Commentary on my response to ‘A cream Cracker under the settee’-By Alan Bennet

20th Century Coursework A cream Cracker under the settee-By Alan Bennet A monologue by Doris when she is in Stafford House: - Well, I am in Stafford House now. Pause The impressions that I had of residential homes are far from real. I can see how I exaggerated a lot about things, that I thought went on in homes. "Mix up your teeth" Well I keep my false teeth in my mouth all the time, and at night I take them out and place them in a glass of sterilised water. I think that if I let the nurse take them, they would go walking! The nurses can be a bit strange not like my Zulema, oh I do miss her. Everyone in the home is very clean and don't "Smell of pee" which I thought. If anyone of us has an accident the nurses will clean us up, I hope I don't have an accident anyway I can clean myself. What can I say I was prejudice against people in homes. Maybe this was because I was afraid of spending a penny in front of other people, no need to worry I have my own little bathroom in my room. Pause Well age affects us all, hey! Pause Stafford House from the outside is very pleasant and follows inside too. The decoration is nice; the walls are all wallpapered nicely, not as well as my Wilfred could do it though. I even have my own room; in my room there is a bed and a bedside table where I have my clock and my picture of Wilfred beside me. So when I am asleep Wilfred is

  • Word count: 1413
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

How does Bennett arouse our sympathy for Doris in "A Cream Cracker under the Settee"?

How does Bennett arouse our sympathy for Doris in "A Cream Cracker under the Settee"? Allan Bennet firstly arouses our sympathy for Doris in 'A Cram Cracker under the Settee' as she is an old woman and has health problems. Doris is 'A woman of seventy five with a pacemaker and dizzy spells ' Her health prevents her from the things she would do as a young woman, now she is old she has memories from throughout her life. Having dizzy spells worries Doris, therefore she does not leave the house as there is a threat of sudden dizziness. Her heart is also weak and this is the meaning for her pacemaker this restricts her from everyday life, walking, cleaning. Another reason which makes us feel sorry for Doris is that she has fallen on her leg and cannot get up therefore is in pain and it 'Feels funny this leg ' Doris' fall may not seem serious however it may cause complications. With Doris being am old woman with a bad heart this lead to having a leg amputated or more serious problems. Doris' injury has caused her leg to go numb and she is unable to. We feel sympathetic towards Doris because she is alone and has nobody to help. We feel sympathy for Doris because of her compulsion with cleaning she is obsessed 'Where hygiene's concerned ' Cleaning is the main reason for Doris to get up in the morning; however it is also the reason for her fall and may be the cause of her

  • Word count: 2469
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Evil has been present since the beginning of time causing many conflicts throughout the world. It is an inborn and nurtured behaviour, which can be heightened by one's surrounding environment.

Evil has been present since the beginning of time causing many conflicts throughout the world. It is an inborn and nurtured behaviour, which can be heightened by one's surrounding environment. Evil can cause one to have a very cynical outlook on life. When one becomes overcome with evil one becomes ignorant towards others and has a tendency to be very selfish. When one is corrupted by evil, his or her conscious is overthrown by their id, causing one to become sinister and callous towards the well being of others. Evil can cause people to hide their real self, expressing it in hidden meanings or actions. Miss Strangeworth expresses her true feelings not by word, but by her letters, " Didn't you ever see an idiot child before? Some people just shouldn't have babies". (216) This expression of anger towards the Crane's has no bearing on Miss Strangeworth. It is an id driven letter that is hurtful to the Crane's with no guilt or consideration towards them. The thought of others is not relevant to Miss Strangeworth; however, the thought of being caught is definitely a concern. Not only does Miss Strangeworth send hurtful letters but also the letters remain nameless with no trace of who may have sent them. " She never got any answers, of course, because she never signed her name". (217) The vindictiveness that Miss Strangeworth displays is the work of her ego. This

  • Word count: 636
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

There are certain things that you expect to see when you go to watch a traditional conventional play.

