Trifles

Every time that I read this play, the psychologist in me always wants me to analyze it further. When i look at this play through a psychoanalytical lens, i always place the three women into the 3 parts of the subconscious. To me, Mrs. Wright is the id. The id is the animalistic part of the subconscious. It is also seen as the pleasure seeking part of the subconscious. I always looked at Mrs. Wright as representing the animalistic part of the id. This woman brought out her inner beast in order to throw off the coldness and harshness of her life...by killing her husband. The next part of the subconscious is the superego. This part of the subconscious can be represented by Mrs. Peters. The superego is the "conscience". This part of the subconscious is responsible for having moral standards. Mrs. Peters holds up the idea that the law is the law and that there has to be some sort of moral standard for this type of situation. Lastly, we have Mrs. Hale. I believe that Mrs. Hale would be accurately represented by the Ego. The ego is the mediator of the subconscious. Mrs. Hale doesn't think that killing was the right thing to do, per se, but she also could understand why is was done. She empathizes with Mrs. Wright in a way that Mrs. Peters never could. Like I said, it may just be the psychology major coming out in me, but i can never read this play without analyzing it in this way.