Play vs. Story

Rubie Beltrán

Prof. Cynthia Pittmann 

Intermediate English 3104-134

8 May 2018

Play Vs. Story  

My first impression while comparing Trifles and A Jury Of Her Peers written by Susan Glaspell was that there wasn’t much of a difference plot wise. The structure of both play and story stayed in the perimeters of taking action in one place. The setting was developed inside the farmhouse of the deceased John Wright where they were investigating his sudden death by a rope around his neck. It was suggested by George Henderson (county attorney) and Henry Peters (sheriff) that Wright’s wife, Minnie Fosters was the perpetuator of the crime, yet they never find the means to truly make her the murderer. While the county attorney and the sheriff were investigating themselves, their wives, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale were collecting their own evidence, and what they found was the truth.

Inevitably, the play has a different type of structure in comparison to the story, the play is divided by the character’s individual line which can make a reader question more about what’s happening with each individual character, while the story focuses more on describing characters feelings or motives, there is much more description to help the reader understand where the characters are coming from and what the plot is about. I think both play and story have effective ways of making the situation interesting for the reader to keep on reading until the very end, the fact that the woman were being overestimated by their fellow men was the most empowering thing to read. To me it just shows how much men have oppressed and devaluated woman through decades. My favorite part of the play and story was the foreshadowing of Mrs. Hale’s and Mrs. Peters when they suggested to the men that Minnie Fosters had actually done the crime or that she wasn’t really happy living with Mr. Wright. They said things like “Mens hand aren’t always as clean as they might be.” (572). and when they would look at each other, like they knew everything that was going on without even having to say it directly, “There was a moment when they held each other in a steady, burning look in which there was no evasion nor flinching.”(581).  Even though I believe that both structures of play vs. story are very effective, I cannot help but to be biased by choosing the story version of “Trifles”. I think the major reason why I am so inclined to the story version is because I love detail and character development. The story gave you more details into the characters and the relationship of these. For example, the sudden “friendship” between Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. They started out as people who simply knew about each other, to conspiring camaraderies in a secret that they clearly never wanted to be discovered. Their siding with Minnie Fosters was enlightening to read about because woman are taught to fight and compete against each other, but here is completely different.

As for character development, I really like Mrs. Peters development during the story. She started out as this very shy soft spoken woman, the wife of a sheriff. “She was small and thin and didn’t have a strong voice.” (568). This description of  Mrs. Peters was at the very beginning, giving us the image that she wouldn’t really be a key character to the story, but I liked how her character smoothly took a turn from seeming small to brave and firm. I believe the triggering factor of her change was when county attorney teased her saying that she was “married to the law.” Later on the two women decide to clean and not leave any evidence behind for them to find. “For a moment Mrs. Peters did not move. And then she did it. With a rush forward, she threw back the quilt pieces, got the box, tried to put in her handbag.” (581).

In conclusion even though I did like both structures, for me the most effective one was the story. Characters to me are very important in a story, they can make or brake it even in my opinion. Yet Susan Glaspell knew how to perfectly convey her characters through her short story as she described them and developed their relationships, specially the woman, who were phenomenal. 

Works Cited 

Glaspell, Susan. “A Jury of Her Peers.” Literature for Composition, 11th ed., edited by  

               Sylvan Barnet et al, Pearson, 2017, pp. 567-81.

- - - Trifles. Literature for Composition, 11th ed., edited by Sylvan Barnet et al, Pearson, 
   

                   2017, pp. 558-67.