Judging the Relationships of Others

Our topic for this week’s blog is judging the relationships of others.  This idea is very important in Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles.  The characters in this play come to many of their conclusions based mainly off of their perceptions of the relationships between other characters. 

The play opens on the county attorney, the sheriff, and Hale discussing the relationship between John and Minnie Wright.  Hale says that “I guess you know about how much he talked himself; but I thought maybe if I went to the house and talked about it before his wife, though I said to Harry that I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John” (1126).  Hale had already formed his own opinion on what John and Minnie Wright’s relationship was like and what they thought of each other. 

Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale also make judgements about the relationship between John and Minnie Wright.  They quickly decide that the Wrights’ marriage was not a happy one.  These women have no way of knowing what exactly the Wrights’ relationship was like; however, they determine that John Wright treated Minnie Wright poorly and crushed the lively spirit that she had when she was a young woman.