What is the significance of the birdcage in trifles




















Pretty clothes… like pretty feathers? Lively… like a chipper bird? Singing in a choir… like a songbird? There's no doubt about it: that canary is Minnie. In case anybody forgot this line, Glaspell also include this one:. Okay, now there's no possible way to contest it. The canary represents Minnie Foster: that sweet, fluttery girl who was transformed into the lonely, depressed Mrs. Wright by years of her husband's neglect and emotional abuse. All right, let's talk about this cage.

If Minnie Foster is the canary, then we can definitely see how the cage could represent the stifling marriage that turned her into depressed Mrs.

In fact, it simply cannot be overstated that one of the most telling moments from a symbolic and thematic perspective occurs when that cage is examined by Mrs.

Peters and Mrs. Hale and we learn that that not only has the door been broken, but it appears to have suffered significant damage as if brute force resulting from a profound emotional reaction was applied purposely to throw open the door for the sake of escape. If the age represents the imprisonment of Mrs. Wright in her marriage, therefore, the damaged door seems very much a symbol of the struggle that is always the path that liberation must take.

You must be logged in to post a comment. What do you think? An author argued that men restricted women's rights and freedom; they strived to make their wives dependable.

Among several symbols used by Susan Glaspell in her play, the most important one is definitely a bird. A bird is used in reference to the main character of the play, Minnie Foster, who became Mrs. Wright after her marriage to John Wright. Wright had a canary in the cage in their quiet farmhouse. The bird used to sing a lot, but Mr. Wright did not like this singing. There were no children in their family, and Minnie often felt lonely and miserable.

That is why she bought a bird. She treated this bird as if it was her child, and she also liked to sing to a bird; it meant a lot to a woman who was very lonely and unhappy in her marriage. Once the dead bird wrapped in silk was found in Mrs. There is no direct indication of who did this to the bird, but it is quite obvious that only Mr.

Wright could do this to a canary since he disliked its singing. With the death of her bird, Minnie felt like she had lost a part of herself and her voice. This was a turning point of the entire play. It is obvious that marriage changed Mrs. Wright, her sweet and friendly character before the changes caused by an unhappy marriage. Finally, Minnie realized that she was no longer willing to live in the birdcage and paid an extremely high price for the desired freedom.

Apart from the evident problems of justice and law, the author portrayed the reality through the prism of the relationships between men and women that are usually ambiguous and deceptive in nature.

Although the play encompasses a wide range of themes and motifs, one should bear in mind that Glaspell managed to call the reader's attention to the prevailing importance of deception within the lines of her masterpiece. However, the matter of deception has an indirect profound representation in the play. In the beginning, the potential reader confronts the "abandoned farmhouse of John Wright". Such an atmosphere creates the suspense of possible accidents that might have occurred in the house.

In addition, the settings evoke an emotional response of anxiety towards the characters. Only then, the reader comes to realize the significance of deception in the play. Wright from the men. They know that she was abused and they pity her and believe that she had a right to kill her husband, and they feel sorry for her and do not want her to go to prison for it, so they hide the evidence from the men.

This is the women playing the part of what the heroin is to Sonny and being the ones who start to control Mrs. Homer Barron represented death because her wife killed him with some potion that she bought Arsenic. Strand of gray hair also symbolized love lost meaning she lost both of her loves of her life. It also represented wisdom. Wisdom is a sight of getting old meaning she lived her life already. Wright causes his wife to kill him because he killed her bird which resembled her-self and how she was pretty, happy, and was free.

But Mr. Wright killed her bird so she killed him. He was responsible for his own death, by making Mrs. Wright self-destruct. The two women in the play have been picking up one the little house clue the men in the play would find in significant, because they think all the women are really talking about is trifles, but in reality they are talking about how Mrs.

Wright killed her husband. Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. The setting of a story is the physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs. Meyer The setting can also set the mood of the story, which will help readers to get a better idea pf what is happening. The major elements of the setting are the time, place, and social environment that frame the characters. Meyer "Trifles by Susan Glaspell portrays a gloomy, dark, and lonely setting.

Glaspell uses symbolic objects to help the audience get a better understanding for the characters. The three symbolizes used are a birdcage, a bird, and rope. The birdcage represents how Mrs. Wright was trapped in her marriage , and could not escape it.

The birdcage door is broken which represents her broken marriage to Mr. It also represents Mrs. Wright escaping her marriage from Mr.



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