There are certain things that you expect to see when you go to watch a traditional conventional play. You may expect action, conflict and conversation among the actors; you expect to see emotions being expressed through dialogue and movement, though primarily you expect to see more that one actor on the stage. Unlike conventional plays the atypical monologue contains only one character. This narrator is often unreliable and it is up to the audience to watch the play and then judge the character. There is little action a monologue since as they mostly contain dialogue and are largely character driven. I consider monologues to have a greater affect on the audience because you engage in a much more superior insight into how the character feels. Genuinely without realising characters may twist or change a conversation they previously had in order to put their views across to the audience. They are not necessarily lying; they may have just interpreted the conversation in a slightly different way to how somebody else would have. Many of Alan Bennett's characters do not entirely understand themselves; he describes them as being "artless". Miss Ruddock is "artless" when she fails to understand why she has been required to stop penning her letters of complaint. She does not realise she is doing any harm by writing the letters, this may be because in formal letters you do not receive

  • Word count: 1374
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

To what extent can we trust Wilfred, in Alan Bennett's 'Playing Sandwiches'

To What extent can we trust, Wilfred, in Alan Bennett's play, Playing Sandwich's? The play, Playing Sandwiches, is one in a series of dramatic monologues, named Talking heads, written and directed by Alan Bennett for the BBC. There were two series of Talking Heads one released in 1988 and the other a decade later in 1999. The series deals with many different subjects, although there are a few recurring themes, such as; death, illness, guilt and isolation. I believe there to be a lot of guilt in this particular play. The writer/director of Playing Sandwiches, Alan Bennett, was born in Leeds on May 9th 1934. He attended Oxford University, studying History and performed with The Oxford Revue. Alan taught at the University before going on to write and perform his debut play, Beyond the Fringe in 1960, which brought him instant fame. He then turned to writing full time and created; The Madness of George III, the monologue series Talking Heads and the play The History Boys. Playing Sandwiches was broadcast in 1999, during this time there was a mass moral panic about paedophiles. If a man was or seemed a little odd, he would be harassed and attacked by anti-paedophile mobs. Alan Bennett wanted to get the message across that paedophiles are not necessarily freaks of nature or obviously strange people. He wanted the public to realise that paedophiles could be most ordinary

  • Word count: 1654
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Modern Drama - Talking Heads

Modern Drama - Talking Heads, Alan Bennett Compare three characters from the dramas studied. What are the differences between how the character sees him/herself, how other characters in the drama see them and how we as an audience see them? Talking Heads is a series of monologues written by Alan Bennett about mainly ordinary people in society. Alan Bennett was born and raised in Yorkshire and therefore the majority of his monologues refer to people living in areas that he is familiar with. These are mentioned several times and Talking Heads with regular appearances of places such as Ripon and Harrogate. Monologues allow us to get a deep insight into just one person's ways of thinking about the topics that are being discussed. They are, of course, very biased opinions expressed in the monologues, as each character will have his/her own feelings about the various topics that are discussed. These very descriptive monologues give us detailed insights into the minds of each character and allow us to gather together an idea of there state of minds and attitudes towards the current states of their lives and society. In Talking Heads, there is great contrast in the ways in which the various characters think of each other, themselves and how we see them. In the majority of the monologues we often have a completely different opinion of the main character than what they think of

  • Word count: 3046
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

How does Alan Bennett reveal to us the character of Lesley and how do we respond to her?

How does Alan Bennett reveal to us the character of Lesley and how do we respond to her? "Her Big Chance" is a dramatic monologue written by Alan Bennett in 1988 as part of the twelve monologues in the book 'Talking Heads'. 'Talking Heads' are short monologues which consist of stories regarding people talking about an event in their lives. Bennett reveals the character of Lesley as being an 'actress' who is looking for a chance in the movie business. In the monologue Bennett gradually displays Lesley's character by using techniques such as dramatic devices and he also shows Lesley's character through people she interacts with. A monologue is a speech or talk made by one person to the audience. Lesley is the main protagonist who believes that she has a very successful acting career. 'Her Big Chance' is about how Lesley agrees to have an audition for a film, but during the filming she gets manipulated and tricked in to doing things the audience may feel as inappropriate, but she does not "'At least Gunther is giving me something I can relate to'. He says 'Right! Let's shoot it! Elbow the bikini bottom!'". She does not realise that she has been manipulated to remove her bikini bottoms. When Gunther said that the character Travis would do it, Lesley immediately agreed with him instead of being suspicious. Lesley does not have moments where she can see the reality of her life,

