How does Alan Bennett show the audience Miss Ruddock's isolation in his monologue, The Lady of Letters?

Her noticeable lack of interest indoors draws her attention to her outdoor surrounding. A lot of her time is spent forming opinions about others and criticising them before meeting them. She often makes assumptions and implies things about others. To the audience therefore she seems very judgmental and critical.

'And this other side's Asians so they won't know what's normal and what isn't' here she uses a form of racism she is basically trying to say that people who are coloured are ab-normal; the audience will also see that Irene is being racist towards Asians and the way they look and dress.

'He has a tattoo anyway', here she uses her opinion to express her thoughts to the audience, and about people with tattoos and that they are not suitable for marriage. She judges people by her 'standards'; the audience is provoked by the author to react to these ideas and 'standards' and disagree with them. This illustrates to the audience her bizarre opinions. Standards are very important to her. Her 'standards' imply to the audience she is warped in her thinking, as they are old fashioned and strange. Irene has a very bad opinionated idea of what people should look like and behave like if they do not meet to he own standards she criticises them and does not go near them.

We also see an opinion of another character in the play which is the doctor who Irene goes to visit 'I said I was getting upset, like I did before . . . and he said, "well, these tablets will help you to make a more balanced view"' This tells the audience that Irene suffers from depression and this also may result to her writing letters about other people to make her feel better about herself.

Miss Ruddock is visited by the police, she is assigned to two social workers to keep an eye on her and to stop her from writing her distraught letter, her initial reaction to them is extremely critical, she refers to one of her social workers (Maureen) 'shocking fingernails, ginger hair, and last week a hole in her tights as big as a 50p piece. She looks more in need of social work than I do'

Once again Irene Ruddock is talking about her standards about people and how they do not reach to them as she has high expectations which obviously people can not meet, the audience will still see her as a critical middle-aged woman but also a type of humour is entered into this play as she is comparing Maureen with a 50p piece.

The other social worker is called Mrs Rabindi, Irene is slightly judgemental about her religion 'the other ones Asian, Mrs Rabindi, little red spot on her forehead, all that.'

Her comment tells us that she probably does not like the spot on her head and since she is an atheist, Hindu's wear dots on their foreheads when they are married to show they are as its part of their religion.

When Mrs Ruddock is sent to prison due to breach of peace; her attitude towards people changes, she is relaxed, able to talk to people and open-minded 'I'm friends with practically everyone besides Bridget'; 'This is the first taste of freedom I've had in years.'

These two quotes show the change of mood when Irene is in an institution, she is much happier and social instead of being judgemental, cruel and critical. The audience will also realise the change in speech from Irene as she is a bubbly person in prison.

The letters Irene writes play an extremely important role in revealing her character. The letters are a vital part in her life. She feels that her letters are important as they point out the ills in society in her opinion and attempts to put them right. In fact most of the people who receive the letters 'fob-her off' and example of this is the letter she writes to the funeral parlour complaining about the 'grown men skulking in the rhododendrons with tab ends in their mouths.' The director, Mr. Widdop plays along to please her and prevent her from making further complaints. In reality he discards her letter.

Irene's letters are a form of communication, as the audience know she's very lonely. This is verified when she write to live letter and would therefore be a publicly shown letter. She would have connected with more people. The audience may think that it is easier for her to express her opinion through a letter rather than calling the person or talking to them face-to-face.

'The key note is participation', this phrase used by Irene is interesting, as she does not participate once in the story herself. Her letters aren't physical and therefore not participation. She again contradicts herself. It illustrates to the audience a character flaw, as she continually contradicts herself and therefore is less believable when forming opinions or making statements.

Miss. Ruddock is proud of her letters, and feels she's cleaning up of society. This is a fictional as her letters are mostly trivial or malicious to others. Her desperation to make an input in society shows and confirms her loneliness to the audience. She writes her letters to simply gain a reply, as this is the only form of contact she has. This reveals to the audience her warped opinion of what is important and what isn't.

Irene frequently contradicts herself; irony is common in this monologue. An example of irony is when she writes to the funeral parlour complaining of the drivers smoking but in a complete transformation she begins smoking herself once imprisoned. Another ironic point, with added humour, (dramatic irony) is when she discusses her 'monument the ramp'. 'A dog had gone and done its business on it.' This shows that all she's accomplished in life has a pile of dog 'poo' on it!

The irony used in the play is one of the many dramatic devices. It has a large effect on the audience and is the outline to the play. The play is therefore based on dramatic irony. By continuously contradicting herself she loses the respect of the audience and appears reckless. The author has structured the play very carefully by ensuring Irene's opinions, are disagreed with by the audience. The audience therefore disregards her opinions. Her outlook and judgments of others are stupid to the audience. When she contradicts herself she makes herself look worse and is embarrassing herself.

The Lady of Letters - Draft Copy By Zuhaib Ahmad