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NEW WOMAN AND THEATER AT SUSAN GLASPELL'S WORK: TRIFLES
NEW WOMAN AND THEATER IN THE SUSAN GLASPELL'S WRITINGS: TRIFLES
Elisa María Casero Osorio
UNED
SUMMARY
Through the different literary genres, nineteenth-century writers wanted to make known
a new woman, who broke the feminine role imposed by a patriarchal society. Susan
Glaspell was one of them: playwright, actress, novelist and journalist, her first play,
Trifles, is considered a masterpiece by the first feminists whose argument revolves
around a murder and the symbolic figure of women like the bird caged
Keywords: new woman, theater, feminist, patriarchal.
ABSTRACT
Through various literary genres, writers in the 19th century wanted to make known a
new woman, who broke with the female role imposed by a patriarchal society. Susan
Glaspell was one of them: playwright, actress, novelist and journalist, her first play,
Trifles, is seen as masterpiece by early feminists whose plot deal with a murder and the
symbolic figure of the woman as the caged bird. Keywords: new woman, theater,
feminist, patriarchal.
Over the last centuries, important female figures have appeared that have somehow
marked the starting point of a movement (social, literary, etc.) or simply contributed
significantly to a part of the story. Women's.
This work focuses on one of them, Susan Glaspell and her work Trifles, who was part
of the change that occurred in the way of thinking of women and their situation in
American society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in that the figure of
a new woman, known today as the New Woman, emerged in an attempt to combat the
role imposed by a patriarchal society on women, and break with everything that
represented the ideal of a female model.
Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1-
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1. LA NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETY OFTHE END OF THE CENTURYXIX. ANDL ROLE OFTHE
WOMAN.
In the nineteenth century there was a significant change in the lives of women. Until
now, society was qualified with the Victorian term, which although it has its origin in
the British context, can also be applied in other European countries and in the United
States. As Martínez (2010: 3) explains, the Victorian term
It refers to modern societies that emerged throughout the nineteenth century, characterized by
the symbiosis between the values of enlightenment and the values of puritanism or
Protestantism, and in which the capitalist system theoretically conceived by Adam Smith was
consolidated. It is, therefore, societies whose hegemonic social class is the bourgeoisie and
which are distinguished by faith in progress and by great advances in all imaginable fields:
technological, health, scientific, political, etc.
But despite the great advances of this end of the century, the female figure continued
to maintain a secondary place in society. Known as an angel of the home, his role was a
good wife and mother, innocent, naive and passive, always needing help in matters
outside the domestic sphere, and whose sexuality was restricted to procreation.
Remember the Victorian saying “it's a man world; woman place is the home ”(it is a
world of men; the place of women is home). In this society the male and female role
were separated. In her youth, the woman should always be accompanied by her father or
siblings; once married, by her husband. As a wife, I owed him continued obedience and
adoration. The vision of women in Victorian thought is well explained in words is Caird
(1897: 72), in his article "Marriage":
… We may say that woman originally became the property of man by right of capture; now the
wife is his by right of law […] There was a struggle for supremacy between the sexes, and in
early literature this struggle is evident, as well as the sentiment that women are all evil
creatures, thirsting for unholy power, and must be resisted by all good and valiant men. (Caird,
1897, p. 72)
On the other hand, at this end of the century the figure of the New Woman or new
woman also appears. It represents a female stereotype very different from the Victorian
woman. As Martínez (2010: 4) well defines, this type of woman “represents the
emerging social reality of a woman with a certain economic capacity, almost always
belonging to the bourgeoisie, determined to rebel from within the system and claim her
status as a real woman against the myths of patriarchal society. ”
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The term new woman, also called novissima, new woman, odd woman, wild woman,
or superfluos woman, first appeared in an article published in the North American
Review in May 1894. Its author, Sarah Grand, was a feminist writer who defended
equality between men and women and talked about the responsibilities of middle class
women for their nation. This new woman was educated, had received an education. He
was not dependent on any man, was economically independent and often lived on his
salary. In short, it describes a generation of women, young and, at first, middle class,
who reacted against the patriarchal system characteristic of the time.1
2. MFEMINIST OVIMENT
We could say that the appearance of this new woman is linked to the feminist
movements that emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Victoria Sau (1981: 106), Spanish writer and psychologist, defines feminism as
Feminism is a social and political movement that formally begins at the end of the 18th century
and that implies the awareness of women as a group or human collective, of the oppression,
domination and exploitation of which they have been and are the object of group of men in the
bosom of the patriarchate under their different historical phases of the production model,
which moves them into action for the liberation of their sex with all the transformations of
society that it requires.
At the beginning of the XX a new feminist thought appeared in the United States that
followed the model of the English movement that fought for women's rights, a struggle
that had begun in the previous century. Thousands of women struggled to get fairer laws
for them related to divorce or child custody, education, the right to vote or political
participation. In this way the suffrage movement appeared whose objectives were to
obtain the approval of the female vote, the improvement of education, professional
training and the opening of new work horizons, in addition to the comparison of sexes in
the family. To achieve this, the suffragists appealed, among other things, to hunger
strikes. At the end of the First World War, women over 30 achieved their right to vote;
1Information obtained from Dr. Isabel Durán Giménez-Rico, professor and director of the Department of English
Philology II, at the Complutense University of Madrid. Define the term "new woman", woman of the late nineteenth
century in the US.
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passed the law with which the right to vote was extended to all women of legal age. That
search for sexual equality within marriage or work led women writers to represent in
their works female protagonists who showed the model of women of the time: a woman
who owed supreme obedience and submission to the masculine, always considered as a
girl , a fragile and delicate woman, that was due to her house, her husband and her
children, but that, in turn, with certain nuances that showed us the need of these women
to find their own identity, outside the patriarchal yoke to which They were subdued. In
feminist literature, the end of these characters who seek the liberation of the male
patriarch will be death or madness, an unthinkable end in previous literature.
