Susan Glaspell Research Paper

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In the year 1916, Susan Glaspell had written her very first play. That play was titled as Trifles. The one-act play was based of the murder case of John Hossack. Trifles does a good job of retelling what happened during the case. Rather than the play being identical in detail to the events that took place during the case, Glaspell changed some details of what actually happened during the case so that it would work for the one-act drama. Glaspell took interest in the Hossack case and wrote a one-act play based on her memories of the John Hossack case. Glaspell took interest because she knew that the woman, who was being accused of John Hossack’s murder, would not receive a fair trial due to the circumstances of the court. It was late January…show more content…
After the case had come to completion with Margaret being charged guilty, Glaspell resigned from her job to pursue writing. Trifles is based off the events Glaspell experienced while investigating the murder case. While there are many details that actually happened, Glaspell changed some details pertaining to the actual events that took place. One difference that Glaspell made in her play was the names of the characters versus the people of the families that were involved with the case. Another key detail that had been changed from the actual happenings of the case to the play is how the farmer died. In the play John Wright plays the character of John Hossack. In the play John Wright “was apparently strangled to death while he slept” (“Overview”). The way John Hossack had died was by his wife, “striking him twice in the head with an ax while he slept” (“Overview”). This was a key change that was different from the play and the actual happenings of the murder case. Another difference between the play and the actual events was that there was no mention of children during the play. The Hossack family had a total of nine children while living at the farm. Glaspell wrote Trifles based from her memory of the case she

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