What are some examples of asides and soliloquies in Trifles by Susan Glaspell?

Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles is a one-act play that follows Sheriff Henry Peters, local attorney George Henderson, and Lewis Hale as they investigate the murder of John Wright. Throughout this short play, the three men and their wives go through the Wright house to determine who killed Mr. Wright. The men are convinced that John’s wife, Minnie, committed the murder but so far have no proof. The women pay attention to the small details the men overlook and are able to determine she is guilty, but they also realize she only killed him after years of abuse. Because the story is told through a play’s structure, the reader follows the investigation entirely through the characters’ dialogue.

As they investigate, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale have several soliloquies where they are talking through the evidence, seemingly to themselves and to each other at the same time. When they discover Minnie’s dead pet bird, Mrs. Peters tells about her first experience with a dead animal. She understands how much her kitten meant to her, and her monologue explains how she felt when it was killed. Assuming Mr. Wright killed her beloved bird, Mrs. Peters is already demonstrating sympathy for Minnie:

MRS. PETERS (in a whisper) When I was a girl-my kitten-there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes—and before I could get there—(Covers her face an instant). lf they hadn't held me back I would have—(catches herself, looks upstairs where steps are heard, falters weakly)—hurt him.

The audience realizes that these soliloquies are not intended for the men on stage to hear—just the women and the audience. Mrs. Peters knows that if her husband hears her, it will be the proof he needs to convict Minnie. This becomes the play’s internal conflict for the women. Do they tell what they’ve found, or do they protect one of their own? Later, Mrs. Hale has a similar moment when discussing their conflict. In a moment of self-discovery, she realizes how similar the women’s lives are and looks for a way to protect Minnie:

MRS. HALE I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be—for women. I tell you, it's queer, Mrs. Peters. We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same things. ­ It's all just a different kind of the same thing. (Brushes her eyes, noticing the jar of fruit, reaches out for it) If l was you, I wouldn't tell her fruit was gone. Tell her it ain't, Tell her it's all right. Take this in to prove it to her. She—she may never know whether it was broke or not.

The characters also use asides, short sentences for the audience to hear, as they continue their investigations. When the women determine if they men would understand the impact of the dead canary, Mrs. Hale comments to herself “Maybe they would—maybe they wouldn’t.”

Where is an example of an aside in Trifles?

Unlike Shakespeare's plays, the asides in Trifles are not labelled and sound more like someone thinking aloud, and they occur as Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale talk to each other about Minnie Wright and her predicament.

The play takes place after a man, Mr. Wright, is found strangled to death, and his wife, Minnie Wright, is the primary suspect. The man who found Mr. Wright dead and his wife (Mr. and Mrs. Hale) go to the house with the county attorney, the sheriff, and the sheriff's wife, Mrs. Peters. The men proceed to go over the events that led to Mr. Hale finding the body of Mr. Wright and search the home for evidence. In the meantime, the women gather items to bring Mrs. Wright in jail and end up finding the real evidence for Mrs. Wright's motive to murder her husband.

In the second half of the play, as Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale examine the kitchen and gather various items, they express certain thoughts that are meant more for the audience. Mrs. Hale describes Mrs. Wright when she was younger to Mrs. Peters, but, towards the end of her description, she comments, "How—she—did—change." This is more of a thought she expresses rather than a question to Mrs. Peters as she considers how marriage changed Mrs. Wright from the youthful and vibrant girl she was before.

After they discover Mrs. Wright's dead bird, Mrs. Peters has a moment when she also thinks to herself aloud:

MRS PETERS: (in a whisper) When I was a girl—my kitten—there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes—and before I could get there—(covers her face an instant) If they hadn't held me back I would have—(catches herself, looks upstairs where steps are heard, falters weakly)—hurt him.

As they both consider how Mrs. Wright would have felt and how they can both relate, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale both have another moment when they think aloud in what seems to be another example of an aside.

Mrs. Hale: (her own feeling not interrupted) If there'd been years and years of nothing, then a bird to sing to you, it would be awful—still, after the bird was still.

Mrs. Peter: (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 with me no other then...

Both women are identifying with Mrs. Wright's feelings of isolation but are doing so more to themselves and the audience rather than to each other.