Playing an important role in the progression of American drama, Susan Glaspell bravely exhibited innovative style and modern feminist ideals in her works. "In many of her plays Glaspell used experimental techniques to convey her socialist and feminist ideals, portraying female characters "some of whom never appear onstage "who challenge the restrictions and stereotypes imposed on them by society- (Lewisohn 233). In her play, Trifles, Susan Glaspell captures her audience with a main character, Minnie Wright, who never appears on stage, and she exhibits the unspeakable power of women that has not surfaced within the social expectations of the era. Her play emerged during the early 1900's, when women were still fighting for their rights and social equality, and they were expected to be submissive to their husbands. She captivates her audience with a multifaceted blend of feminism and psychology in many relationships throughout the play. In Glaspell's "Trifles,"" she cleverly utilizes the affects of loneliness and isolation, and strongly illustrates the social differences between sexes.
Isolation has numerous adverse psychological effects on a mind that can drive one to murder; Glaspell first introduces these psychological feelings in her play, Trifles, by cunningly creating a rural setting where inhabitants of the area cannot conveniently socialize with one another and serves as a metaphor for psychological isolation. In the rural setting, there are several small farms that are widely dispersed over the country side. Minnie Wright, who is a suspect in the murder of her grim husband, John Wright, lives on a strange, quiet, and isolated farm. The audience is able to feel Minnie's loneliness and how the isolated setting has changed her character even though she is not physically seen in the play. As Elaine Hedges states, "John Wright's farm is an isolated, outlying farm separated from the town of which it is, formally, a part- ( ).