William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” -William Shakespeare-
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William Shakespeare also considered as the greatest dramatist of all time as his plays have been made into movies . Shakespeare is renowned as the English playwright and poet whose body of works is considered the greatest in history of English literature. There is no doubt that William Shakespeare is the greatest writer of modern English to date as most of his literary works are translated into hundreds of languages.William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, England and it is assumed that he was born on April 23, 1564. The exact date of William Shakespeare’s birth is not known. When he was 18 years of age, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was 26 years old that time. Hathaway was from Shottery, a small village a mile west of Stratford and they had four children. Their first child, a daughter they named Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. Two years later, on February 2, 1585, twins Hamnet and Judith were born. Hamnet later died of unknown causes at the age of 11.
Shakespeare headed to London sometime in 1586, there already was an established community of playwrights.By 1595, Shakespeare was suffiently successful to be named as one of the more senior members of the Lord Chamberlain's men, an acting company that performed frequently before court. In 1596, Shakespeare was so successful as a playwright that his family was finally granted a Coat of Arms which amongst other things allowed Shakespeare to call himself a "gentleman". Shakespeare's fortunes were also improving during this time and in 1597 he purchased the second largest house in Stratford which he called New Place and began buying up land around Stratford. One year later, he became a ten percent owner of the new purpose built theatre in London, the famous Globe Theatre were so many of his plays would later be performed. By 1611, Shakespeare retired, returning to Stratford. Shakespeare died in 1616.
William Shakespeare's play include Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night or What You Will, Julius Caesar, Richard III,Macbeth, Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. Macbeth is the best known of Shakespeare's play and often regarded as archetypal. The play tells the dangers of the lust for power and the betrayal of friends.
William Shakespeare's play include Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night or What You Will, Julius Caesar, Richard III,Macbeth, Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. Macbeth is the best known of Shakespeare's play and often regarded as archetypal. The play tells the dangers of the lust for power and the betrayal of friends.
References
http://web.singnet.com.sg/~yisheng/notes/shakespeare/mbeth_f.htm
Susan Glaspell (1876-1948)
Unlike the men who are looking for forensic evidence to solve the crime, the women observe clues that reveal the bleakness of Mrs Wright's emotional life. While the men go to the upstairs bedroom and to the barn to look for clues that will prove that is Minnie who has murdered her husband, the two middle-aged rural women are left alone in the kitchen to collect clothes for their imprisoned neighbor. As Mrs Hale and Mrs Peters observe the trifles they find in the messy kitchen, they slowly start to patch up together possible pieces of evidence that bespeak the reasons for the crime. When the men return, in a silent act of bonding, they suppress the information they have gathered and the men are left without evidence to condemn Minnie Wright.Glaspell portrayed men in her play as arrogant and insensitive. The men denigrate the realm of housework.The men criticize Minnie Wright's housekeeping skills.
What do the men discover? Why do they conclude"Nothing here but kitchen things"? What do the women discover?
When the men confronted with the visible signs of Minnie's life, they respond "Nothing here but kitchen things", "a nice mess' and "trifles". The uncovered hidden signs of Minnie's presence such as her bread set, her preserves, her clothes and her sewing basket are ridiculed as women's things. Mrs Hale and Mrs Peters solve the mystery as they identify what they discovered. The kitchen text taps their awareness that as women " we all go through the same things". Minnie's condemnation to silence is used as weapon, a space where she can build herself. They discovered the evidence of the murder, the quilt and Mrs Hale pulls out stiches that are not very well sewed by Minnie to erase evidence of the murder.Mrs Hale fears that men trying to "get her own house to turn against her".
Susan Glaspell (1876-1948)
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| This picture was taken from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jglaspell.htm |
Susan Glaspell had never liked to feel controlled or delimited. Born in Davenport, Iowa, on July 1 1876, she rebelled against society's expectation and, rather than passively wait for a husband to appear. She went to Drake Universtity in Des Moines, graduating in June of 1899 and then worked as a reporter for the Des Moines Daily News. She gave up her newspaper job in 1901 and returned to Davernport in order to write. She had already published a number of short stories in Youth's Companion, and was to see her stories accepted by more sophisticated magazines such as Harper's, Leslie's, and The American. Her story "For Love of The Hills" received the Black Cat prize in 1904. Glaspell's first novel, "The Glory of the Conquered" was published in 1909 , later followed by "The Visioning" . in 1911.