3. LFEMINIST ITERATURE
Returning to literature, during the nineteenth century we found a literature mainly
written by men. It is characterized by realism, in an attempt to discover the transcendent
senses of reality. Investigate the deep meaning of the sensations that the individual
experiences. But it is also at the end of this century when a new literature called feminist
emerges. This feminist literature was characterized by representing all those writers who
tried to achieve equality for women. As the critic Elaine Showalter defines in her essay
"Toward a Feminist Poetics", the history of women's literature can be divided into three
phases: a first phase called feminine literature and that would cover from 1840 to 1880
where “women wrote in an effort to equal to intellectual achievements of the male
culture, and internalized its assumptions about female nature” (Showalter, 1979, 34-36)
A second period it would be established between 1880 and 1920, called feminist
literature where, according to Showalter, “women are historically enabled to reject the
accommodating postures of femininity and to use literature to dramatize the ordeals of
wronged womanhood” (Showalter, 1979, 34-36); and a third and final phase called
women's literature that begins in 1920 where the writer no longer cares about reflecting
the way of life of women in society or claiming anything since the change has already
begun. They write freely. As Showalter says and internalized its assumptions about
female nature ”(Showalter, 1979, 34-36) A second period would be established between
1880 and 1920, called feminist literature where, according to Showalter,“ women are
historically enabled to reject the accommodating postures of femininity and to use
literature to dramatize the ordeals of wronged womanhood ”(Showalter, 1979, 34-36);
and a third and final phase called women's literature that begins in 1920 where the writer
no longer cares about reflecting the way of life of women in society or claiming
anything since the change has already begun. They write freely. As Showalter says and
internalized its assumptions about female nature ”(Showalter, 1979, 34-36) A second
period would be established between 1880 and 1920, called feminist literature where,
according to Showalter,“ women are historically enabled to reject the accommodating
postures of femininity and to use literature to dramatize the ordeals of wronged
womanhood ”(Showalter, 1979, 34-36); and a third and final phase called women's
literature that begins in 1920 where the writer no longer cares about reflecting the way
of life of women in society or claiming anything since the change has already begun.
They write freely. As Showalter says according to Showalter “women are historically
enabled to reject the accommodating postures of femininity and to use literature to
dramatize the ordeals of wronged womanhood” (Showalter, 1979, 34-36); and a third
and final phase called women's literature that begins in 1920 where the writer no longer
cares about reflecting the way of life of women in society or claiming anything since the
change has already begun. They write freely. As Showalter says according to Showalter
“women are historically enabled to reject the accommodating postures of femininity and
to use literature to dramatize the ordeals of wronged womanhood” (Showalter, 1979, 34-
36); and a third and final phase called women's literature that begins in 1920 where the
writer no longer cares about reflecting the way of life of women in society or claiming
anything since the change has already begun. They write freely. As Showalter says They
write freely. As Showalter says They write freely. As Showalter says
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“Women reject both imitation and protest-two forms of dependency- and turn instead to
female experience as the source of an autonomous art, extending the feminist analysis of
culture to the forms and techniques of literature” (Showalter, 1979, 34-36)
Feminist literature tries to break the vision of women as guardian of the home, a
symbol of sacrifice and self-denial. Many were the writers, among them we find Kate
Chopin, Alice James, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather or Susan
Glaspell.
4. SUse GLASPELL
Susan Glaspell was born in Davenport, Iowa in 1882. She was a famous drama and
fiction writer who published about fifty short stories, about fourteen novels and a
biography.
He went to Drake University in Des Moines, graduating in June 1899. His early years
he worked as a reporter for Des Moines Daily News. In 1901 he decided to return to
Davenport to write. She had already published a large number of short stories in Youth's
Companian and many of them were accepted by more sophisticated magazines such as
Harpers, Leslie's, The American and others. In 1915, together with her husband George
Cook they founded The Provincetown Players in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It consisted
of a small theater to promote American playwrights. Some of the writers who were part
were Eugene O'Neill and Edna St. Vincent Mellay.
His work is very versatile, from realism in works such as Trifles (1916) or Inheritors
(1921), satirical comedies such as Woman's Honor (1918) and Suppressed Desires, or
expressionism in his great work The Verge (1921). His story "For Love of the Hills"
received the Black Cat award in 1904. Although not always understood by critics, his
work as a playwright was highly respected as summarized by critic Ludwig Lewisohn in
1922:
This power of creating human speech which shall be at once concrete and significant,
convincing in detail and spiritually cumulative in progression is, of course, the essential gift of
the authentic dramatist. That gift Miss Glaspell always possessed in measure, she has now
brought it to a rich and effective maturity.
He won the Pulitzer with Alison's House, a novel based on the life and family of
Emily Dickinson.
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His first play was performed in Provincetown in July 1915: Suppressed Desire.
Written with her husband, George Cook, narrates her protagonist's obsession with the
interpretation of dreams, especially those of her husband and sister. In the words of
Ozieblo (2012: 17), the authors wrote the work “expressing on paper a dialogue in which
they entertained a winter night, laughing at the obsession with the psychoanalysis of
their friends in Greenwich Village who bombarded you with their complexes every time
they crossed with you on the street ”
5. TRIFLES
Trifles - or Menudenos- was the one-act play by Susan Glaspell that has been
translated and represented more times, especially by students and small theaters. She
was first represented on August 8, 1916 at the Wharf Theater, in Provincetown. It was
based on a case he had covered in 1900 when he worked as a reporter for the Des
Moines News. A woman had killed her husband while she slept and was in jail. After
several investigations he came to understand why he had done it. This murder made
Glaspell realize the multitude of women who suffered abuse and the few exits they had.
There are no photos or descriptions of the premiere of this work. Glaspell ceded the
rights to the Washington Square Players, so he was re-represented in November 1916.
The argument revolves around the frustrated attempt of the Sheriff to solve the
mystery of the murder of Mr. Wright, husband of Minnie, who is in jail as the alleged
author of the crime. While men investigate the house, women, that is, Mrs. Hale and
Mrs. Peters (Sheriff's wife), remain waiting in the kitchen. Mrs. Peters has to pick up
some things for Mrs. Wright. Both discover clues that allow them to know the motive of
the crime and, therefore, to know who committed it.
