Broadway’s lights are bright in New York City. Susan Glaspell’s Trifles probably would not fit in beside The Lion King and Phantom of the Opera. It is a different kind of play. “Central to Glaspell's plays is a concern with fulfilling life's potential, going beyond the confines of convention, safety, and ease to new and uncharted possibilities, both social and personal” (Dymkowski). Trifles is a short play in modern contemporary English, so the language is not a daunting task. The task at hand is to figure out what pushes the play along since suspense aspect of the murder is non-existent. The available videos use music to create mood, but that is not necessary while reading the play off the page. The action does not sustain the "thrill" of murder, but it does create a moral dilemma that can be "thrilling" in a different sense.
Dymkowski, Christine. "On the Edge: The Plays of Susan Glaspell." Modern Drama 31.1 (Mar. 1988): 91-105. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Marie Lazzari. Vol. 55. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. Literature Resource Center. Web. 31 Dec. 2012.
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