Initially when I was reading Trifles, I wasn't very enthusiastic. It was an okay play, but nothing that seemed really exciting for me. But then I got to this line, and I suddenly felt the tone become very somber. It's almost a throwaway line, with Mrs. Peters immediately saying that they don't know who killed the bird. The thing is, I'm pretty sure they both knew that Mrs. Hale was not talking about the bird, especially with her use of the word too.
This line implies to me that the murder was a result of domestic violence. Wright was abusing his wife, and she got fed up and killed him. The ladies talk about how Mrs. Wright used to love to sing, but that her husband "killed that". This to me is more metaphorical than literal. When they say he "killed" her singing, they mean that he took any joy and happiness she had and crushed it. Immediately after making the remark about killing her singing, Mrs. Hale remarks that she "knew John Wright", which to me means that she knew what a terrible and abusive man he was, so it would not suprise her if he killed the bird.
This makes the store extremely sad to me, because at this point it's not really a murder mystery, but a story about a woman who was pushed to the edge after suffering abuse, but never gets justice. It kind of reminds me of Tess of the Durbervilles. No matter what she does she gets abused and pushed down and in the end she still doesn't get a happy ending.
This is exactly how I saw that scene. I didn’t think of Mr. Wright abusing Mrs. Wright, but I did think she killed him because she was fed up with her life. I thought this was an interesting metaphor, I guess you could say. I also wonder that what if Mrs. Wright had simply left her husband instead of resorting to killing him. Maybe she thought of this as her only way out, but now she’ll have to go to prison if she’s convicted. Logically speaking, it seemed like she could’ve been the only one who killed Mr. Wright anyway.
ReplyDeleteI guess that the use of the word bird, even though it was more symbolic than literal, is a great example of diction that our book mentions. I wonder what made the writer decide to use the word bird? Is it because of the drastic irony that a bird represents freedom and purity? Not to mention the later fact that her singing (much like a song bird) is silenced by her husband. I find it incredibly ironic and important to the play.
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