trifles

Flat Characters of “Trifles”

Susan Glaspell wrote a play about a murder investigation of a man, Mr. Wright, who was killed in his sleep by a rope around his neck. The suspected murderer was Mr. Wright’s wife, Mrs. Wright. Glaspell wrote the play with only five characters actually making an appearance and playing a role, none of which were the Wrights. These characters were the County Attorney, the Sheriff, Mrs. Peters who was the Sheriff’s wife, Hale, and Mrs. Hale. Glaspell cleverly uses dialogue to characterize the characters and does this in such a way that the Wright’s did not need to speak once in order for the reader to find out how they were. All of the characters were either flat or round, as in all other literary pieces; the round ones usually get most of the attention and the flat characters are usually the minor parts in which they do not change within the literary piece. But why then does Glaspell add in these flat characters as such big roles in the play?...