Trifles Play Summary

The play kicks off with stage directions that give us the lowdown on John Wright's farmhouse.
(This place probably wouldn't be anybody's first pick on House Hunters.)
All we can see onstage is the "gloomy kitchen," which is full of signs of "incompleted work," like unwashed dishes, a random loaf of bread sitting outside of the breadbox, and a dishtowel sitting out on the counter (1).
(Hmm, this place kind of sounds like the house you'd rent with friends during your sophomore year of college.)
Okay: time for some characters.
First to enter is the Sheriff, who's followed by the County Attorney and Hale.
We're told that the Sheriff and the Hale are middle aged, but the County Attorney is a young buck.
All three men are bundled up against the cold and go immediately to the kitchen stove to warm up.
Next to enter is the Sheriff's wife, Mrs. Peters, who's described as wiry and nervous.
Last to make her appearance is Mrs. Hale, who it's probably safe to assume is the wife of Hale.
We're told that Mrs. Hale is larger than Mrs. Peters and that normally people would describe her as "more comfortable looking" than the other woman, but for some reason Mrs. Hale looks kind of freaked out right now (1).
(We're guessing it's more than that moldy bread.)
The County Attorney invites the ladies to join the men by the fire.
Mrs. Peters takes a step towards the stove, but then decides she's not cold.
(Make up your mind, already.)
The County Attorney asks Hale to confirm whether anything has been moved in the house.
Hale says he just had some dude named Frank come over and make a fire that morning since it dropped below freezing last night.
The County Attorney chides the Sheriff, saying that somebody should've been left at the house yesterday.
The Sheriff makes an excuse about some guy going crazy and being really busy.
The County Attorney and asks Hale to tell him everything he saw when he entered the house the morning before.
So Hale starts filling us in on the deets.
He dropped by to see if John Wright wanted to go in with him on a party telephone.
(This is telephone that people shared back in the day, not that people had parties with telephones.)
Hale mentions that he'd tried to get Wright to do this before.
Wright had blown him off, though, saying that people talked too much and all he wanted was peace and quiet.
(Seems like Wright was really not the guy to go in with on a party telephone.)
Hale starts to say that he hoped Wright might budge on getting the phone if Hale brought up the subject in front of Mrs. Wright, but then he admits that Wright never really paid attention to what his wife said anyway.
The County Attorney cuts off Hale, telling him they'll talk about the wife stuff later.
So Hale keeps dishing out the exposition.
He tells us that everything was quiet when he knocked on the door, and when he came in he found Mrs. Wright rocking in the rocking chair.
Everybody looks at the rocking chair he's talking about.
According to Hale, Mrs. Wright was just kind of weirdly rocking back and forth in her chair and pleating her apron.
The County Attorney asks Hale how Mrs. Wright seemed to feel about Hale being there.
Apparently, she was didn't seem to really care.
Hale tried to point out that it was cold, but Mrs. Wright didn't seem to have noticed.
When Hale asked if he could see John, Mrs. Wright kind of laughed and said no.
Confused, Hale asked if John was home, and Mrs. Wright says yes.
Even more confused, Hale asks why he can't see John then.
To which Mrs. Wright calmly replies that John was upstairs dead.
(Whoa.)
After some more questioning, the unconcerned widow tells Hale that her husband died of a rope around the neck.
She said she wasn't sure how it happened.
She was asleep, and she's a really sound sleeper.
Hale got some dude named Harry, and they checked out Wright's body.
They decided to leave it there, though, and let Mrs. Wright tell her (more than a little suspicious) story to the authorities.
While they're waiting for the coroner to come, Hale tries to make conversation with Mrs. Wright and tells her that he'd come to talk to her husband about getting a party telephone.
To that, she suddenly laughs and then looked suddenly scared.
(Yeah, not suspicious at all.)
Hale says that then Harry, the coroner, and the Sheriff showed up, so everybody knows what happened after that.
The County Attorney says that they ought to investigate upstairs first and then the barn.
He asks the Sheriff if he's sure there's no evidence in the kitchen.
The Sheriff says, "Nah, there's nothing here but kitchen stuff."
The County Attorney scopes out the kitchen and opens a cabinet, which turns out to be filled with a bunch of sticky goop.
Mrs. Peters solves the mystery of the goop, saying that Mrs. Wright's jars of preserves burst over night because it got freezing cold in the house.
Apparently, Mrs. Wright told Mrs. Peters that she was worried this might happen.
The Sheriff laughs and implies that Mrs. Wright is his idea of a typical woman—"Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves" (30).
The County Attorney points out that she might have way more serious things to worry about soon.
Hale pipes in, pointing out that women only ever worry about "trifles" (32).
(Title alert!)
The County Attorney tries to sound chivalrous and points out how men need ladies for all kinds of things (though it's pretty clear these things mostly involve the kitchen in his mind).
Next, Mr. Chivalry tries to wash his hands.
He gets freaked out by Mrs. Wright's dirty towels and accuses her of being a bad housekeeper.
Mrs. Hale comes to Mrs. Wright's defense a bit and says that there's a lot to do on a farm.
