1. Trifles (1916) Susan Glaspell

2. Debate: You MUST support your answers with direct text references.
Question 1: Are Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale morally wrong for hiding the evidence against Mrs. Wright?

3. Debate: You MUST support your answers with direct text references.
Question 2: Which figures are more ironic, the women or the men?

4. Debate: You MUST support your answers with direct text references.
Question 3: Should we feel sympathy for Mrs. Wright? What about Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters? Should we feel sympathy for Mr. Wright?

5. Additional Discussion Points
How do the stage directions help develop the meaning of the play? Go back through the stage directions. What details, what trifles, did you overlook in your initial reading?
What does Trifles say about men? About women? About the ways they act toward each other? Take note of how the speech patterns differ between the men and women.
How are Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters initially characterized and contrasted to one another? How do they develop over the course of the play?