How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
HALE: She was rockin' back and forth. She had her apron in her hand and was kind of—pleating it.
COUNTY ATTORNEY: And how did she—look?
HALE: Well, she looked queer.
COUNTY ATTORNEY: How do you mean—queer?
HALE: Well, as if she didn't know what she was going to do next. And kind of done up.
COUNTY ATTORNEY: How did she seem to feel about your coming?
HALE: Why, I don't think she minded—one way or other. She didn't pay much attention. I said, "How do, Mrs. Wright it's cold, ain't it?" And she said, "Is it?"—and went on kind of pleating at her apron. (14-20)
Based on Hale's description, is seems like Mrs. Wright was pretty out of her mind after murdering her husband. Nah, she's not running around cackling with murderous joy. Instead, she seems completely numb and emotionally drained. It's interesting that this play gives us a look at the emotional toll a murder takes on the murderer.
Quote #2
HALE: [...] I walked from there to here—then I says, "Why, what did he die of?" "He died of a rope round his neck", says she, and just went on pleatin' at her apron. Well, I went out and called Harry. I thought I might—need help. We went upstairs and there he was lyin'— (20)
This is the first time we here about the infamous rope. If we learned anything from our years of playing Clue and watching detective shows, the murder weapon is a big deal in any murder mystery. One thing that's cool about this play is that we never actually see it—in the same way that we never see the body or the murder suspect. Not your average murder mystery, right?
Quote #3
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." (21)
Here again, Glaspell gets a cool effect by leaving stuff out. Instead of giving us a graphic description of John Wright's strangled corpse, the playwright (like Hale) stops mid-sentence. By allowing the audience to imagine it, Glaspell makes us feel the violence even more.