Miss Ruddock is lonely because she leads a very lacklustre life. Other than writing inappropriate letters to anyone she see’s fit, she spends a lot of her time sitting in her chair by the window, often looking over the actions of her neighbour’s and casting judgement over their lifestyles. An example of this is when she says ‘Well, you’ve got a car, you’ve got a transistor, it’s about time you invested in some curtains’. At the beginning of the monologue we find out that Miss Ruddock attended the funeral of somebody who, until their obituary was posted in the local newspaper, she had called the wrong name. she feels that they are similar because ‘She lost her mother around the same time I lost mine, she had a niece in Australia and I have one cousin in Canada, then she went in for gas-fired central heating just a few weeks before I did’. This shows that she is lonely because she is so desperate to have something to do in her leisure time that she would even go to the funeral of someone she barely knew. Throughout the monologue there is very little communication with the outside world. Instead of getting to know a person, she makes stereotypical assumptions, which backfire on her when she complains about a neighbouring family neglecting their son, leaving him in the house on his own when they go out. She is later informed by police that he was in hospital, and had died from Leukaemia.
Before Miss Ruddock goes to prison the viewers learn that she is obsessed with trivial thing. She has no friends and nothing to do so she becomes obsessed. This is shown on one of many occasions when she is sitting in her chair looking out of her window. She is looking at her neighbours house when she states that, while they are having their tea, there is ‘no cloth on’. Miss Ruddock is also very critical of hygiene. In one instance while on a day trip to London she notices that a ‘dog had gone and done its business right outside Buckingham Palace’. After seeing this she writes a letter to the Queen to complain about it. I think that these two examples show that Miss Ruddock suffers from loneliness as although many people write to the Queen, very few do so to complain about trivial issues, like the amount of dog poo on the streets of London. After spending time in prison Miss Ruddock is a changed person. She has an interest in dress making and book binding. She has also become a very compassionate individual. If somebody has woken up in the night crying, it would have been likely that the old Miss Ruddock would have complained about it. However now Miss Ruddock got up and ‘holds her hand till she’s gone off again’. Since going to prison Miss Ruddock has people around her who depend on her and treat her as a friend.
Alan Bennett uses Miss Ruddock’s language to show that she is lonely. When she speaks she is wordy and formal and talks like a letter because she does not talk to people very often and is almost out of practice. Whenever she speaks she uses a verbose style of language where she says more than she needs to as a way of filling up her time. This is when she says ‘I thought the hallmark of a ceremony of that nature was reverence, whereas the word that kept coming into my mind was brisk.’ Most people would have said something similar to, I thought the service was meant to be for religious thought but I thought it was too quick. Miss Ruddock does this to further put across her point and make herself out to be better than others. After going to prison her language becomes a lot quicker and has gained a happier tone of voice. She uses shorter sentences and has become more accustom to talking to people. This is shown when she says ‘but the stuff some of them come out with. You have to smile’. Both these sentences are a lot shorter than some of her sentences at the beginning of the drama.
When Miss Ruddock goes into prison there is a great change in the way she interacts with people. She becomes more outgoing and has gained a lot more confidence. This is evident when she stands up for her friend Shirley when Geraldine is asking personal questions. Miss Ruddock tells Geraldine to ‘Fuck Up’. Since going to prison Miss Ruddock has become more compassionate to peoples difficulties. She is no longer lonely as she has new friends and a purpose. ‘We are trying to put a letter together to her boyfriend. Well she says it’s her boyfriend only I had to start the letter three times due to the fact that she could not remember his name’. Miss Ruddock carried on writing even though she knew it was not true as she thought it would make life in prison seem easier for her new friend. Since going to prison Miss Ruddock has ceased writing useless letters. This may be due to her learning her lesson but since going to prison Miss Ruddock has had more things with which to occupy her time. ‘I am that busy … I’ve opted for bookbinding and dressmaking’. With these things she has had no time with which to write letters and she has nothing to complain about. The viewer also knows she is lonely as her last words in the monologue are ‘I am so happy.’ For most people prison is the worst time of their lives but prison gave Miss Ruddock a new license of life and now she has so little time for herself and feels so wanted and needed she loves life.
I think that when Miss Ruddock is released from prison she will not continue to write letters. I think that, for most people the story had a sad ending, but Miss Ruddock learned a lot from prison, it helped her to overcome her ‘terrible loneliness’ by making her feel she had a purpose. It also taught her how to communicate with people orally, and how to make friends.
Jamie Russell 11.4