The scene begins in a simple kitchen, somewhat messy, with unwashed pots and half-
baked bread. The prosecutor and the sheriff question Mr. Hale who was the one who
notified the authorities of Mr. Wright's death. The day before he approached the farm to
speak with the deceased. Upon entering, Mrs. Wright was found in the kitchen rocking
chair and when asking about her husband, she replied that she was in the house but could
not receive it because she was dead, that she had dawned with a rope around her neck.
He then notified the authorities. Next, the two men
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they leave and the two ladies begin to observe and comment on what Mrs. Wright was
doing before she was taken away. And they are the ones who, through the small trifles of
the daily work, realize what had happened. Mrs. Hale comments on how cheerful and
friendly the detainee was before getting married and what she liked to sing. She had not
seen Mr. Wright for over a year and was not approaching her neighbors' house because
she was sad and Mr. Wright was not pleasant at all. Placing a little they discover that
Mrs. Wright was making a quilt and how the points at first perfect, become very badly
made. Unconsciously, Mrs. Hale undoes the points. In a corner of the kitchen they
discover a bird cage with the broken door. They think he had a bird and that a cat would
have taken it. Then, looking for scissors to fix the quilt, they find a very pretty box.
When they open it, they find the bird with a twisted neck, wrapped in a cloth. Strangled
as the murdered. The men enter and they hide the box. They decide not to tell anything.
6. SYMBOLIC ELEMENTS
The play is presented in the purest detective style. As I mentioned before, it was
based on a case that the author had covered in 1900 when she worked as a reporter for
the Des Moines News, in which a woman had murdered her husband for no apparent
reason. After several investigations, she came to understand the reason for the murder
and in some way, to understand the defendant's action.
From the beginning of the work to the end, we can see that the main character, around
which the whole plot revolves, Mrs. Wright, is an absent character. This strategy used by
its author pushes us to relate the situation of the protagonist with the role of woman at
the end of the century: typical of the Victorian tradition, the female figure plays a
secondary role in society. His mission is to be a wife and mother and take care of his
house. It has no voice or identity. And this is exactly what we see in Glaspell's work:
Mrs. Wright is accused of murder but, at no time, throughout history, does she appear or
speak to defend herself. It is the male characters who must decide whether he is guilty or
not.
The behavior of male and female characters is also a symbol of the different
stereotypes that each sex has in society. As Simon (2015: 166) explains
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Trifles It raises the differences in behavior between male and female characters in relation to
the crime that a woman allegedly commits against her husband. But these differences revolve
around the way in which men and women function in the home of John Wright and his wife
[...] from the separation of the work space from home, it will be seen as "women's things" ,
where they will be the “queens of the home”, a key process to understand their domestication.
This link to the home is determined by the patriarchy, its authority and influence reaches as far
as that of her husband, due to the secondary level to which the woman in the hierarchy of sexes
is relegated.
It is possible to perfectly relate this representation of the protagonist in the play with
the Victorian woman, angel of the home, without another role in society being a
housewife, attentive wife and mother. As Simón (2015: 167) explains, “On the other
hand, the figure of women, in addition to being in the background, remains isolated
within that framework that constitutes homes. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters do not leave
the kitchen throughout the work. ”
As explained above, a woman has no voice if it is not that of her husband, father or
siblings. Your actions or thoughts are not important. This idea is clearly exemplified in
the work, in the words of the sheriff, first, and those of Mr. Hale, below: “SHERIFF.
Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worrin 'about her reserves. [...]
HALE. Well, women are used to worrying over trifles. ”
Even women think like men, a clear example of how this role of women subject to the
masculine gender is more than assumed: “MRS. HALE (resentfully) I don't know as
there's anything so strange, our takin 'up our time with little things while we're waiting
for them to get the evidence. MRS PETERS (apologetically) Of course they've got awful
important things on their minds. ”
Throughout the work, Gaspell uses a multitude of symbols hidden in actions, names
or objects, among others. To begin, I will talk about place and time. The plot takes place
in winter, a cold winter: “SHERIFF (looking about) It's just the same. When it dropped
below zero last night, I thought I'd better send frank out this morning to make a fire for
us - don't use getting pneumonia with a big case on. ”
The winter season is a season where trees lose their leaves and die, the cold freezes
the vegetation, symbol of Mr. Wright's icy heart that, like this time, dies. As Mai (2013:
15,16) explains “The setting of the play happens in winter. In winter, the weather turns
so cold; the tree lost their leaves and sometimes died. The season often deals with death.
In this drama, the setting is in winter and there are some character die, they are John
Wright and the bird. ”
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The only act of the play is represented in a single scenario: the kitchen. The
characteristics of the kitchen are very concrete: it is dirty, messy, with dishes in the sink
and dirty towels. The nineteenth-century woman was in charge of caring for the house.
The kitchen was the place where I spent more time, cooking, washing dishes, ironing,
etc. It was a place that should always be clean and collected. But this is not the situation
we see in the work. “Scene: The kitchen in the now abandoned farmhouse of John
Wright, a gloomy kitchen, and left without having put in order - unwashed pans under
the sink, a loaf of bread outside the breadbox, a dish towel on the table - other signs of
uncompleted work. ”
The description is given at the beginning of the play and is a clear symbol of the
mood of the protagonist, Mrs. Wright: she is sad, in a state of nervousness with all her
ideas and thoughts in disorder. As Mai (2013; 16) explains “The kitchen in this drama is
a dirty and gloomy kitchen where all of the dishes and equipment are in disarray
condition. A gloomy kitchen may indicate that Minnie is sad and all are mixed together
in her mind that she is very nervous and has no idea to do anything. ”
In addition to time and place, symbolic objects appear in the work. One of them is the
rocking chair "the Rocking Chair". After killing her husband, Minnie sits in the rocking
chair and begins to rock, giving the impression that she is calm, calm, comfortable and
enjoying the moment. It is the way she escapes reality. As Mai writes (2013: 13)
“Minnie is sitting on the rocking chair because it helps her to stay comfortable for a
while because she was very frightened, so she tried to be as natural as she could by
holding her apron and pleating it while she was rocking back and forth. ”
Another of the objects that are used as symbols in the cherry preserves canister "the
Cherry Preserves". When Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find the canned cherries, the jar is
already broken. Cherries symbolize Mrs. Wright's childhood. As Mai exposes (2013: 13)
After married, Minnie felt that she could not do what she wanted to do, just like cherry that is
kept in the preserve. Because of pressure and a very low temperature, the preserve had cracked
and broken. It is just like Minnie herself. She kept her secret to do what she wanted to do. She
is certainly under pressure and the result is the cracked of Minnie's heart because of the
coldness of her marriage.
