The two plays have different mysteries and at the same time share a lot of similarities. Even though the plays share a common mystery, they are totally different aspects. Oedipus Rex is that of an unidentified murderer whose fate eventually leads to hurtful truth. The other play “Trifles” unfolds as the frustration of not being able to have a child makes the main character, Mrs. Wright to murder her husband, Mr. Wright at night which is discovered by Mr and Mrs Hale takes the case to the attorney for investigation. The conversations in the subsequent sections of the play reveals the gender disparities between men and women in the culture as the attorney makes comments about the conversations among women calling them “.. kitchen things.”
In Oedipus Rex, tragedy is the main theme as this is seen when the man is seen to murder his father in order for his to marry the mother and bear children with her. This is the custom that is archaic in all cultures in the world which portrays the true tragedy in this play. This is avoided by the mother, father and the king giving up their son to the shepherd who was meant to leave him in the wilderness where he was supposed to meet his death.
The irony in the story is that Oedipus is captured by another Shepherd who takes him to Corinth thereby escaping death (Hamlet, 2004). He is seen as being adopted by Queen Polybus who incidentally had no children who nurtured him to be a prince. The story translates back with the reality of him marrying his mother Iocaste and assumes the father’s position of a King. This story to me is a symbol of great sadness and tragedy that befalls Oedipus and the family soon after the realization of the whole truth. In my eyes, I see Oedipus as a real victim of fate and destiny.
The play Trifles outlines an investigation on the murder of John Wright that is revealed to Mr and Mrs Hale by the wife of the deceased (Hamlet, 2004). The investigation leaves Mrs. Wright as the prime suspect as she lies that she was asleep when the husband was murdered. The witnesses try to justify this by the fact that the couple do not have children and the wife, who is in custody, has never been as happy as she was before marriage.
The play puts the gender discrimination of women by men as brought out in the conversations of the attorney and sheriff accusing Mr. Wright of poor housekeeping skills that is does not please Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. The men are seen to blame Mrs. Wright for acting brutal and cold towards the husband without paying attention to the emotional desperation that women have as the audience concludes. The theme that comes out is that men are unappreciative of women. Men are just there to investigate crime and who committed it while the women take responsibility for not ensuring that the Wright home was happy as they made no effort to befriend them, which is according to them, the explanation for the murder.
In both stories, the different roles of women and men are clearly brought out. In the Oedipus, the women are regarded as very important persons in the society as they were being recognized by their husbands and could even assume the queen ship positions as opposed to the Rifles where they are seen as mere rags without any rights. In the Trifle, the woman takes way her husband’s life while in the Oedipus Rex, the son is ironically supposed to kill the father to assume the duties which eventually come to pass.