On 2nd December, 1900, John Hossack was murdered with an axe as he slept. His 57-year old wife, Margaret, was charged with the killing. Glaspell covered the trial for her newspaper. The jury did not believe her story that she slept through the killing, even though she lay next to her husband as he was murdered and she was found guilty. Trifles, a very short one-act play based on a John Hossack case that Susan covered while at the Des Moines Daily News, is probably her best known and most studied work. The central character, a woman arrested for the murder of her husband, never appears on stage, but her actions and motives are easily reconstructed and understood by the women of her community, while patronizing male authorities overlook solid evidence as meaningless 'women's things'. Glaspell's plays became very popular in Britain. Edith Craig, the daughter of Ellen Terry, had established a feminist theatre group, the Pioneer Players. They had initially performed Trifles and this was followed in March 1925, with a production of The Verge. Trifles embodies women alienation in the hands of patriarchal society. We can this in the beginning of the play, when Mrs Peters worried about the fruit when it turned so cold which Mr Hale replied "women are used to worrying over trifles". The women's voice is silenced by the men's failure to recognize her concerns as legitimate. When presented with a concern from a woman, the men dismiss the woman and silence them from speaking further. This strongly showed that they alienates women , thus placing them in lower status.
During her busy life, Susan wrote nine novels, fourteen plays, countless short stories and articles.Most of her writings is strongly feminist, dealing with the role that women play,in society and the relationships between men and women. She inspired and guided other writers and was a good friend to many. At times, her work and her personal choices reflect acceptance and admiration for the culture, values, and attitudes of her Iowa origins, and at other times rejection and scorn. There is no doubt that she never lost sight of her Midwestern roots. She died on 27th July 1948. Nineteen years after her death, Susan Glaspell was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame.
References
Explorations of the text.
What clues lead the women to conclude that Minnie Wright killed her husband?
Mrs Hale discovers Minnie's sewing basket and the quilt she was piecing.The disorderly sewing is the clue that tellingly narrates her neighbour's story.Its chaotic threads tell explicitly the tale justifying her revenge. Minnie's sprawled sewing is not only indicate that she can't control her feelings but most important, the messy stiches of her quilt are an evident replication of her knotting her husband.Mrs Hale recognizes that the rambling mixing and matching of fragments is not only the product of interrupted life but, abuse and exploitation. The log cabin pattern quilt reflects Minnie's attempt to break the marriage bond.
In a way, Mrs Peters finds the clue that replicate her neighbour, Minnie Wright. The killing of the bird symbolize the death and silencing of the singing voice of Minnie.Mrs Peters imagines Minnie's desolation when her bird had its neck wrung and remembers her own grief after a young boy killed her kitten and her loneliness after the death of her first child.
How do the men differ from women? from each other?
Unlike the men who are looking for forensic evidence to solve the crime, the women observe clues that reveal the bleakness of Mrs Wright's emotional life. While the men go to the upstairs bedroom and to the barn to look for clues that will prove that is Minnie who has murdered her husband, the two middle-aged rural women are left alone in the kitchen to collect clothes for their imprisoned neighbor. As Mrs Hale and Mrs Peters observe the trifles they find in the messy kitchen, they slowly start to patch up together possible pieces of evidence that bespeak the reasons for the crime. When the men return, in a silent act of bonding, they suppress the information they have gathered and the men are left without evidence to condemn Minnie Wright.Glaspell portrayed men in her play as arrogant and insensitive. The men denigrate the realm of housework.The men criticize Minnie Wright's housekeeping skills.
What do the men discover? Why do they conclude"Nothing here but kitchen things"? What do the women discover?
When the men confronted with the visible signs of Minnie's life, they respond "Nothing here but kitchen things", "a nice mess' and "trifles". The uncovered hidden signs of Minnie's presence such as her bread set, her preserves, her clothes and her sewing basket are ridiculed as women's things. Mrs Hale and Mrs Peters solve the mystery as they identify what they discovered. The kitchen text taps their awareness that as women " we all go through the same things". Minnie's condemnation to silence is used as weapon, a space where she can build herself. They discovered the evidence of the murder, the quilt and Mrs Hale pulls out stiches that are not very well sewed by Minnie to erase evidence of the murder.Mrs Hale fears that men trying to "get her own house to turn against her".
