Hendrik deBoer
Silence on the Stage.
In drama, a character on stage always serves a purpose. The space is far too valuable to waste with a useless character. Most often, a character’s purpose is to deliver lines, whether they are dialogue, soliloquy, narration, or other forms of dramatic speech. These lines may advance the plot, reveal character, establish a setting and countless other possibilities. However, characters on the stage do not always speak. This does not mean that they are without purpose. A silent character can be used by the playwright in many of the same ways as one that dominates a scene. Often these characters make more of an impression than those who are speaking. In the plays Trifles, by Susan Glaspell, and The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, the playwrights have characters on the stage that speak very little in scenes of the plays. The effect of these characters is very strong in both to establish the setting and atmosphere of the play.
Trifles is set in the house of a murdered man and his wife, suspected as the killer. Entering are the County Attorney, the Sheriff, Lewis Hale, who found the dead body, the Sheriff’s wife and Hale’s wife. The County Attorney and the Sheriff are looking for clues to help solve the mystery. The play can be divided into three sections, the beginning, when the men and the women are all downstairs, the middle, when the men go upstairs and the women remain downstairs, and the end, when the men return. What is noteworthy is the demeanor and behavior of the women during these three segments. In the beginning, the men dominate the scene. The women speak very little, mostly when asked a question first. The men do not take them seriously and only are interested in what they think is pertinent to the case. It is evident that the women are not thought of as equals to the men. During the time of the play, it is not women’s place to speak without being spoken to. If the women have something to contribute to the case, and it is evident later that they do, the men would most likely disregard it anyway and tell the women it is not their job to solve it. The women are forced to listen on as the men criticize Mrs. Wright’s homemaking abilities and belittle women as a whole, such as when Mr. Hale says, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles,” a quote from which the play draws its name. In the beginning of the play, the women’s silence shows their lesser place in society and the lack of respect they receive from the men. When the two of them move closer together, it shows their closeness and common feeling of inferiority without any words.