Cherries represent Minnie's youth, her strength, her joy (always singing and
laughing). After getting married, Minnie feels that she doesn't become what
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I had dreamed and like cherries preserved in a boat, she feels the same in the house.
The way out is to break the jar.
Continued with the next object, we found the quilt "the Quilt". It is one of the most
important objects because they represent the mood and situation of the protagonist. The
quilt is not finished; as Mai explains (2013: 13-14) symbolizes the fate of Minnie.
The quilt is made of patches of fabric that put together to put an enlarging square. In the
drama, the quilt does not finish yet. It symbolizes the fate of Minnie, the patches of fabric
symbolize every single information found and from that, the women found out the murder. The
fate of Minnie is still up in the air, just like the unfinished quilt.
His fate is still in the air, just like the unfinished quilt. The female characters put a lot
of emphasis on the quilt, as if seeing this one, you guessed what had happened to Mr.
Wright, Minnie. On the other hand, there is a pun, “quilt” or Knot ”(quilt or knot). When
they first find it, they don't know if it really is going to be a quilt or a knot. Again
Gaspell uses these objects as symbols of Minnie's thoughts: if it's a quilt, it means it's
unfinished, like Minnie's life; if it is a knot, it represents that the work is done and it is
not necessary to join more pieces: “MRS PETERS. She was piecing a quilt. (She brings
the large sewing basket, and they look at the bright pieces.) MRS HALE. It's log cabin
pattern. Pretty, isn't it? I wonder if she was goin 'to quilt or just knot it?
The broken cage and the dead bird are other symbolic objects that appear in the work.
These objects relate to the representation of women as a caged bird. The female
character feels trapped in her house like a bird in her cage. In this context, she refers to
Minnie's feeling about her marriage: she is trapped. But the cage is found broken and
without bird. The prison is broken and Minnie is finally free. Mai (2013: 14) explains it
this way:
When the two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters were looking for a piece of paper and string,
they found a broken birdcage. The Birdcage symbolizes Mr. Wright's treatment toward Minnie,
his coldness and harshness prevents Minnie to make a friend and socialize to other people.
Because of that, Minnie is like the bird that is trapped in the birdcage herself. She cannot do
anything she wants to do and can only concern with the matter of housekeeping. When the
birdcage firstly found by the two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, it was already in the
broken condition with no bird inside as if somebody got the bird roughly, so that it broke the
cage. It implies what just happened to Minnie's life, which she can finally out from a cold and
hard husband with a rough way too. The birdcage seems like a prison that is built by John
Wright for years to Minnie.
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However, the bird is found dead. Death or suicide were the only possible escape route
for a woman in the first feminist writings of the late nineteenth century who wanted to
escape the patriarchal domain to which she was subjected. And this concept is summed
up in a phrase that identifies the entire work “It is broken and the bird is missing”
Susan Glaspell was one of the first feminists who, through her plays, tried to
denounce the situation experienced by many women of the late nineteenth century. The
search for that identity that would give the female gender a voice in a traditionally
patriarchal society, caused many women to take to the streets to ask for a change. Thus,
in this way, feminist movements began to appear that would continue throughout the
twentieth century. Literature, and in this case, theater, was one of the weapons that these
women used to bring to light the idea that women are not just an extension of man,
submitted to him and hidden inside his house . Today we can thank these pioneers who
had the courage to begin the struggle that has changed thoughts and ideologies around
the world.
RBIBLIOGRAPHIC EFFECTS
Caird, M. The Morality of Marriage and Other Essays on the Status and Destiny of
Woman, London, George Redway, 1897, p. 72.
Carme, M. "Susan Glaspell's Trifles (1916): Women's Conspiracy of Silence beyond the
Melodrama of Beset Womanhood." Journal of North American Studies, No. 7, 2000,
pp. 55-65.
Durán, I. “End of the century and female literature”. Internet. 04-24-2016
<http://www.liceus.com/cgi-bin/aco/lit/02/20019.asp>
Glaspell, S. (1916) Trifles. New York: Frank Shay.
Lewisohn, L. "About Susan Glaspell." The International Susan Glaspell Society. The
International Susan Glaspell Society, nd Internet, 04-18-2016
<http://lit216.pbworks.com/w/page/75920087/Susan%20Glaspell>
Mai, S. "A Study of Symbols in Susan Glaspell's Trifles", Diglossia, Jurnal Kajian
Ilmiah Kebahasaan dan Kesusastraan diterbitkan oleh Fakultas Bahasa dan Sastra
Unipdu, vol. 5, nº 1, September 2013. Internet 03-30-
2016http://www.journal.unipdu.ac.id/index.php/diglosia/article/view/316/283
International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625
eleve
n
Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1-
12
Martínez, L. Decadentismo and Misoginia: mythical visions of the woman of the end of
the century. Internet. 03-17-2016.
<http://pendientedemigracion.ucm.es/info/amaltea/documentos/ seminar20 / Sem
100324_Decadentismo_Victorio.pdf>
Oziebo, B. "Breaking barriers: Susan Glaspell and the American theater." Asparkia
electronic magazine, 23; 2012, 15-32. Internet. 04-15-2016 <http://www.e-
revistes.uji.es/index.php/asparkia/article/view/568>
Peterson, J. (1984) "No Angels in the House: the Victorian Myth and the Paget Women".
In The American Historical Review, vol. 89, nº 3, June 1984, pp. 677-708. Oxford
University Press, pp. 678-679.
Sau, U. "Feminist Ideological Dictionary". Ed. Icaria, Barcelona, 1981, p. 106. Simón
Hernández, F. “The feminization of the domestic space in literature. The play
Trifles by Susan Glaspell. ”ESSAYOS, Journal of the Faculty of Education of
Albacete, 30 (1). 2015, pp. Internet. 04-04-2016 <http://www.revista.uclm.es/index.
php / essays>
Showalter, E., “Toward a Feminist Poetics” in Women's Writing and Writing about
Women, London: Croom Helm, 1979, pp. 34-36.
