Visual Elements in Trifles

The samples that follow are written very compactly and so put a lot of detailed information and insightful analysis into each paragraph. Examples are drawn from the entire play, not just the beginning, which helps capture the sympathy for Minnie that comes as the other wives figure out what her marriage has been like.

I've added bold-facing to assist with skimming so you can tell at a glance which topics are mentioned.

The following reply by "Thor" is typical of the best analysis that was sent in after a first reading of Trifles and hopefully some study of the Litonline introduction to drama.

The first visual element that captures our attention is the rocker, which represents the presence of Mrs. Wright. We are informed that Mrs. Wright was rocking and pleating her apron when Mr. Hale came to visit. She seems nervous, perhaps in shock and in deep thought. We are told that she continues pleating her apron even after the acknowledgement of her husband’s death. It wasn’t until after Harry leaves to contact the coroner, or sheriff, that Mrs. Wright moved to another small chair in the corner of the room. When we visualize the rocker we think of Mrs. Wright, even though she never appears in the play.

The skirt is brought to our attention (page 460) as the two ladies gather items for Mrs. Wright. We are informed that Mrs. Wright used to wear pretty clothes and was once lively. We start getting the feeling that she was deprived of the finer things of life. The skirt, here, seems to be symbolic of someone who lived in confinement, closed-up, and all alone. We start to feel some compassion for Mrs. Wright.

The birdcage represents the motive or the final straw that led to Mr. Wright’s death. We are told that the door was broken and that one of the hinges was pulled apart. A little later the dead bird is found and we are told that its neck was wrung. The ladies compare Mrs. Wright to a bird, one who used to sing too until Mr. Wright stopped it. This suggests that Mr. Wright ripped the door open and killed the bird, taking away the little bit of happiness that Mrs. Wright had. Again, the ladies show sympathy for Mrs. Wright. We can picture Mrs. Wright, who was kept in a cage, finally escaping her solitude when she wrung her husband’s neck as he did the canary.

In the following answer, "Smile 1" applies the question of visuals to both the play and the short story, discussing trade-offs between the information and impressions made by one or the other, between the story's exposition and the play's stage directions that would translate into performance.

Neither Mrs. Hale’s relationship to Mrs. Peters nor their apparent differences came out in the play. According to the story, “She had met Mrs. Peters the year before at the county fair…”. So, she didn’t really know Mrs. Peters and they were not friends. Then Mrs. Peters is described as “small and thin and didn’t have a strong voice.” Mrs. Hale is described as “the big farmer woman.” This gives us a feeling of strength from Mrs. Hale and of weakness from Mrs. Peters. In addition, when folding Mrs. Wright’s shabby clothes, Mrs. Hale was thinking “She don’t’ care. Much difference it makes to her whether Minnie Foster had pretty clothes when she was a girl.” Mrs. Hale was saying that Mrs. Peters was different from her and Mrs. Wright and therefore couldn’t understand Mrs. Wright’s plight. This was not apparent in the play, but it helps set up each lady’s perspective. However, despite their differences, these two women bonded in their understanding of the situation and their desire to help the lady accused of killing her husband. They also joined together to piece together the real story of why this killing happened. Their relationship is very important to the overall story.

The disarray of the kitchen was visual and probably more subtle in the play but explained more detail in the narrative of the short story. However, the visual impact of seeing the County Attorney put his hands in spilled fruit in the cabinet and then trying to dry them on a dirty towel would have been more entertaining.

The impact on Mrs. Hale of things unfinished was apparent in the story and very important. By beginning the story with “She hated things half done,” it sets up the fact that she noticed these things. Also, the feeling that only something out of the ordinary would keep a farm wife from completing her tasks is spelled out in the beginning of the story. “But what her eye took in was that her kitchen was in no shape for leaving; her bread all ready for mixing…..” These things were important to Mrs. Hale and were important in coming to some of the conclusions such as Mrs. Wright being interrupted by something out of the ordinary while doing her normal housework of cooking, cleaning, washing dishes and quilting.

