In patriarchal society, women get no power to fight against men, besides that their love for their husband and the society rules blinded their heart in seeing their
worth as a woman. This tolerant characteristic represents their inferiority in the society because it shows that they are powerless.
f. Sympathetic Mrs. Hale
Mrs. Hale is also characterized as a sympathetic person. She shows her sympathy towards Mrs. Wright about what happened to her. She regrets that she had
not visited Mrs. Wright more often to cheer her up. MRS. HALE.
…But I tell you what I do wish, Mrs. Peters, I wish I had come over sometimes she was here. I
—Looking around the room.—wish I had.
MRS. PETERS. But of course you were awful busy, Mrs. Hale —your house
and your children. MRS. HALE.
I could’ve come. I stayed away because it weren’t cheerful— and that’s why I ought to have come. I—I’ve never liked this place.
Maybe because it’s down in a hollow, and you don’t see the road. I dunno what it is, but it’s a lonesome place and always was. I wish I had come
over to see Minnie Foster sometimes. I can see now —Shakes her head.
McQuade, 1999: 986 The dialogue above shows that Mrs. Hale can understand the feeling of living
in a lonesome place by Mrs. Wright. She responses to the suffering of Mrs. Wright and has desire to help by visiting her more often in order to cheer her up. It shows us
that she can feel other’s people pain and struggles as though they were her own. From the analysis above, we can say that Mrs. Hale is a sympathetic person.
In patriarchal society, the women are considered as weak and emotional. The characteristic of women which is sympathetic is considered as emotional and shows
that they are dependent on others as human being. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
B. The Binary Opposition of the Characteristics of Male and Female Characters
The concept of binary opposition which means “in every center, there exists its opponent” is reflected in Glaspell’s play entitled Trifles. Here, the reflection of the
binary opposition concept becomes clearer when the discussion is concerned on the way Glaspell writes this play. Glaspell creates the female characters as the center, the
protagonist, in which it takes readers’ interest. The presence of female characters in this play has a certain meaning since the female characters are significant because
they are the root of all the actions and the events that happened in this play. However, in binary opposition concept, it is said that the establishing of one
center means that there is another which is automatically decenter. Based on that concept, it is concluded there exist the opposite center female characters’ opponent
in this play. Here, Glaspell puts male characters as the antagonist in order to complete the binary that needs a pair of opposite things. In this case, a pair of opposite things is
needed because the binary opposition concepts will not operate if there is only one element. The fe
male characters become male characters’ opponent since they are the characters that und
ergo much male characters’ actions, so that the story in this play looks like male characters’ actions toward female characters. By knowing that fact, it
is obvious that male characters’ presence in this play is used to help in describing female characters
. Female’s characteristics in this play become easily understood by the readers because their characteristics are well explained with the help of male
characters’ existence. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
