Next we hear about her visit from the Police, which is where we find out what she really is like. At first, the male police man talks about the different types of letters which she had wrote in the past, and then we find out that she has been told to keep the peace by the courts. At this point, we finally realise that she isn’t that respectable lady which thought she was at the beginning. The female police officer then takes over and tells Irene that the little boy over the road wasn’t being mistreated like Irene had thought; he had died of leukaemia. At this point in the video, Irene begins to break down, and nearly cries. This shows that the writing of her letters and her jumping to conclusions had made her turn into someone who couldn’t stop putting herself into other people’s private life.
Further on in the video, we see Irene in prison. She appears to be happier, and doesn’t even care about the fact that she is in prison, even though earlier on she says “Prison, they have it easy. Television, table tennis, art. It’s just a holiday camp; do you wonder there’s crime…?” Irene contradicts herself when she is actually in prison, because she actually likes being in prison. Her character changes completely when she is in prison – she changes into someone who is full of life, and doesn’t want the new found happiness in her life to end.
Irene tends to make the couple over the roads business her own business. They end up being a massive part in her nosey life. She always worries about the child which the couple have, and doesn’t stop worrying about the boy either. She even goes to the doctor and tells him about the child who never comes out, he prescribes her some pills, which she says don’t even work. When she talks about the police, she tells about how their visit is to do with the child opposite her. Irene then tells the police how the child is being abused and treated with neglect; Irene is then shocked with the news that the little boy had leukaemia and had died last Friday. This makes Irene nearly cry when she is telling us on the video. It shows that she doesn’t want to nose into other peoples business but can never stop herself, because she has literally nothing better to do with her life because she lives on her own.
Patricia Routledge doesn’t just play herself on the video; she says everything which everyone else says like how they probably said everything to her. She says “He said, ‘letters.’ I said ‘Everyone writes letters. I bet you write letters.’ He said, ‘Not like you, love.’” When she says what the policeman says, Patricia Routledge makes us feel like the policeman really has it in for her, even though it’s her own fault that the police have come around to talk to her.
There are quite a lot of surprises in the play. One of those is when we find out that she is an atheist. This surprises the viewer because you don’t generally think that someone who is as respectable as what we believe she is could not believe in God. Bennet deliberately lets us find this out later on, because he wants us to be surprised because in the beginning, we think that she is a very highly classed person, and would probably go to church whenever she could because she lives by herself. Another surprise is when the policeman says “The court bound you over to keep the peace…” This surprises us because we earlier believed that she was a very respectable lady, but now we start to think that because she has been to court for writing the letters, she is most diffidently not as highly superior as we all first thought.
There are quite a few moments which are serious like when the police woman says “No. Leukaemia.” This is very serious because earlier on in the play, Irene believes that the child has been mistreated and makes it her business to interfere with the whole situation. We know this is a very serious part of the video because when Irene tells us what the police woman says, she is nearly in tears and is nearly ready to break down. Another serious part is where Irene tells us about the new policeman which walks the streets. This is a serious part in the video, because she says that he goes into one of the houses opposite Irene’s house, and stays there for at least an hour before coming out. She then mentions that when he does come out, the woman who lives there comes out in a short housecoat thing. She then goes on to say “He wants reporting.” This is serious because she was told to keep the peace, but we are then led to believe that she did end up reporting the policeman who spends most of the time in a neighbour’s house. After this, we see Irene sitting in prison, who is actually really happy.
Apart from very serious parts in the video, there are also some very hilarious moments as well, like when Irene tells us about the hair in her sausages which she bought. This is funny because she says “Big black hair in the sausage. So I wrote off to the makers enclosing the hair. Stuck it under a bit of sellotape. Little arrow: ‘This is the hair.’” This is funny because instead of just writing a letter of complaint to the manufacturer, she even sticks down the hair onto a piece of paper and puts an arrow by it saying that it is the hair which was in the sausage.
In the play, there is also a point where it is serious but funny, for example, she says “I share a room with Bridget, who’s from Glasgow. She’s been a prostitute on and off and did away with her kiddy, accidentally, when she was drunk and upset.” This is serious because we found out earlier on that she wrote a letter to the chemist says that his wife was a prostitute. It is also funny because she doesn’t mind sharing a room with her, even though she did complain to the chemist about his wife. Another reason why it is funny is because she really likes Bridget and is there for her all the time while she is in prison, even though Brigit was a prostitute.
In the beginning of the play, the lighting is quite dull, and Irene also wears very dull clothes. This shows that she is a very lonely woman, who can’t help feeling miserable because of living alone. She doesn’t talk to very many people, which is why she is always very down. However, when she ends up in prison, the lighting changes from being very dim to being quite bright. This shows that she is very happy in prison because she is surrounded by lots of people, and believes that her life has changed because she is in prison. She is also happier because she isn’t alone anymore, because she is with loads of different people even though they are all criminals.
At the end of Irene’s story, she says “And I’m so happy.” This shows that even though she is in prison for not keeping the peace and writing more letters, she is happier than she has ever been because she is not alone anymore. Irene would rather be in prison than be outside, because she doesn’t want to live on her own anymore. Irene isn’t heartless because she cares about her inmate Bridget, because in the middle of the night when Bridget wakes up shouting, Irene will sit and hold her hand until she has fallen asleep again. She really cares about the other people in there because she loves being around the people. Irene seems to give everyone a second chance, because she is so happy.
Alan Bennet maintains the audience’s interest in his Talking Heads because he manages to surprise you with every little detail. In A Lady of Letters we at first believe that Irene is a very respectable lady, until we find out all the surprises which Bennet has left out until he wants us to be surprised e.g. when we find out the court has bound her to keep the peace. She also can’t help herself when it comes to other peoples business, like with the couple with the ‘kiddy.’ There are also parts in the play which are quite serious but the viewer can’t help but find them somehow funny, like when she tells us about who she shares a room with in prison. the whole play is drama because throughout it, she expresses herself so that you really feel for her, she also says things which e.g. the police say to her as if she is reencountering what happens as if you were there.
