As mothers, wives and housekeepers women can hardly enact their sensibility: "Not having children makes less work -- but it makes a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did come in."(Glaspell)
Men do nothing but laugh at the trivialities that women are preoccupied with, preserving their belief that the sensibility is something exaggerated and that women always make a fuss over the most banal things:
My, it's a good thing the men couldn't hear us. Wouldn't they just laugh! Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a -- dead canary. As if that could have anything to do with--with -- wouldn't they laugh!"(Glaspell)
Glaspell's play therefore is truly enlightening in many respects, and is worthy of being represented on stage as it manages to pinpoint the way in which the interior world and the sensibility of the women is for the most part ignored or considered as trivial. The message is perfectly encapsulated in the murder plot, and the police investigation contrasts with the women's investigation of the inner life.
The glass collection of animals that is the sole pleasure of the extremely shy Laura is another symbol of absolute fragility. The little unicorn that Jim unwittingly breaks is clearly a representation of the ideal, lost world. The fabulous animal that is not part of the modern world translates the imaginary and deep sensibility of Laura, who is incapable of adapting to the social context. She is moreover crippled, a fact which increases her shyness and introverted nature. Significantly, the only boy she ever liked, Jim, is brought over to dinner one day at her mother's insistence, in the posture of a "gentleman caller." They have a brief moment together in which Jim tells her she is a special and kisses her, but then she smashes her unicorn unintentionally and leaves to see his girlfriend, Betty. The plot is significant as it emphasizes, like Glaspell's play the masculine world of action, represented...
The mother is hooked by her own past, and in spite of the fact that she has been left by her husband, she pushes her own daughter into marriage as the only solution for a woman: "I know so well what becomes of unmarried women who aren't prepared to occupy a position. I've seen such pitiful cases in the South - barely tolerated spinsters living upon the grudging patronage of sister's husband or brother's wife!"(Williams)
Williams' play is especially worthy to be staged also for the original effects created by the author, such as the screen behind the scene that is meant to bear captions according to his directions, the music, the unusual presence of the narrator himself in a drama and so on, all of which help the main theme to a great extent.
The two plays are thus centered on the idea that the inner life and the sensibility are often neglected by the world of action which is ruled by men. This revelation is very important as it stresses an aspect of the actual reality, that usually goes unnoticed.
Works Cited
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/trifles.htm
Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. http://staff.bcc.edu/faculty_websites/jalexand/Williams -- The_Glass_Menagerie.htm
Susan Glaspell. Trifles. http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/trifles.htm.
Tennessee Williams. The Glass Menagerie. http://staff.bcc.edu/faculty_websites/jalexand/Williams -- The_Glass_Menagerie.htm
