Trifles In Shakespeares Othello And Susan Glaspell And...

Plays are written to entertain an audience, usually performed on a stage or read by a cast of people playing different characters to help the audience understand the drama that is going on. In Shakespeare’s tragedy play, Othello, he captivates his audience through the tragedy of love and despair. Similarly, Susan Campbell writes the one-act play titled Trifles about ways love can kill. Susan Glaspell and Shakespeare present the major characters very similarly through the symbols in the story, but also convey them in different ways that send the audience two different messages. In Shakespeare’s, Othello, Desdemona’s handkerchief symbolizes love, romantic deeds, marriage, and power. The handkerchief serves as both a physical and symbolic†¦show more content†¦The lyrics of the song help to reveal a deep meaning downhearted connection between Othello and Desdemona. She sings this song after she is accused of infidelity and feeling sad about it. She expresses her mood through the lyrics, â€Å"The poor soul sat editorial emendation sighing editorial emendation by a sycamore tree, Sing all a green willow†(4.3.43-44) describing how she became so unhappy. Later in the lyrics, she describes the depth of sexism that has affected her in her marriage to Othello: â€Å"Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve†(4.3.56). Even as she was dying, she could still see no wrong in Othello. During that time, women were to ask no questions and obey their husbands as if they were dogs, and Desdemona finally realized how much control Othello had over her when she sang the song along with how every man treated their women. In the one-act play, Trifles, women were also treated like pets who had to obey everything their husbands said and stay caged away in their homes. Mrs. Wright was like Desdemona and could not handle being controlled anymore, so she acted. The dead songbird that was found by Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale during the investigation of John Wrights death led them to believe this was Minnie’s doing. The song bird represents Mrs. Wright when she was young, free woman. Mrs. Hale says,â€Å"She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir† (Glaspell 855). When sheShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s Othello And Glaspell s Trifles995 Words   |  4 Pagesbrought women’s struggle under male dominance to light. Shakespeare’s Othello and Glaspell’s Trifles bring great female characters to the stage that share similarities. Both Glaspell and Shakespeare follow the same theme, while using both fore shadowing and irony to illustrate that Desdemona, Emilia, Bianca, Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Hale live under similar oppressive conditions. Both authors write about Patriarchal dominance. Shakespeare reveals his theme through Bianca’s relationship withRead MoreSymbols Add A Level Of Depth That Can Help The Reader To879 Words   |  4 Pagescan help expand the reader’s knowledge of what certain actions or evens can mean during the play. Symbols can be found throughout both Trifles and Othello, and each one helps further the plot or enhance characterization in some way. Susan Glaspell and William Shakespeare both use powerful symbols to further the plot and enhance character development. In Trifles, one of the most important symbols play is the birdcage that Mrs. Wright had stashed away within her kitchen. During the play, both MrsRead MoreThe Bond Between Women in Williams Shakespeares Literautre 908 Words   |  4 Pageslifetime, this is due to the heavy reliance on emotional connects that they share. Desdemona and Emilia in Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare show this bond between women through Shakespeare’s use of foreshadowing. As Desdemona begins to realize her fate she tells her dear friend Emilia â€Å"Lay on my bed my wedding sheets† (4.3.108-110). Desdemona had begun to realize just how upset Othello was, although she did not know the reason as to why he was, she knew that he would end up killing herRead MoreSympathy From William Shakespeare s Othello And Mrs. Wright1762 Words   |  8 Pagesangle, those audience members might be more likely to take that character’s side in an on-stage conflict, even if that character might be considered the play’s â€Å"villain.† Two great examples of this are Iago from William Shakespeare’s Othello and Mrs. Wright in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles; both are the instigators of domestic violence, both feel that they have been wronged, and at different points in their respective plays, they are, to varying degrees of success, able to capture the audience’s sympathiesRead MoreFacilitating Learning and Assessment in Practice3273 Words   |  14 PagesGables and The Scarlet Letter, Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Death of a Salesman, Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Shakespeare’s MacBeth and Hamlet, and numerous examples of poetry by Whitman, Wordsworth, the Brownings, Poe, Dickinson, Donne, Frost, Burns, Sandburg, Longfellow, Hughes, Angelou, Cummings, Plath and others. A variety of English courses were available at my