Studying Two Alan Bennett Monologues
Introduction
A monologue is a play with a single performer. The word monologue is
of Greek origin and comes from mono-logos. Mono means 'word of one
person' and logos means 'voice' hence monologue, 'one voice'.
Alan Bennett's work is impressive and his understanding of
characterization is second to none. He has an ability to capture the
life- styles and backgrounds of the characters he creates. The
language of each character brings forward clichés that can be humorous
although in my view this might not have been always intentional.
In carrying out my research I found an article in The Times Newspaper
where Alan Bennett recognized that although he calls this work a
series of monologues they could be plays. In fact, two of his
monologues have been lengthened to enable them to be performed in the
theatre.
The article also stated that they could, equally well, be called short
stories, for although none has a conventional short story
construction, each has a plot, of sorts. It is a measure of Bennett's
skill with language, that all of the scripts establish detail, plot
and development of character.
A Lady of Letters
Patricia Routledge was cast in the BBC production to play Irene
Ruddock, a middle aged woman who writes letters.
We soon discover that what she regards as her public responsibility
has in the past turned into libel.
As a result legal action has been taken against her and she has been
bound over to keep the peace by a court for writing invasive and
offensive letters to her neighbours.
Irene Ruddock is a lonely and sad woman. The death of her mother had a
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...nd she instead concentrates on the fact that:
"Her mother was blind, but made beautiful pastry and she raised a
family of nine in three rooms."
Another example of this is Irene's friendship with the pyromaniac
Shirley,
"She shouldn't actually be in here in fact, she's not all there, but
there's nowhere to put her. Apparently she sets fire to places…she's
got a good heart."
Alan Bennett makes 'A Cream Cracker under the Sofa' dramatic by
raising your hopes about Doris's chances of being saved, but the
audiences' hopes are dashed when she tells the police officer she's
ok.
Summary
Monologues written and directed, as were both "A Cream Cracker under
the Sofa'/'A Lady of Letters' provide audiences with thought-provoking
drama. I enjoyed watching and studying in detail Alan Bennett's
monologues.
Bennett's Characterisation of Graham in A Chip in the Sugar and Irene in A Lady of Letters
Throughout the novel, crucial family members and friends of the girl that died are meticulously reshaped by her absence. Lindsey, the sister, outgrows her timidity and develops a brave, fearless demeanor, while at the same time she glows with independence. Abigail, the mother, frees herself from the barbed wire that protected her loved ones yet caused her great pain, as well as learns that withdrawing oneself from their role in society may be the most favorable choice. Ruth, the remote friend from school, determines her career that will last a lifetime. and escapes from the dark place that she was drowning in before. Thus, next time one is overcome with grief, they must remember that constructive change is guaranteed to
“She cried out, she cried for her mother, she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend was stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness. A noisy sorrowful wailing rose all about her and she was locked inside it the way she was locked inside this house” (Oates
...ed to confront the deep pain that she has carried in her heart; she must give an account of her life as she comes closer to the shadow of death.
Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of [my mother’s] death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.
Two sisters, Rose and Bianca, journey through life to find their need for closure after their mother’s death. Rose a responsible, smart, and career driven girl wanted nothing more than to escape the path of her past but in the end, she found the most peace in going back to where all the memories were made. While her sister Bianca died for a trip down memory lane and the hope to communicate with their death mother, when in the end, Bianca had no desire for her past. The girls each got what they wanted out of finally talking with their
Looking back on the death of Larissa’s son, Zebedee Breeze, Lorraine examines Larissa’s response to the passing of her child. Lorraine says, “I never saw her cry that day or any other. She never mentioned her sons.” (Senior 311). This statement from Lorraine shows how even though Larissa was devastated by the news of her son’s passing, she had to keep going. Women in Larissa’s position did not have the luxury of stopping everything to grieve. While someone in Lorraine’s position could take time to grieve and recover from the loss of a loved one, Larissa was expected to keep working despite the grief she felt. One of the saddest things about Zebedee’s passing, was that Larissa had to leave him and was not able to stay with her family because she had to take care of other families. Not only did Larissa have the strength to move on and keep working after her son’s passing, Larissa and other women like her also had no choice but to leave their families in order to find a way to support them. As a child, Lorraine did not understand the strength Larissa must have had to leave her family to take care of someone else’s
Through life, we often lose someone we loved and cared deeply for and supported us through life. This is demonstrated by the loss of a loved one when Esther's father died when she was nine. "My German speaking father, dead since I was nine came from some manic-depressive hamlet in the Prussia." (Sylvia Plath page 27.) Esther's father's death had showed that she was in need of a father figure for love, support and to act as a model for her life. Esther grew up with only the one influence of a parent, her
Through an intimate maternal bond, Michaels mother experiences the consequences of Michaels decisions, weakening her to a debilitating state of grief. “Once he belonged to me”; “He was ours,” the repetition of these inclusive statements indicates her fulfilment from protecting her son and inability to find value in life without him. Through the cyclical narrative structure, it is evident that the loss and grief felt by the mother is continual and indeterminable. Dawson reveals death can bring out weakness and anger in self and with others. The use of words with negative connotations towards the end of the story, “Lonely,” “cold,” “dead,” enforce the mother’s grief and regressing nature. Thus, people who find contentment through others, cannot find fulfilment without the presence of that individual.
