Alan Bennett wrote 'A Lady of Letters' in 1987. It is a dramatic monologue from the 'Talking heads' collection and was written for Patricia Routledge.

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A Lady of Letters

Alan Bennett wrote ‘A Lady of Letters’ in 1987. It is a dramatic monologue from the ‘Talking heads’ collection and was written for Patricia Routledge.  

    This satirical tragic-comedy is about a middle aged woman called Irene Ruddock who writes letters of criticism and the short period in her life when her letter writing is most malicious and trouble making.  She is judgemental and likes to look down on people, as if she is better than everyone, when really she isn’t. Her mixed up life leads us away from the irony near the end of the play.

    Bennett came from a lower middle-class family and grew up in Yorkshire. He graduated from Oxford University in the 1960’s and became a television star who was nominated for an Oscar. Bennett’s ‘Talking heads’ series has been described as “gossip as drama” as he uses characters from lower-middle and working classes, using mostly northern accents. Bennett had an ear for colloquial conversation and he often described his upbringing as a world of small snobberies and social awkwardness. Bennett’s ‘Mam’ was an important figure in his life and he told how her death was very difficult for him. The basis of the character Irene Ruddock could be linked to Bennett’s mother and her life.

    The opening stage directions tell us that Irene is unmarried and is an “ordinary middle aged woman”; this tells us that she isn’t special and she may be lonely. Bennett depicts Irene sitting in a “simply furnished” room, which reveals to us that she is not rich and lives a simple life. Bennett also establishes that there is a bay window, which is a key factor in the play as it symbolises her loneliness and isolation; it lets Irene look out into the outside world and pass her judgement on people that she sees. This becomes more obvious later on in the play when Irene watches her neighbours and makes assumptions about “the kiddy”. Also, at the end of every stage direction the time of day is given: “it is afternoon”, “morning” and “disk are used by Bennett to suggest that Irene spends all day infront of the window; the fact she has nothing else to do emphasises further her loneliness and apparent isolation.  

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    In the first few paragraphs we learn what Irene’s character is really like. As Bennett writes the play as a dramatic monologue, Irene talks to us in a type of soliloquy; she tells us all her thoughts her feelings. Everything is from her perspective and from the beginning Bennett shows us how disapproving and critical Irene can be. When she notices the men smoking in the chapel of rest, Irene mixes a snobbish tone with a colloquial tone: “skulking in the rhododendrons with tab-ends in their mouths”. The mix of tone tells us that Irene is making an ...

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