Actantial Model of Trifles by Susan Glaspell

ACTANTIAL MODEL OF TRIFLES BY SUSAN GLASPELL

No.	Time	Observing Object	Actant Name	Actant Class (Subject/Object, Sender/Receiver, Helper/Opponent)	Actant Sub-class: Real/Possible	Actant Sub-class: True/False	Other Actant Sub-classes (Active/Passive)
1	MRS HALE: [...] I wish you'd seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang. [...] Oh, I wish I'd come over here once in a while! That was a crime! That was a crime! Who's going to punish that? [...] I might have known she needed help! (136-138)	Reference	Mrs. Hale	Subject	Real subject	True subject	Active subject
2	MRS. PETERS: (something within her speaking) I know what stillness is. When we homesteaded in Dakota, and my first baby died—after he was two years old, and me with no other then—[...] I know what stillness is. (133-135)	Reference	Mrs. Peters	Helper	Real helper	True helper	Passive helper
3	COUNTY ATTORNEY: No, Peters, it's all perfectly clear except a reason for doing it. But you know juries when it comes to women. If there was some definite thing. Something to show—something to make a story about—a thing that would connect up with this strange way of doing it—	Reference	George Henderson	Opponent	Real opponent	True opponent	Active opponent
4	PETERS (SHERIFF): Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves.	Reference	Henry Peters	Opponent	Real opponent	True Opponent	Active opponent
5	COUNTY ATTORNEY: I think I'd rather have you go into that upstairs, where you can point it all out. Just go on now with the rest of the story. HALE: Well, my first thought was to get that rope off. It looked ... (stops, his face twitches) ... but Harry, he went up to him, and he said, 'No, he's dead all right, and we'd better not touch anything.' So we went back down stairs. She was still sitting that same way. 'Has anybody been notified?' I asked. 'No', says she unconcerned.	Reference	Lewis Hale	Opponent	Real opponent	True opponent	Passive opponent
6	[HALE goes outside. The SHERIFF follows the COUNTY ATTORNEY into the other room. Then MRS HALE rises, hands tight together, looking intensely at MRS PETERS, whose eyes make a slow turn, finally meeting MRS HALE's. A moment MRS HALE holds her, then her own eyes point the way to where the box is concealed. Suddenly MRS PETERS throws back quilt pieces and tries to put the box in the bag she is wearing. It is too big. She opens box, starts to take bird out, cannot touch it, goes to pieces, stands there helpless. Sound of a knob turning in the other room. MRS HALE snatches the box and puts it in the pocket of her big coat. Enter COUNTY ATTORNEY and SHERIFF.] COUNTY ATTORNEY: (facetiously) Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to—what is it you call it, ladies? MRS HALE: (her hand against her pocket) We call it—knot it, Mr Henderson. CURTAIN	Reference	Mrs. Wright	Receiver	Real receiver	True receiver	Passive receiver

Author:

Arum Ratnaning Ratri

2211416050

English Literature, 2016

Universitas Negeri Semarang

For subject:

Drama Analysis (407)