* Limited Information: The play provides a fragmented view of the events, relying heavily on the characters' perspectives and limited details. This ambiguity encourages the audience to fill in the gaps and draw their own conclusions.
* Focus on Domestic Details: Glaspell emphasizes seemingly insignificant details of the women's world, like the "trifles" of the title. This forces the audience to consider the significance of these seemingly minor aspects and how they relate to the larger themes of the play.
* Gendered Perspectives: The play presents distinct male and female perspectives on the case. The men focus on evidence and legal procedures, while the women focus on the emotional and social context. This invites the audience to consider how their own gendered perspective might influence their interpretation of the events.
* Ambiguous Ending: The play leaves the audience with questions about Minnie Wright's guilt or innocence. This encourages active engagement with the text and fosters diverse interpretations.
How Reader-Response Criticism Applies:
Reader-response criticism emphasizes the reader's role in shaping the meaning of a text. "Trifles" aligns with this theory by:
* Demanding Active Engagement: The play requires the audience to actively participate in piecing together the story and forming their own interpretations.
* Highlighting Subjective Experience: The play's focus on individual perspectives and limited information highlights the role of subjective experience in shaping understanding.
* Recognizing Multiple Interpretations: "Trifles" allows for diverse interpretations, reflecting the multiplicity of perspectives that reader-response theory emphasizes.
In conclusion, while "Trifles" wasn't written specifically with reader-response theory in mind, its structure, themes, and open-ended nature invite active reader participation and a range of interpretations, reflecting key aspects of this critical approach.