Willy Russell employed many dramatic devices to present Shirley Valentine as a very ordinary, working class middle aged housewife. Dramatic devices such as the deliberate choice of the Liverpool accent and the monologue when Shirley talks to the wall were selected intentionally to highlight her utter loneliness and maybe even lack of confidence and personality. This is pointed out when she says " I like a glass of wine when I'm doin' the cookin'. Don't I wall? Don't I like a glass of wine when I'm preparing the evening meal?"
Moreover, in order to show that Shirley is hesitant and can open up to the wall more than anyone else and shows that she is confidant Willy Russell used the quote “What am I doin’ wall? She’s only been back two minutes and she’s got me struttin’ around like R-two bleedin D-two”. Willy Russell used this quote to show that Shirley is being controlled by her daughter. Also he used the robots to resemble her with slaves. Furthermore, Willy Russell used colloquial language such as ‘struttin’ to show that Shirley is an ordinary woman in her community and doesn’t pretend to be someone else. In addition, the utilization of slang is to make the audience sympathise with Shirley. Russell showed that she is aware of being pushed around by her daughter but she is resigned to it. The expression “R2 bledin d2” was used to compare Shirley with slave robots but they are still likeable though.
Willy Russell wanted the audience to be more supportive with Shirley, so he used the quote ‘But I didn’t really hate anything. The only thing I hated was me’. This shows that Shirley was very nice inside herself but she did not show that to other people. The word ‘thing’ was used to show that she was being too harsh to herself. Willy Russell used another strong word, ‘hated’ to enthuse the audience who did not expect that from Shirley. The audience fell sorry for her because nothing was going her way when Russell used the phrase ‘only thing I hated was me’.
In addition, Willy Russell introduced the audience with the idea that Joe used to love Shirley by using the quote ‘I love you ….. Shirley Valentine’. It is clear in the flashback that Joe loved Shirley in the past, however after the flash Joe does not love her any more. Willy Russell used the phrase ‘love you’ to demonstrate Joes’ past feelings but in reality he does not love her. On the other hand, Russell used ‘Valentine’ to show that Joe did not call her Shirley Bradshaw, her name after marriage.
Nevertheless, Shirley was still being controlled by Joe and she cared about him too much. This was noticeably presented by Willy Russell when he used the quote ‘Listen Jane - what about Joe? Willy Russell used the word ‘Listen’ at the beginning of the sentence to show that Shirley sees Joe as a problem. On the other hand, Jane expected an immediate ‘yes’ from Shirley because she knew that Shirley kept dreaming to travel. Alternatively, ‘what bout Joe?’ was employed to show that Shirley kept bringing Joe to the subject and she still loved him by always considering his opinions while Jane did not mention anything about Joe.
To build more sympathy by the audience, Willy Russell wanted to express that Shirley knows the fact that Joe doesn’t care about her but she is heart-broken and can do nothing, as in the quote ‘He says he still loves me. You know. He doesn’t. It’s just somethin’ he says. It’s funny isn’t it, I love you. Like it makes everythin’ all right. Like you can be beaten and battered and half insane – and if you complain he’ll say, ‘What’s wrong? You know I love you’. Additionally, to emphasise the same thought, Willy Russell used the quote ‘I love you! They should bottle it and sell it. It cures everything’.