How is the prison service presented in scene 6 and other parts of "Murmuring Judges" by David Hare?
by
nori (student)
How is the prison service presented in scene 6 and other parts of the play?
Hare uses the characters to present the flaws of the prison service, the relationship between Irina and Gerard becomes intimate. The prison service is presented as a corrupt institution that does not follow through or particularly care about prisoners. Hare uses Irina to highlight the blemishes and fraudulent nature of the prison system as she becomes Gerard’s ‘friend’.
In this scene, Hare presents Beckett world-weary and as not particularly sentimental but there is some sense of emotion and irony there, ‘I think the prisoners like it why else do they keep coming back?’ and ‘watch the shit-packages’, this shows the ironic tone he uses when talking to Irina. Hare uses pragmatism to describe Beckett; he is a sensible character, not an idealist, ‘Only by us, Miss Platt. It’s left to us’. This shows that he has accepted the tragic reality of the prison service and that it will not change for the better. The corruption is rooted too deep for any sort of reform, however much people try. Financing in prison during the 1980s was kept low despite the growing number of prisoners during that period of Margaret Thatcher’s conservative government. During the 1980s, there were 51 criminal trials, public enquiry proved the most searching examination of penal policy, which shows that the police may have searched people just for the sake of it. Beckett knows that the idealists within the prison service are not practical enough; therefore he also knows that the problems are too big to repair. When asks ‘why do they keep coming back?’ he means that the prisoners keep reoffending therefore the rehabilitation they need isn’t taking place, meaning that the prison service is not as successful as people think it is. Beckett’s personality contrasts with Irina’s, who is an idealist. She has the naive hope that she can change things; Hare shows that Beckett had been around for too long to think things will change – he is realistic. He is discouraging, describing the prisoners as ‘something-must-be-dones’ which shows the lack of emotion within the prison system.