The impact of seeing the two women’s expressions as they uncovered the “clues” would have been more effective than reading the words. The bird-cage scene in the play seems to be as explanatory as the story, and the visual of the door hanging ajar would have been more powerful than words. Also, the language of the men and their inflections when dismissing the women as nobody to be concerned about would have a greater impact on an audience then reading the words. Such scenes were when the men laughed because the women were wondering if Mrs. Wright quilted or knotted her quilt, and when they said there was no need to be concerned about what they were taking to Mrs. Wright out of her personal things. This was most important to the story because it allowed the women to go unnoticed while discovering the details of what probably led to the crime and the motive.

In this case, the student painstakingly adds up visual clues for symbolism, but she stops just short of stating how Minnie might have been treated at trial, given the prejudice exhibited by the men and the fact that she would have faced an all-male jury rather than her true peers. She does, however, use the symbolism to see right through John Wright. Her second paragraph is unique among commentators.

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The canary represents Mrs. Wright’s well being. The life of the canary symbolizes Mrs. Wright’s sanity, striving to live. Mrs. Wright was once like a canary, she sung like a bird. Minnie was beautiful, lively, and was according to Mrs. Hale, “one of the town girls singing in the choir.” The canary is a prop that represents Mrs. Wright. When the bird died, Mrs. Wright’s sanity went with it. Keeping a dead bird wrapped up in a box is an example of an abnormal behavior, along with killing her husband. It could be that she did not kill her husband, but I feel that she did. The canary symbolizes Mrs. Wright. The life of the canary symbolizes the liveliness of Mrs. Wright, trying to live. The death of the bird symbolizes Mrs. Wright’s end for a fight to live, and she loses her mind and kills her husband.

The poor housekeeping and dirty towels represent Mrs. Wright’s relationship with her husband. The towels represent Mrs. Wright, the dirty hands represent Mr. Wright, and the poor housekeeping represent the relationship. Although Mrs. Wright tried to keep up with the housekeeping (symbolizing the relationship between the Wrights), Mr. Wright always dirtied the “towels”, meaning he ruined Mrs. Wright (towels) and ruined the relationship (poor housekeeping). When Mrs. Hale defends Mrs. Wright’s housekeeping by stating “There's a great deal of work to be done on a farm”, she is speaking of the relationship. There was a great deal of work to be done between Mrs. Wright and Mr. Wright. The dirty towels show that the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Wright had failed as the housekeeping did, and became “dirty” or simply “dead”.

Also, Mrs. Hale claims that “Those towels get dirty awful quick. Men's hands aren't always as clean as they might be.” I feel this is an implication that Mr. Wright dirtied the towels, while dirtying the relationship between him and his wife. “Men’s hands aren’t always as clean” symbolizes Mr. Wright may possibly not have been the man he showed to the public. Inside the house, he may have been a scary man intimidating Minnie. He may not have been a good man, and he may not have been as “clean” as society portrayed him to be. This possibly could mean he was abusive and threatening.

The cherry preserves represent a woman in this era. When the men were laughing and joking that Mrs. Wright was worried about the fruit, they were laughing at women. They do not realize and comprehend the labor that goes into something the men presume is so simple and insignificant. When the sheriff states “can you beat the woman! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves,” this shows that a woman’s work is overlooked. The cherry preserves are a good prop to use to represent a woman in this era, working hard, and being overlooked. The women defend Mrs. Wright in this case, because they realize that the men do not appreciate the work of a woman. The cherry preserves, and the men laughing at Mrs. Wright symbolize the treatment that Mrs. Wright may have gotten from her husband. It shows that Mrs. Wright may have been abused emotionally from her husband. It paints a picture; Mrs. Wright slaving over work, and Mr. Wright not appreciating her, keeping her locked up in the house.