International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 12

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Casero osorio elisam.es.en

  • 1. NEW WOMAN AND THEATER AT SUSAN GLASPELL'S WORK: TRIFLES NEW WOMAN AND THEATER IN THE SUSAN GLASPELL'S WRITINGS: TRIFLES Elisa María Casero Osorio UNED SUMMARY Through the different literary genres, nineteenth-century writers wanted to make known a new woman, who broke the feminine role imposed by a patriarchal society. Susan Glaspell was one of them: playwright, actress, novelist and journalist, her first play, Trifles, is considered a masterpiece by the first feminists whose argument revolves around a murder and the symbolic figure of women like the bird caged Keywords: new woman, theater, feminist, patriarchal. ABSTRACT Through various literary genres, writers in the 19th century wanted to make known a new woman, who broke with the female role imposed by a patriarchal society. Susan Glaspell was one of them: playwright, actress, novelist and journalist, her first play, Trifles, is seen as masterpiece by early feminists whose plot deal with a murder and the symbolic figure of the woman as the caged bird. Keywords: new woman, theater, feminist, patriarchal. Over the last centuries, important female figures have appeared that have somehow marked the starting point of a movement (social, literary, etc.) or simply contributed significantly to a part of the story. Women's. This work focuses on one of them, Susan Glaspell and her work Trifles, who was part of the change that occurred in the way of thinking of women and their situation in American society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in that the figure of a new woman, known today as the New Woman, emerged in an attempt to combat the role imposed by a patriarchal society on women, and break with everything that represented the ideal of a female model.
  • 2. Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1- 12 1. LA NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETY OFTHE END OF THE CENTURYXIX. ANDL ROLE OFTHE WOMAN. In the nineteenth century there was a significant change in the lives of women. Until now, society was qualified with the Victorian term, which although it has its origin in the British context, can also be applied in other European countries and in the United States. As Martínez (2010: 3) explains, the Victorian term It refers to modern societies that emerged throughout the nineteenth century, characterized by the symbiosis between the values of enlightenment and the values of puritanism or Protestantism, and in which the capitalist system theoretically conceived by Adam Smith was consolidated. It is, therefore, societies whose hegemonic social class is the bourgeoisie and which are distinguished by faith in progress and by great advances in all imaginable fields: technological, health, scientific, political, etc. But despite the great advances of this end of the century, the female figure continued to maintain a secondary place in society. Known as an angel of the home, his role was a good wife and mother, innocent, naive and passive, always needing help in matters outside the domestic sphere, and whose sexuality was restricted to procreation. Remember the Victorian saying “it's a man world; woman place is the home ”(it is a world of men; the place of women is home). In this society the male and female role were separated. In her youth, the woman should always be accompanied by her father or siblings; once married, by her husband. As a wife, I owed him continued obedience and adoration. The vision of women in Victorian thought is well explained in words is Caird (1897: 72), in his article "Marriage": … We may say that woman originally became the property of man by right of capture; now the wife is his by right of law […] There was a struggle for supremacy between the sexes, and in early literature this struggle is evident, as well as the sentiment that women are all evil creatures, thirsting for unholy power, and must be resisted by all good and valiant men. (Caird, 1897, p. 72) On the other hand, at this end of the century the figure of the New Woman or new woman also appears. It represents a female stereotype very different from the Victorian woman. As Martínez (2010: 4) well defines, this type of woman “represents the emerging social reality of a woman with a certain economic capacity, almost always belonging to the bourgeoisie, determined to rebel from within the system and claim her status as a real woman against the myths of patriarchal society. ” International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 two
  • 3. Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1- 12 The term new woman, also called novissima, new woman, odd woman, wild woman, or superfluos woman, first appeared in an article published in the North American Review in May 1894. Its author, Sarah Grand, was a feminist writer who defended equality between men and women and talked about the responsibilities of middle class women for their nation. This new woman was educated, had received an education. He was not dependent on any man, was economically independent and often lived on his salary. In short, it describes a generation of women, young and, at first, middle class, who reacted against the patriarchal system characteristic of the time.1 2. MFEMINIST OVIMENT We could say that the appearance of this new woman is linked to the feminist movements that emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Victoria Sau (1981: 106), Spanish writer and psychologist, defines feminism as Feminism is a social and political movement that formally begins at the end of the 18th century and that implies the awareness of women as a group or human collective, of the oppression, domination and exploitation of which they have been and are the object of group of men in the bosom of the patriarchate under their different historical phases of the production model, which moves them into action for the liberation of their sex with all the transformations of society that it requires. At the beginning of the XX a new feminist thought appeared in the United States that followed the model of the English movement that fought for women's rights, a struggle that had begun in the previous century. Thousands of women struggled to get fairer laws for them related to divorce or child custody, education, the right to vote or political participation. In this way the suffrage movement appeared whose objectives were to obtain the approval of the female vote, the improvement of education, professional training and the opening of new work horizons, in addition to the comparison of sexes in the family. To achieve this, the suffragists appealed, among other things, to hunger strikes. At the end of the First World War, women over 30 achieved their right to vote; 1Information obtained from Dr. Isabel Durán Giménez-Rico, professor and director of the Department of English Philology II, at the Complutense University of Madrid. Define the term "new woman", woman of the late nineteenth century in the US. International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 3
