Patterns of Stage Performances In "Little Things

Please answer each question in ¾ page of thoughtful writing that incorporates specific textual evidence from each play.  Total length: 1 ½ pages double-spaced, 12-pt. font What patterns does you notice in the stage directions in Trifles? Draw our attention to a particular pattern that you notice in the stage directions that you feel is important and tell us the idea being implied through that repeated element. In the play Trifles Glaspell showed command in her stage directions. She used stage directions to show multiple themes such as murder, gender, and law.

The pattern also shows the characters attitudes and personalities. The first line describing the scene is “The kitchen is now abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, a gloomy kitchen, and left without having been put in order- unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the bread-box , a dish towel on the table…”. This line shows a clear image of what the mood of the play will be like. The house is described as gloomy since it is not well kept and the County Attorney is very distressed by this that he “Kicks his foot against the pans under the sink”, I believe the stage directions were used to symbolize how women are disrespected and undermined by men.

The women’s stage directions showed there emotions, resentfully, apologetically, and mildly.

The women’s stage directions show how they don’t like being treated like they are nothing and don’t appreciate being talked down to. When Ibsen realized that certain people might be inclined to change the ending of A Doll House to make it less shocking for audiences at the time, he wrote his own alternate ending.

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  In this version, Nora decides to stay in the end.  Which ending do you feel the play prepared you to expect—one in which Nora stays or one in which she leaves—and why?  What pattern would you point to in the text that prepared you to expect the ending that you expected? In the play A Doll House there are lots of interesting things that happen throughout the play. In the second act we are ready to see Nora leave Torvald. At first we see a couple who appear to be in love and understand each other.

Nora made so many sacrifices just to keep her husband happy and to take care of his health by putting herself in debt. Over the years Nora tries to keep her family happy, but it was at the expense of her happiness, “I got the same tastes as you—or else I pretended to” (Ibsen). When Nora finally realizes who her husband really is she also realizes that her husband has always cared more about his reputation than he has for her, “And as for you and me, it must appear as if everything between us were just as before” (Ibsen). Ibsen uses the Christmas tree as a symbol for Nora’s happiness when it is all pretty and decorated, but when everything is removed it shows how her mood changed from happy to sad. Nora predicts her marriage ending when she says, “I shall not be able to be so much with them now as I was before” (Ibsen). The play prepares you for Nora to leave, in fact you end up hoping she would, her relationship was one sided and Nora needed to live for herself so she could be happy.