The County Attorney shrugs her off, though, saying that there are plenty of farmhouses in the county that aren't plagued with dirty towels.
Not having it, Mrs. Hale replies that men's hands are super dirty.
The County Attorney suggests that Mrs. Hale is loyal to Mrs. Wright because they're both women.
He also says that Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Hale were neighbors and asks if the two ladies were friends.
Mrs. Hale admits that she hasn't hung out with Mrs. Wright in a while; in fact, she hasn't been inside this house for a year.
She also adds that this place has always been kind of gloomy.
The County Attorney thinks this is because Mrs. Wright is such a sub-par housekeeper.
Mrs. Hale replies that Mr. Wright didn't make the place all that cheerful either.
The Attorney quizzes Mrs. Hale on whether the Wrights got along, but Mrs. Hale kind of dodges the question.
Now the men folk decide to investigate the upstairs bedroom and leave the women folk to gather a few woman things for Mrs. Wright in jail.
Mrs. Hale gripes to Mrs. Peters that she'd hate to have men nosing around her kitchen and criticizing things.
Mrs. Peters says the men are just doing their duty.
Checking out the dirty towel, Mrs. Hale replies that it was probably that dude they sent to start the fire that got the towel so dirty.
Mrs. Hale inspects the sticky goop in the cabinet and says she feels super bad to see all of Mrs. Wright's work on the preserves go to waste.
She thinks about all the work she put into jarring her own cherries last summer.
Distracted, she starts to sit in the rocking chair, but then remembers whose it is and takes a step back.
The chair rocks all creepily from where Mrs. Hale touched it.
Mrs. Peters goes to get some clothes for Mrs. Wright, and Mrs. Hale helps her out.
They reenter the kitchen carrying a dress, skirt, and shoes.
Mrs. Hale talks about how Mrs. Wright didn't really have any friends, adding that Mrs. Wright wasn't even a member of the Ladies Aid.
(Oh, my!)
According to Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Wright used to be the life of the party back in the day.
Mrs. Wright used to wear lots of pretty clothes and sang in the choir back when she was Minnie Foster (meaning before she got hitched).
Mrs. Hale asks Mrs. Peters if these clothes were all Mrs. Wright asked to be brought to her in jail.
Mrs. Peters replies that Mrs. Wright also wanted an apron, and Peters points out that it's weird that Wright would want an apron in jail.
All sketchy like, Mrs. Hale suddenly shuts the door to upstairs and asks Mrs. Peters if she thinks Mrs. Wright did it.
Mrs. Peters isn't sure, but says the menfolk definitely seem to think Mrs. Wright is guilty.
(Gee, where'd they get that idea?)
Mr. Henderson (the County Attorney) thinks the whole thing about Mrs. Wright sleeping through her husband's strangulation is ridiculous.
Mrs. Hale thinks it's weird that Mr. Wright evidentially slept through somebody putting a rope around his neck.
Both women agree it was an odd way to kill somebody, especially when there was a gun in the house.
Mrs. Peters says that the only thing Mr. Henderson is missing is a motive.
He needs some proof that there was some kind of sudden anger or feeling.
They try to clean the kitchen a bit.
Mrs. Hale declares that it seems a little sneaky for the men to be poking about Mrs. Wright's house while she's locked up in town.
Well, it's sort of their duty, says Mrs. Peters.
Mrs. Peters finds the pieces of a quilt that Mrs. Wright was working on, and the ladies wonder whether Mrs. Wright was going to quilt it or knot it.
Just then, the Sheriff walks in and laughs at the women for worrying about woman stuff like quilts.
After their brief sexist interlude, the men head out to investigate the barn.
Mrs. Hale is annoyed that the Sheriff made fun of them, but Mrs. Peters apologetically points out that her husband and the other men have important things on their minds.
So turning her mind to woman stuff, Mrs. Hale checks out the pieces of the quilt.
One piece catches her eye because it's sewn terribly while all the others are totally fine.
The ladies figure that Mrs. Wright must've been really upset or nervous about something.
This clicks with them both, and they give each other a look that says, "Uh oh, does this show that whole "sudden feeling" thing the Attorney is looking for?"
They don't say this out loud though, and Mrs. Hale starts to fix Mrs. Wright's nervous sewing.
Mrs. Peters reminds Mrs. Hale that they probably shouldn't change anything, but Mrs. Hale makes the excuse that she just can't stand to see sloppy sewing.
We get our next clue, when Mrs. Peters finds an empty birdcage in the cupboard.
Neither woman is sure if Mrs. Wright had a bird, though there is a birdcage and all.
Also, some dude came around selling canaries super cheap last year, so it seems likely that Mrs. Wright might've bought one, especially since she used to sing a lot herself.
The ladies wonder what happened to the bird.
Was it a cat?
Nope, she didn't have a cat; in fact, Mrs. Wright was afraid of cats.
Mrs. Peters notices that the door to cage seems to have been ripped off.
(Insert ominous music.)
Mrs. Hale says she feels bad that she never came to visit Mrs. Wright, a.k.a. Minnie Foster.
She admits that she didn't come around because the Wright house was (and is) super depressing.