  • 4. Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1- 12 passed the law with which the right to vote was extended to all women of legal age. That search for sexual equality within marriage or work led women writers to represent in their works female protagonists who showed the model of women of the time: a woman who owed supreme obedience and submission to the masculine, always considered as a girl , a fragile and delicate woman, that was due to her house, her husband and her children, but that, in turn, with certain nuances that showed us the need of these women to find their own identity, outside the patriarchal yoke to which They were subdued. In feminist literature, the end of these characters who seek the liberation of the male patriarch will be death or madness, an unthinkable end in previous literature. 3. LFEMINIST ITERATURE Returning to literature, during the nineteenth century we found a literature mainly written by men. It is characterized by realism, in an attempt to discover the transcendent senses of reality. Investigate the deep meaning of the sensations that the individual experiences. But it is also at the end of this century when a new literature called feminist emerges. This feminist literature was characterized by representing all those writers who tried to achieve equality for women. As the critic Elaine Showalter defines in her essay "Toward a Feminist Poetics", the history of women's literature can be divided into three phases: a first phase called feminine literature and that would cover from 1840 to 1880 where “women wrote in an effort to equal to intellectual achievements of the male culture, and internalized its assumptions about female nature” (Showalter, 1979, 34-36) A second period it would be established between 1880 and 1920, called feminist literature where, according to Showalter, “women are historically enabled to reject the accommodating postures of femininity and to use literature to dramatize the ordeals of wronged womanhood” (Showalter, 1979, 34-36); and a third and final phase called women's literature that begins in 1920 where the writer no longer cares about reflecting the way of life of women in society or claiming anything since the change has already begun. They write freely. As Showalter says and internalized its assumptions about female nature ”(Showalter, 1979, 34-36) A second period would be established between 1880 and 1920, called feminist literature where, according to Showalter,“ women are historically enabled to reject the accommodating postures of femininity and to use literature to dramatize the ordeals of wronged womanhood ”(Showalter, 1979, 34-36); and a third and final phase called women's literature that begins in 1920 where the writer no longer cares about reflecting the way of life of women in society or claiming anything since the change has already begun. They write freely. As Showalter says and
  • 5. internalized its assumptions about female nature ”(Showalter, 1979, 34-36) A second period would be established between 1880 and 1920, called feminist literature where, according to Showalter,“ women are historically enabled to reject the accommodating postures of femininity and to use literature to dramatize the ordeals of wronged womanhood ”(Showalter, 1979, 34-36); and a third and final phase called women's literature that begins in 1920 where the writer no longer cares about reflecting the way of life of women in society or claiming anything since the change has already begun. They write freely. As Showalter says according to Showalter “women are historically enabled to reject the accommodating postures of femininity and to use literature to dramatize the ordeals of wronged womanhood” (Showalter, 1979, 34-36); and a third and final phase called women's literature that begins in 1920 where the writer no longer cares about reflecting the way of life of women in society or claiming anything since the change has already begun. They write freely. As Showalter says according to Showalter “women are historically enabled to reject the accommodating postures of femininity and to use literature to dramatize the ordeals of wronged womanhood” (Showalter, 1979, 34- 36); and a third and final phase called women's literature that begins in 1920 where the writer no longer cares about reflecting the way of life of women in society or claiming anything since the change has already begun. They write freely. As Showalter says They write freely. As Showalter says They write freely. As Showalter says International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 4
  • 6. Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1- 12 “Women reject both imitation and protest-two forms of dependency- and turn instead to female experience as the source of an autonomous art, extending the feminist analysis of culture to the forms and techniques of literature” (Showalter, 1979, 34-36) Feminist literature tries to break the vision of women as guardian of the home, a symbol of sacrifice and self-denial. Many were the writers, among them we find Kate Chopin, Alice James, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather or Susan Glaspell. 4. SUse GLASPELL Susan Glaspell was born in Davenport, Iowa in 1882. She was a famous drama and fiction writer who published about fifty short stories, about fourteen novels and a biography. He went to Drake University in Des Moines, graduating in June 1899. His early years he worked as a reporter for Des Moines Daily News. In 1901 he decided to return to Davenport to write. She had already published a large number of short stories in Youth's Companian and many of them were accepted by more sophisticated magazines such as Harpers, Leslie's, The American and others. In 1915, together with her husband George Cook they founded The Provincetown Players in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It consisted of a small theater to promote American playwrights. Some of the writers who were part were Eugene O'Neill and Edna St. Vincent Mellay. His work is very versatile, from realism in works such as Trifles (1916) or Inheritors (1921), satirical comedies such as Woman's Honor (1918) and Suppressed Desires, or expressionism in his great work The Verge (1921). His story "For Love of the Hills" received the Black Cat award in 1904. Although not always understood by critics, his work as a playwright was highly respected as summarized by critic Ludwig Lewisohn in 1922: This power of creating human speech which shall be at once concrete and significant, convincing in detail and spiritually cumulative in progression is, of course, the essential gift of the authentic dramatist. That gift Miss Glaspell always possessed in measure, she has now brought it to a rich and effective maturity. He won the Pulitzer with Alison's House, a novel based on the life and family of Emily Dickinson. International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 5
  • 7. Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1- 12 His first play was performed in Provincetown in July 1915: Suppressed Desire. Written with her husband, George Cook, narrates her protagonist's obsession with the interpretation of dreams, especially those of her husband and sister. In the words of Ozieblo (2012: 17), the authors wrote the work “expressing on paper a dialogue in which they entertained a winter night, laughing at the obsession with the psychoanalysis of their friends in Greenwich Village who bombarded you with their complexes every time they crossed with you on the street ” 5. TRIFLES Trifles - or Menudenos- was the one-act play by Susan Glaspell that has been translated and represented more times, especially by students and small theaters. She was first represented on August 8, 1916 at the Wharf Theater, in Provincetown. It was based on a case he had covered in 1900 when he worked as a reporter for the Des Moines News. A woman had killed her husband while she slept and was in jail. After several investigations he came to understand why he had done it. This murder made Glaspell realize the multitude of women who suffered abuse and the few exits they had. There are no photos or descriptions of the premiere of this work. Glaspell ceded the rights to the Washington Square Players, so he was re-represented in November 1916. The argument revolves around the frustrated attempt of the Sheriff to solve the mystery of the murder of Mr. Wright, husband of Minnie, who is in jail as the alleged author of the crime. While men investigate the house, women, that is, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters (Sheriff's wife), remain waiting in the kitchen. Mrs. Peters has to pick up some things for Mrs. Wright. Both discover clues that allow them to know the motive of the crime and, therefore, to know who committed it. The scene begins in a simple kitchen, somewhat messy, with unwashed pots and half- baked bread. The prosecutor and the sheriff question Mr. Hale who was the one who notified the authorities of Mr. Wright's death. The day before he approached the farm to speak with the deceased. Upon entering, Mrs. Wright was found in the kitchen rocking chair and when asking about her husband, she replied that she was in the house but could not receive it because she was dead, that she had dawned with a rope around her neck. He then notified the authorities. Next, the two men International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 6
