Drama is one of the oldest literary genres, characterized by specific regulations, rules, and standards. Aristotle’s Poetics provides an overview of the particularities and obligatory features that a dramatic piece should contain to serve its purpose of impacting human emotions and triggering catharsis. However, while following conventional regulations, some dramatic authors might modify particular aspects of drama to emphasize their argument or main ideas. In particular, this posting will focus on Susan Glaspell’s following of Aristotle’s spectacle, sound, text, and ideas while modifying the plot and characterization to emphasize the gender stereotypes in Trifles.
The play Trifles is designed conventionally as outlined by Aristotle in Poetics. It contains descriptions for stage presentation, has a limited number of characters, a problem of gender inequalities, and an emotionally colored plot that necessitates’ audiences’ catharsis. The visual representation of the stage and characters, sounds, text of the play, and ideas agree with the drama regulations. However, the writer deliberately changes some of the rules presented by Aristotle to deliver the argument of the importance of seemingly unimportant women’s roles more vividly. In particular, the play’s plot does not precisely follow the regulations since it omits the actual event of the murder but develops around the incident. The very title with the description of the dramatic piece implies the unconventional approach of the author. Indeed, since it is a one-act play, Glaspell modifies Aristotle’s idea about the full-scale development of a plot, which should be delivered in a medium-length literary form. Furthermore, the characterizations of the main characters are unconventional since male roles lack a description of their feelings and temperament. In contrast, female roles, although without first name identification, are assigned empathetic features.
In such a manner, Glaspell manages to construct a distinctive play that emphasizes women’s centrality to the story while being deprived of first names and the explicit importance of their roles acknowledged by men. The author follows almost all conventional regulations, purposefully modifying the plot, structure, and characterization. Such a method helps Glaspell enhance emotional appeal to the audience and reinforce the argument of the necessity of gender equality.