An aside is a short speech in a play where a character speaks directly to the audience, or to themselves, while other characters on stage cannot hear. It allows a playwright to share a character's private thoughts or judgements without stopping the action, creating dramatic irony when the audience knows something other characters do not.
What exactly is an aside and how does it work?
By stage convention, an aside is inaudible to every character on stage except the speaker. The playwright signals this with a stage direction — "(aside)" — or sometimes simply by context. The speaker breaks the fourth wall (the imaginary boundary between performers and audience), briefly, before returning to the main dialogue.
Asides are usually short: a line, two lines, perhaps a brief observation. They do not develop into extended reflection the way a soliloquy does. Their function is to give the audience an immediate private commentary on what is happening — a knowing wink, a flash of true feeling, or a revelation of hidden intention.
How is an aside different from a soliloquy?
| Feature | Aside | Soliloquy |
|---|---|---|
| Length | Brief — usually one to four lines | Extended — often a whole speech |
| Context | Occurs in a scene with other characters present | Usually delivered when the character is alone on stage |
| Other characters | Cannot hear it | Are absent |
| Function | Quick private comment or reaction | Sustained inner reflection, decision-making, or self-revelation |
| Example | Macbeth's "(aside) Two truths are told..." | Hamlet's "To be, or not to be..." |
Both techniques break the realist convention that characters are unaware of an audience, but a soliloquy is a long, interior monologue whereas an aside is a momentary interruption.
What are some clear examples of asides in Shakespeare?
Shakespeare uses the aside extensively to create irony and to let the audience know more than the characters do:
-
Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3: When the witches greet Macbeth as "Thane of Cawdor" — a title he does not yet know he holds — he mutters aside: "Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor! / The greatest is behind." This reveals that Macbeth is already calculating his path to the crown before any of the other characters hear his thoughts.
-
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2: When Claudius addresses Hamlet publicly and warmly, Hamlet's aside — "A little more than kin, and less than kind" — tells the audience immediately that Hamlet sees through his uncle's performance. The pun on "kind" (meaning both kindly and of the same family) establishes Hamlet's intellectual bitterness before he speaks openly.
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The Merchant of Venice, Act 2: Shylock uses asides to reveal to the audience the true calculation behind his outwardly agreeable public behaviour, making him a figure whose private motives the audience understands while the other characters remain deceived.
How does an aside create dramatic irony?
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something that one or more characters do not. The aside is one of the main tools for delivering this:
- A villain speaks politely in dialogue, then turns to the audience in an aside to reveal their true malice
- A character agrees to something in speech, then whispers aside that they have no intention of keeping their word
- A character misunderstands a situation while the audience, via the aside of another character, knows the truth
In each case, the gap between what is said on stage and what is spoken in the aside is where the irony lives. The audience holds both pieces of information; the other characters hold only one.
What effect does an aside have on the audience's relationship with a character?
When a playwright gives a character an aside, they create a moment of complicity between that character and the audience. The speaker trusts the audience with their true thoughts. This can:
- Make us sympathise with a character who cannot be honest in public (we know their real feelings even if others don't)
- Make us distrust a character (a villain who uses asides to plot against friends is exposing their duplicity to us, not hiding it)
- Create comic effect when a character's aside reveals they are baffled, embarrassed, or secretly opposed to what they are publicly agreeing with
In An Inspector Calls, though asides are used sparingly, moments where characters react privately to the Inspector's revelations create similar effects through staging and physical performance rather than formal aside convention.
How do I write about an aside in an essay?
When analysing an aside, always explain the gap it opens between what the character shows to others and what they reveal to the audience:
Worked example — Macbeth's aside in Act 1, Scene 3:
"Shakespeare uses the aside 'Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires' to reveal that Macbeth is already entertaining ambition that he knows cannot be spoken aloud. The aside creates dramatic irony: the audience is immediately party to thoughts that Macbeth conceals even from Banquo, his closest companion. The choice of the word 'black' aligns Macbeth's desires with darkness and moral corruption before he has done anything yet, suggesting that the temptation is not planted by the witches but drawn out of something already present within him."
Frequently asked questions
Can an aside be directed at another character rather than the audience?
In some plays, an aside is directed at one specific character on stage while the others cannot hear. This is less common and is usually signalled by the stage direction "(aside to [name])". In this form, it creates a private communication between two characters that excludes the others — it functions as eavesdropping without movement.
Do modern plays use asides?
Yes, though they often use them differently. Direct address to the audience — a form of sustained aside — is central to plays such as Our Country's Good, much of Brecht's theatre, and many contemporary works where the fourth wall is deliberately broken. The difference is that in modern drama, breaking the fourth wall is often a political or stylistic statement about the nature of theatre itself.
Is an aside realistic?
No — an aside is a theatrical convention, not a realistic representation of human behaviour. Plays that prize realism (naturalism) generally avoid asides, because no real conversation could be instantly inaudible to some people and not others. Plays that use asides are accepting a more theatrical, openly performative contract with the audience.
How long should I spend on an aside in an essay?
The aside itself may be brief, but the analytical paragraph around it should be developed. A two-word aside can generate three sentences of analysis if you focus on what the aside reveals about the character, how it creates irony, and what it contributes to theme. Length in analysis comes from depth of comment, not from the length of the quoted device.
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