“You can’t run anywhere. Your on trial here.”
Zulema should be on trial because she’s working at the house but actually Doris feels like a child. Also Zulema has more power than Doris. It is like Doris has to give in to her commands. I think this because Doris says like a child
“Yes Zulema.”
Zulema has told Doris not to dust but Doris does. We can tell because in the stage the
directions it says
“She shoves the duster down the side of the chair.”
Doris has been made to feel like a child by Zulema. Doris also feels like a prisoner in her own home because Zulema has the key so she commands who comes in the house and who goes out of the house.
Alan Bennett also uses puns when Doris cracks the wedding photo of her and Wilfred.
“Cracked the photo.” “We’re cracked, Wilfred.
This is when Doris introduces humor/amusmant. Doris has reinforced being away from Wilfred and also Doris thinks that they have got us and they want me to go into a home. Also Zulema has broken Doris spirits.
Bennett creates suspense a lot in this monologue this is because there are pauses and also when the screen gets blanked out. They create suspense because you think something bad is going to happen to Doris over the passage of time. The first blanked out creates suspense.
“Come on leg.”
This makes us wonder if Doris is going to be all right.
Doris introduces her husband Wilfred after she cracks the wedding photo. We hear words via Doris memories
“Anyway; he says the garden is my department.”
Wilfred says this in her head that because in the olden days women used to do the gardening. Also this makes us think that Doris had control of Wilfred back in the days.
Bennett creates suspense just before the baby and the pram is mentioned by Doris. This is because it makes us worried about it what happened to the child and where the child is to help Doris. Then after this Doris says
“This is where we had the pram.”
This is where Doris tells us about the child and how they wrapped it in newspaper as if it was dirty. The baby died because it was born too early so this makes us feel sad for Doris and her child. Doris moves away from the baby subject because it makes her sad just talking about it.
Alan Bennett mentions Doris’s leg throughout the monologue from start to finish. This is because there is something wrong with her legs. The first time she mentions her leg she says
“My leg’s a bit numb”.
This problem isn’t at its worst because every time she talks about her leg it gets worse. Near the end of the monologue her other leg gets numb it tells us this in the stage directions because it says
“She nips her other leg”.
At this point she can’t move either of her legs this makes us think that Doris has got something really wrong with her legs.
Doris is negative towards people in homes because she says
“Antiques. Keep them under lock and key”.
Doris thinks that the people in Stafford House are old like antiques and she also thinks there locked in the house like under lock and key. Doris thinks they are like prisoners in there own home this makes us think that to.
Doris’s dramatic decision near the end of the monologue when she could have been rescued is a good and bad decision I think. It is a brave decision because she doesn’t want to be put in Stafford House and be like a prisoner. Also its foolish decision because she can’t move and also she can’t accept that she has been defeated but she doesn’t want to give up without fighting because she doesn’t want to go to Stafford House and there were bad consequences for Doris actions. Doris could also die.
At the end of the monologue Doris’s final words are
“Never mind it’s done with now”.
This is a short and effective last sentence because Doris isn’t that fussed that she blew her chance of being rescued because it means that she doesn’t have to be put in Stafford House.