Mrs. Hale knows that Mrs. Wright was probably really lonely here, especially with no kids around.
Mrs. Hale starts filling in the details on how Mr. Wright was kind of a jerk.
Yeah, he didn't drink and was honest, but he was hard-hearted.
It's pretty easy to see why Mrs. Wright would want a bird to keep her company, muses Mrs. Hale.
She wonders again what might've happened to it.
Mrs. Peters suggests that maybe it got sick and croaked.
Mrs. Hale gets all nostalgic for good old Minnie Foster again and recalls how she was kind of like a bird—pretty, shy, fluttery.
After Minnie got married, though, she totally changed.
The ladies get the bright idea that Mrs. Wright might like to finish her quilt in jail.
(Because apparently it was okay for prisoners to have needles and other sharp objects back in the day.)
Mrs. Hale finds a pretty box in the closet and opens it, thinking it might be Mrs. Wright's scissors.
It's not though.
It's the bird.
And it's dead.
With it's neck rung.
Uh oh.
The two ladies look at each other in horror.
They hear the men coming in from outside, and Mrs. Hale hides the box under the quilt scraps.
Probably not knowing exactly how condescending he sounds, the County Attorney asks the ladies if they've figured out whether Mrs. Wright was going to quilt or knot the quilt.
Trying her best not to seem sketchy, Mrs. Peters replies that they think Mrs. Wright was going to knot it.
The Attorney asks what's up with the empty birdcage.
Piling more scraps on top of the bird's mini-coffin, Mrs. Hale claims that they think the cat ate it.
Hardly paying attention to the ladies, Mr. Henderson asks if there is a cat.
Mrs. Hale then delivers the funniest line in the play when she says that cats are superstitious and leave when somebody dies.
Luckily for her, the County Attorney isn't really listening anyway.
He just continues a conversation with the men, talking about how the rope belonged to the Wright household.
Whoever did it must've known the house well, he says, as he and the other menfolk head upstairs to go over the evidence again.
Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters sit in awkward silence for a moment.
Mrs. Hale tensely observes that Mrs. Wright must've really loved the bird to want to bury it in such a pretty box.
Whispering, Mrs. Peters recalls how when she was a girl she wanted to kill a boy who killed her kitten with a hatchet.
(Does this get the award for grossest image in the play? Yes, we think so.)
Looking around the empty kitchen, Mrs. Hale reiterates how lonely it must've been for Mrs. Wright with no kids around.
She adds that Mr. Wright would've hated the bird because it sang.
Mrs. Hale reminds us again that Mrs. Wright used to sang, but that Mr. Wright killed that too.
Mrs. Peters gives us a graphic reminder of how terrible Mr. Wright's murder was—being choked by a rope and all.
Hmm, seems kind of similar to how the bird died.
Yeah, Mrs. Hale points that out here too.
Totally empathizing with Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Hale thinks about what it must've been like to have years of nothing and then to have the one thing that gave you any kind of joy killed.
(Yes, that would suck.)
Mrs. Hale imagines that everything would've gone still.
"I know what stillness is," says Mrs. Peters, and remembers that she felt this was after she lost a baby when she and her husband were homesteading in Dakota (133).
Mrs. Hale remembers how pretty Minnie Foster was when she sang in the choir.
She exclaims that it was a crime that she never came to visit her old friend.
Mrs. Hale says she should've known what Minnie was going through since all women are going through the same kinds of things... well, a different kind of the same kind of thing.
Holding back tears, Mrs. Hale picks up an unbroken jar of preserves, and suggests they use it to convince Mrs. Wright that none of her jars burst.
Mrs. Peters gets all fake, and comments that the men would laugh at them getting so upset about a dead bird.
Under her breath, Mrs. Hale comments that she's not so sure the men would yuck it up.
The men folk tromp back into the kitchen.
The County Attorney is saying everything is clear except for the motive.
When it comes to women, juries need everything to be totally clear.
To convict Mrs. Wright, he has to have something to explain the weird way her husband was killed.
Hale says he's got the horses outside ready to go.
Mr. Henderson says he's going to stay and hunt for evidence some more; he's not quite satisfied.
The Sheriff asks if the County Attorney wants to see what Mrs. Peters is bringing to Mrs. Wright.
The Attorney laughs at the apron and messes with the quilt pieces covering the box.
He says that all the stuff seems harmless and points out that since Mr. Peters is the Sheriff's wife she's "married to the law" (147).
The men go to check some windows, and the women leap into action.
Mrs. Peters rips the box from the quilt pieces and tries to shove it into her coat.
But it's too big!
She opens the box and starts to grab the dead bird.
But it's too creepy!
They hear the men coming back, and Mrs. Hale grabs the makeshift canary coffin and puts it in the pocket of her big coat.
The County Attorney and the Sheriff reenter, and the Attorney facetiously says that at least the women figured out that Mrs. Wright wasn't going to quilt the quilt.
He asks the ladies to remind him how Mrs. Wright was going to finish the quilt.
With her hand resting on her pocket, Mrs. Hale says that Mrs. Wright was going to knot it.

Trifles Play Summary

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