Drama is a different type of literature that is expressly written in order to be performed. While some of the formalist elements you worked with in short stories are used with drama, they are slightly different, given the end goal of plays being performed. Pay particular attention in chapter readings on drama and how the formalist elements are similar and differ from short stories.

Trifles (1916), by Susan Glaspell, was a play that was originally a short story called “A Jury of Her Peers.” Glaspell was covering a local murder trial in Des Moines, Iowa, and she used the trial as an inspiration for her story and then play. If you would like to watch a dramatization of the play:

Watch Video
7.0. A Jury of Her Peers by Susan K. Glaspell (Director: Sally Heckel)

YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGJTHi0rliA

Questions for this week’s response:
How do you feel discussion of plot in relation to plays is different from short stories? How is it similar?
What is the conflict in Trifles?
What is the climax in Trifles?
What is the resolution in Trifles?
On an ethical level, do you feel it was right for Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale to not tell the men who are investigating the murder what they found? Support your answer with at least two reasons.