Trifles Women and Femininity Quotes

Here's where the first blip goes off on our jerk radar. Hale points out that John Wright could give two flips about what his wife thinks. These are the first signs we have of just how disempowered Mrs. Wright was. It's kind of interesting, though, that Hale ever even noticed that Wright didn't listen to his wife. If Wright noticed something, then he probably didn't think it was totally normal. Could that mean that he treats Mrs. Hale with a little more respect?

This is the Attorney's direct response to Hale's line above, and it really shows just how little the treatment of women matters to the Attorney. He doesn't seem to think it's important at all how John Wright treated his wife. He says they'll talk about it later, but he never brings it up again. Kinda weird, right? Especially, since he's trying to establish a motive for murder. But to the County Attorney, the way Mrs. Wright was treated sounds totally normal, so there's no reason to really give a hoot.

Here's a tip: always pay attention to the line that gives you the title. Here Hale mocks the fact that, even though she's facing a murder charge, Mrs. Wright put mental energy into worrying that that her jars of preserves might break in the cold. Later, Mrs. Hale talks about how tough putting in preserves is and that she totally gets why Mrs. Wright would be worried about her hard work being transformed into a sticky, glass-infused mess. To the men, though, anything the women spend their time doing is insignificant.

And the battle of the sexes is on! Here's the first time in the play that we see a woman stand up to the ogre-like men that are stomping around the stage. The County Attorney disses Mrs. Wright for being a bad housekeeper, which to him translates as being a bad woman. Mrs. Hale stands up for Mrs. Wright and puts the blame on men's dirty hands. Notice that the idea never even enters the conversation that the very act of judging a woman by her housekeeping is mad sexist. That would've seriously blown people's minds back them.

Oh, these two are at it again. The County Attorney pins the house's gloominess on the idea that Mrs. Wright was a bad homemaker, which again to him means she was a failure as a woman. But then Mrs. Hale flips the idea of being a homemaker on its head, pinning the gloominess of the house on Mr. Wright's bad attitude. So Mrs. Hale is basically saying that it isn't just the woman's responsibility to make a home. Men are homemakers too, and John Wright was a lousy one.

These days we might see the idea that "a woman's place is the kitchen" as offensive. But notice here that Mrs. Hale feels connected to Mrs. Wright though the kitchen. It seems like Mrs. Hale also feels like the kitchen is Woman Territory, and it's a territory that the men have invaded.

How crazy is it that men make fun of the women for thinking about "woman stuff" like quilts, when it's the whole male-dominated society that forces women into lives where "woman stuff" they're supposed to worry about? Sadly, it's not a new story. Throughout history, oppressive groups have mocked the groups they oppress.

Through most of the play, Mrs. Peters apologizes for the men. More than that, she says a lot of stuff that supports the male position that women are basically a bunch of bubbleheads and are totally incapable thinking about anything important. It's good for the play's structure that Mrs. Peters is around, though. The differing viewpoints between her and Mrs. Hale give us some of the key tension in the play.

This line is probably the play's most blatant call for solidarity among women—it's basically in neon lights. Mrs. Hale is recognizing that all women are oppressed in pretty much the same way. Notice, though, that she's not only jabbing her finger at the menfolk. She's taking the blame on herself for not coming over and being BFFs with Mrs. Wright. It seems like one of play's biggest messages is that women have to unite and support each other if they ever want things to change.

Here's an example of society's bias against women actually helping Mrs. Wright out. Most people assume that women are these puny little creatures that don't have a violent bone in their bodies. This actually makes the Attorney's job even harder. He has fight the idea that a woman isn't tough or violent enough to kill her husband. Way to break those stereotypes, Mrs. Wright.