  • Word count: 1450
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

cream xcracker under hte setee

A Cream Cracker Under The Settee 'explain in detail and by frequent reference to the text, the devices used by Alan Bennet to make the action on the stage varied and interesting'. A cream cracker under the settee'' is a humorous play in the form of monologue. It was written by Alan Bennett who wrote the play in 1940s, Doris is the main character played by Thora Hird , who is an old lonely lady who's in her seventies and thinks of her present life and reminisces about her past. Doris loves cleaning, she links everything to cleanliness. But sadly in her poor conditions she finds hard to maintain this cleanliness that she's mad about. Instead a cleaner called Zulema from the social services comes to her house every week to clean for her. Zulema always try's to persuade Doris to move to Stafford house which is an old peoples home however Doris despises the thought of Stafford house. In the monologue are some major events such as the finding of a cream cracker under Doris's settee which seriously upsets Doris as she knows Zulema cant be doing a good job another key event in the play is the injury that Doris sustains from falling off her stool while trying to dust. In the play we hear Doris describing the still born birth of her baby and the nurse wrapping it up in news paper as if it was worthless this is a shocking event in the play and also a key one as it spurs Doris's

  • Word count: 1199
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

A cream cracker under the setee- by Alan Bennett (How does Alan Bennett make us feel sorry for Doris?)

A cream cracker under the setee- by Alan Bennett (How does Alan Bennett make us feel sorry for Doris?) Hannah Thistlethwaite A cream cracker under the settee is one out of a series of six monologues called Talking Heads. They are all written by the well known author Alan Bennett. The monologue we are studying is about an elderly lady called Doris. Doris talks about her situation, reminiscing her past experiences. At the start of the monologue we see a confident and dignified old woman. However by the end of the monologue Alan Bennett exposes her weaknesses and makes us express sympathy for her. He also makes us appreciate how Doris has had a hard life and makes us recognize that when she was growing up society was very different and people showed more respect to others. Doris thinks she is a very independent person but in reality her health cannot allow her to be so independent. She is scared of not being autonomous and moving into Stafford house would mean that she would be dependent on others. She is in refutation over her current situation and she believes she could cope without Zulema or Stafford house. Throughout the monologue she moans about Zulema and her work but really Doris could not manage without her. We see this when it states, "Zulema doesn't dust. She half-dusts." This shows how Doris cannot trust anyone but herself to do the housework; she feels as if

  • Word count: 2637
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

How does Bennett use dramatic devices to bring the character of Doris alive in "A Cream Cracker Under the Settee"?

Cream Cracker under the Settee by Alan Bennett How does Bennett use dramatic devices to bring the character of Doris alive? Alan Bennett was born in Leeds on the 9th May 1934, and attended Leeds Modern School then gained a place at Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge. This clearly shows he was well educated. However, Alan Bennett attended Exeter College where he had gained a 1st class honours degree in History. Bennett later became an actor and a playwright; his career led him to narrating many books e.g. Madness of King George, and the Talking Heads Series, which was nominated for a BAFTA award in 1989. These series address issues of Death, illness and isolation; however, Bennett uses humour to keep the monologue light hearted and to create a less serious atmosphere. The ‘Talking Heads’ Series is a dramatic monologue; the only reason it is so popular is because it is directed at families so they can relate to the show, it features aspects of life which the audience experience in their lifetime which is why it attracted so many viewers and had them hooked. Alan Bennett used the series to deal with issues seen in society such as Death, mourning, the elderly and isolation. A monologue is a long, uninterrupted speech from actor to the audience. They can be limited as there is only one character so the writer needs to think about how the character will connect with the

  • Word count: 1988
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay