Lady Of Letters Monologue

Monologue analysis.

The recreation of Irene Ruddock’s character in Lady of Letters relies hugely on maintaining the quality of her idiosyncratic ways. Her prejudices and her naivety amongst other things are all relevant traits, and in my recreative piece I found that keeping with Bennett’s structure, form and use of language ensured that Miss Ruddock’s character remained unhampered with.

This artless narrator seems very unaware of her social situation in the sense that she doesn’t seem lonely, even when staring outside vacantly for hours just to catch a glimpse of the couple next door. She is very much in denial, this is evident as she tries to justify her isolated ways, for instance, in Bennett’s piece she explains her meddling as a
so in equal pace I replied straight away. Well, I’d had all my jobs done by breakfast and those opposite weren’t about, so I was just twiddling my thumbs.” Although, at the same time I believe that unlike Bennett’s other monologue characters, Miss Ruddock is somewhat aware of her isolation as she often pauses after speaking of her mother. This implies that she is reflective of the past; the only time she was truly happy, when mother was alive. To mirror this literary device, I kept pausing after mentioning of her mother, this is evident with “It’s not like the good old days, when mother was alive. Pause.” Also, as in my piece Irene speaks of the time when she tripped and fell, over the same step that she wrote a previous letter about that symbolises the change in time and society, as she believes that when she was younger there would be a whole host of people out to nurse her skinned knee and to find justice for Irene,
In my piece I often mentioned, or related back to the past in a way that continues the character’s austere style. As Bennett allows Miss Ruddock to speak with a loose tongue about society in general, “It’ll surprise me if they’re married. He has a tattoo anyway.” this shows her judgemental ways as she implies that a tattoo, something that in her youth was seldom seen, is something that is present within the lower echelons of society and those of bad values. Her prejudices and distortion of her current reality are reflected in my piece as she speaks of what defines a “proper craft”. She speaks ill of university students and even generalises by calling them all “Lay-a bouts”, this proves that Irene is so isolated from today’s society that she genuinely believes that all students are wasting valuable time. Again, Miss Ruddock believing that it is society that is