  • 8. Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1- 12 they leave and the two ladies begin to observe and comment on what Mrs. Wright was doing before she was taken away. And they are the ones who, through the small trifles of the daily work, realize what had happened. Mrs. Hale comments on how cheerful and friendly the detainee was before getting married and what she liked to sing. She had not seen Mr. Wright for over a year and was not approaching her neighbors' house because she was sad and Mr. Wright was not pleasant at all. Placing a little they discover that Mrs. Wright was making a quilt and how the points at first perfect, become very badly made. Unconsciously, Mrs. Hale undoes the points. In a corner of the kitchen they discover a bird cage with the broken door. They think he had a bird and that a cat would have taken it. Then, looking for scissors to fix the quilt, they find a very pretty box. When they open it, they find the bird with a twisted neck, wrapped in a cloth. Strangled as the murdered. The men enter and they hide the box. They decide not to tell anything. 6. SYMBOLIC ELEMENTS The play is presented in the purest detective style. As I mentioned before, it was based on a case that the author had covered in 1900 when she worked as a reporter for the Des Moines News, in which a woman had murdered her husband for no apparent reason. After several investigations, she came to understand the reason for the murder and in some way, to understand the defendant's action. From the beginning of the work to the end, we can see that the main character, around which the whole plot revolves, Mrs. Wright, is an absent character. This strategy used by its author pushes us to relate the situation of the protagonist with the role of woman at the end of the century: typical of the Victorian tradition, the female figure plays a secondary role in society. His mission is to be a wife and mother and take care of his house. It has no voice or identity. And this is exactly what we see in Glaspell's work: Mrs. Wright is accused of murder but, at no time, throughout history, does she appear or speak to defend herself. It is the male characters who must decide whether he is guilty or not. The behavior of male and female characters is also a symbol of the different stereotypes that each sex has in society. As Simon (2015: 166) explains International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 7
  • 9. Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1- 12 Trifles It raises the differences in behavior between male and female characters in relation to the crime that a woman allegedly commits against her husband. But these differences revolve around the way in which men and women function in the home of John Wright and his wife [...] from the separation of the work space from home, it will be seen as "women's things" , where they will be the “queens of the home”, a key process to understand their domestication. This link to the home is determined by the patriarchy, its authority and influence reaches as far as that of her husband, due to the secondary level to which the woman in the hierarchy of sexes is relegated. It is possible to perfectly relate this representation of the protagonist in the play with the Victorian woman, angel of the home, without another role in society being a housewife, attentive wife and mother. As Simón (2015: 167) explains, “On the other hand, the figure of women, in addition to being in the background, remains isolated within that framework that constitutes homes. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters do not leave the kitchen throughout the work. ” As explained above, a woman has no voice if it is not that of her husband, father or siblings. Your actions or thoughts are not important. This idea is clearly exemplified in the work, in the words of the sheriff, first, and those of Mr. Hale, below: “SHERIFF. Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worrin 'about her reserves. [...] HALE. Well, women are used to worrying over trifles. ” Even women think like men, a clear example of how this role of women subject to the masculine gender is more than assumed: “MRS. HALE (resentfully) I don't know as there's anything so strange, our takin 'up our time with little things while we're waiting for them to get the evidence. MRS PETERS (apologetically) Of course they've got awful important things on their minds. ” Throughout the work, Gaspell uses a multitude of symbols hidden in actions, names or objects, among others. To begin, I will talk about place and time. The plot takes place in winter, a cold winter: “SHERIFF (looking about) It's just the same. When it dropped below zero last night, I thought I'd better send frank out this morning to make a fire for us - don't use getting pneumonia with a big case on. ” The winter season is a season where trees lose their leaves and die, the cold freezes the vegetation, symbol of Mr. Wright's icy heart that, like this time, dies. As Mai (2013: 15,16) explains “The setting of the play happens in winter. In winter, the weather turns so cold; the tree lost their leaves and sometimes died. The season often deals with death. In this drama, the setting is in winter and there are some character die, they are John Wright and the bird. ” International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 8
  • 10. Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1- 12 The only act of the play is represented in a single scenario: the kitchen. The characteristics of the kitchen are very concrete: it is dirty, messy, with dishes in the sink and dirty towels. The nineteenth-century woman was in charge of caring for the house. The kitchen was the place where I spent more time, cooking, washing dishes, ironing, etc. It was a place that should always be clean and collected. But this is not the situation we see in the work. “Scene: The kitchen in the now abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, a gloomy kitchen, and left without having put in order - unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the breadbox, a dish towel on the table - other signs of uncompleted work. ” The description is given at the beginning of the play and is a clear symbol of the mood of the protagonist, Mrs. Wright: she is sad, in a state of nervousness with all her ideas and thoughts in disorder. As Mai (2013; 16) explains “The kitchen in this drama is a dirty and gloomy kitchen where all of the dishes and equipment are in disarray condition. A gloomy kitchen may indicate that Minnie is sad and all are mixed together in her mind that she is very nervous and has no idea to do anything. ” In addition to time and place, symbolic objects appear in the work. One of them is the rocking chair "the Rocking Chair". After killing her husband, Minnie sits in the rocking chair and begins to rock, giving