In the poem “The Double Play”, the author uses metaphors, words, and phrases to suggest turning a double play in baseball is like a dance. Some words throughout the poem could be used to connect the idea of a double play being like dancing. One word that could suggest this is, the word used “poised”, “Its flight to the running poised second baseman” (12). Poised in this sense could mean that the player knows what he is doing and has mastered the double play, while a dancer can be poised meaning light and graceful. Another word in this poem that relate to a double play and dancing is the term “pirouettes”, “Pirouettes / leaping, above the slide, to throw” (13-14). The player is described to be doing a pirouette in the double play while in the
This poem is a firsthand account of how Anne Bradstreet was feeling when she experienced the loss of her granddaughter, Elizabeth. Although Bradstreet's attitude on Elizabeth's death seems to reflect her belief in God's plan, the diction suggests otherwise.
The Narrator’s family treats her like a monster by resenting and neglecting her, faking her death, and locking her in her room all day. The Narrator’s family resents her, proof of this is found when the Narrator states “[My mother] came and went as quickly as she could.
Alan Bennett presents his characters in Talking Heads by writing the plays in the form of monologue. By employing this technique he has managed to create a rich and detailed World in which his stories unfold but, he only allows us to see it through the eyes of a single narrator. When reading a play that is presented in this manner it is possible to lose sight of the fact that you are only getting one person’s version of events and you may start to believe that you are having conversations reported to you verbatim. This is a clever mechanism because the narrators can often be unreliable and lead the reader to form opinions and draw conclusions that quite often turn out to be unfounded and false. The term “Talking heads is a synonym in television for boredom” (Bennett, 2007, p, 10) yet, these talking heads are certainly not boring, the settings may be drab and ordinary, the characters are not exciting or inspiring yet, the gossipy way in which the stories are told hooks the reader in. Fitting neatly into the genre of tragicomedy it is perhaps fitting that the ‘tragic’ comes before the ‘comedy’, certainly the dramatist infuses the plays with a rich dose of humour but the melancholy subject matter and the often quite sad and lonely characters always counter balances the laughs with a tinge of sadness.
Although “The Grave” seems to be about two children playing in their grandfather’s grave, it is actually about the realization of gender roles, coming of age, and mortality. Katherine Anne Porter wanted the reader to look beneath the surface of the story to find the many different underlying meanings. The main character Miranda is faced with the cold hard truth that life isn’t always sweet and pleasant as she watches her brother kill and skin a pregnant rabbit.
In Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue “Fra Lippo Lippi” we as the readers are presented with a lot of background information about the speaker itself. This monologue overall subjects a monk/painter of Renaissance Italy. I find this monologue very interesting because of the fact that Browning uses sarcasm and witty personality in his favor at the beginning of the poem. The trait of the authorities being overzealous in the monk’s eyes is what charms the beginning first half of the monologue. For this writing assignment, I will analyze specific lines of 1-60; I believe the monk reveals a lot about himself as a character in the very first half of the poem which is why I find this of significance. While analyzing these specific lines, I will also describe how these lines help us as readers better understand this character in question.