, “their refusal to speak rings with the power of intention and choice” (Holstein 284). Like Ms. Keller, they do not answer the question asked, but in this case the conscious choice to remain silent suggests that contrary to men's opinions, women actually have something important to say. Another change Glaspell makes to his room is the addition of the dirty roll towel. This seemingly unimportant detail does much to advance the story's concern with sexism. The towel roll provides an opportunity for the county attorney to make the condescending remark: "Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?" » (Glaspell 4). This remark expresses the county attorney's expectation that all women serve as housekeepers. Of course, there were no dirty roll towels on the real Hossack farm, because John Hossack was a stern man who was often prone to fits of rage, at the worst of which he threatened Margaret with "physical harm", the dealing with “physical violence”. “slut” and “whore” (Bryan and Wolf 114). Perhaps intimidated by these tantrums,>.