the impression that she is calm, calm, comfortable and enjoying the moment. It is the way she escapes reality. As Mai writes (2013: 13) “Minnie is sitting on the rocking chair because it helps her to stay comfortable for a while because she was very frightened, so she tried to be as natural as she could by holding her apron and pleating it while she was rocking back and forth. ” Another of the objects that are used as symbols in the cherry preserves canister "the Cherry Preserves". When Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find the canned cherries, the jar is already broken. Cherries symbolize Mrs. Wright's childhood. As Mai exposes (2013: 13) After married, Minnie felt that she could not do what she wanted to do, just like cherry that is kept in the preserve. Because of pressure and a very low temperature, the preserve had cracked and broken. It is just like Minnie herself. She kept her secret to do what she wanted to do. She is certainly under pressure and the result is the cracked of Minnie's heart because of the coldness of her marriage. Cherries represent Minnie's youth, her strength, her joy (always singing and laughing). After getting married, Minnie feels that she doesn't become what International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 9
  • 11. Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1- 12 I had dreamed and like cherries preserved in a boat, she feels the same in the house. The way out is to break the jar. Continued with the next object, we found the quilt "the Quilt". It is one of the most important objects because they represent the mood and situation of the protagonist. The quilt is not finished; as Mai explains (2013: 13-14) symbolizes the fate of Minnie. The quilt is made of patches of fabric that put together to put an enlarging square. In the drama, the quilt does not finish yet. It symbolizes the fate of Minnie, the patches of fabric symbolize every single information found and from that, the women found out the murder. The fate of Minnie is still up in the air, just like the unfinished quilt. His fate is still in the air, just like the unfinished quilt. The female characters put a lot of emphasis on the quilt, as if seeing this one, you guessed what had happened to Mr. Wright, Minnie. On the other hand, there is a pun, “quilt” or Knot ”(quilt or knot). When they first find it, they don't know if it really is going to be a quilt or a knot. Again Gaspell uses these objects as symbols of Minnie's thoughts: if it's a quilt, it means it's unfinished, like Minnie's life; if it is a knot, it represents that the work is done and it is not necessary to join more pieces: “MRS PETERS. She was piecing a quilt. (She brings the large sewing basket, and they look at the bright pieces.) MRS HALE. It's log cabin pattern. Pretty, isn't it? I wonder if she was goin 'to quilt or just knot it? The broken cage and the dead bird are other symbolic objects that appear in the work. These objects relate to the representation of women as a caged bird. The female character feels trapped in her house like a bird in her cage. In this context, she refers to Minnie's feeling about her marriage: she is trapped. But the cage is found broken and without bird. The prison is broken and Minnie is finally free. Mai (2013: 14) explains it this way: When the two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters were looking for a piece of paper and string, they found a broken birdcage. The Birdcage symbolizes Mr. Wright's treatment toward Minnie, his coldness and harshness prevents Minnie to make a friend and socialize to other people. Because of that, Minnie is like the bird that is trapped in the birdcage herself. She cannot do anything she wants to do and can only concern with the matter of housekeeping. When the birdcage firstly found by the two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, it was already in the broken condition with no bird inside as if somebody got the bird roughly, so that it broke the cage. It implies what just happened to Minnie's life, which she can finally out from a cold and hard husband with a rough way too. The birdcage seems like a prison that is built by John Wright for years to Minnie. International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 10
  • 12. Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1- 12 However, the bird is found dead. Death or suicide were the only possible escape route for a woman in the first feminist writings of the late nineteenth century who wanted to escape the patriarchal domain to which she was subjected. And this concept is summed up in a phrase that identifies the entire work “It is broken and the bird is missing” Susan Glaspell was one of the first feminists who, through her plays, tried to denounce the situation experienced by many women of the late nineteenth century. The search for that identity that would give the female gender a voice in a traditionally patriarchal society, caused many women to take to the streets to ask for a change. Thus, in this way, feminist movements began to appear that would continue throughout the twentieth century. Literature, and in this case, theater, was one of the weapons that these women used to bring to light the idea that women are not just an extension of man, submitted to him and hidden inside his house . Today we can thank these pioneers who had the courage to begin the struggle that has changed thoughts and ideologies around the world. RBIBLIOGRAPHIC EFFECTS Caird, M. The Morality of Marriage and Other Essays on the Status and Destiny of Woman, London, George Redway, 1897, p. 72. Carme, M. "Susan Glaspell's Trifles (1916): Women's Conspiracy of Silence beyond the Melodrama of Beset Womanhood." Journal of North American Studies, No. 7, 2000, pp. 55-65. Durán, I. “End of the century and female literature”. Internet. 04-24-2016 <http://www.liceus.com/cgi-bin/aco/lit/02/20019.asp> Glaspell, S. (1916) Trifles. New York: Frank Shay. Lewisohn, L. "About Susan Glaspell." The International Susan Glaspell Society. The International Susan Glaspell Society, nd Internet, 04-18-2016 <http://lit216.pbworks.com/w/page/75920087/Susan%20Glaspell> Mai, S. "A Study of Symbols in Susan Glaspell's Trifles", Diglossia, Jurnal Kajian Ilmiah Kebahasaan dan Kesusastraan diterbitkan oleh Fakultas Bahasa dan Sastra Unipdu, vol. 5, nº 1, September 2013. Internet 03-30- 2016http://www.journal.unipdu.ac.id/index.php/diglosia/article/view/316/283 International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 eleve n
  • 13. Elisa María Casero Osorio New Woman and theater in the work of Susan Glaspell: Trifles, pp. 1- 12 Martínez, L. Decadentismo and Misoginia: mythical visions of the woman of the end of the century. Internet. 03-17-2016. <http://pendientedemigracion.ucm.es/info/amaltea/documentos/ seminar20 / Sem 100324_Decadentismo_Victorio.pdf> Oziebo, B. "Breaking barriers: Susan Glaspell and the American theater." Asparkia electronic magazine, 23; 2012, 15-32. Internet. 04-15-2016 <http://www.e- revistes.uji.es/index.php/asparkia/article/view/568> Peterson, J. (1984) "No Angels in the House: the Victorian Myth and the Paget Women". In The American Historical Review, vol. 89, nº 3, June 1984, pp. 677-708. Oxford University Press, pp. 678-679. Sau, U. "Feminist Ideological Dictionary". Ed. Icaria, Barcelona, 1981, p. 106. Simón Hernández, F. “The feminization of the domestic space in literature. The play Trifles by Susan Glaspell. ”ESSAYOS, Journal of the Faculty of Education of Albacete, 30 (1). 2015, pp. Internet. 04-04-2016 <http://www.revista.uclm.es/index. php / essays> Showalter, E., “Toward a Feminist Poetics” in Women's Writing and Writing about Women, London: Croom Helm, 1979, pp. 34-36.
  • 14. International Journal of Cultures & Literatures, 2016, ISSN: 1885-3625 12