Based on a detective story plot, Susan Glaspell (1916) has opened the theme of loneliness caused by the differences between men’s and women’s perception – that is the first idea that occurs after reading the play. By Mr. Hale’s answers to the Sheriff’s questions a reader is gradually introduced to the setting – a messy kitchen – and the situation, when Sheriff and Country Attorney comes to investigate the place of crime. The juxtaposition of the two sexes is shown already form the very beginning, when men talk actively about what has happened and search for evidences, while Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Petersen are standing still at the door almost without one word and men has brought them only to pick up some things for the convicted woman.
A turning point comes with retreat of the men, when women stay alone in the messy kitchen and start wandering about such ‘trifles’ such as frozen and spoilt preserves, a loaf of bread left on the table, dirty pans, needlework and, finally, the lack of a cat along with the empty cage. …
