Irene Ruddock has been given an expected Mis-en-scene in her monologue. She has many old items, her furniture and possessions as well as her clothes. Irene uses a lot of nostalgia, which shows that she was brought up in a time when everything to her seemed better. From the text in Irene’s monologue we discover that she is very nosy and quick judging, ‘’She can’t be more than twenty and by the look of her she’s expecting another.’’ This may suggest that the activity in the neighbourhood is not to her liking.
In such shows as ‘The office’ whose main character is Brent, we see a lot of symbolism and similarities, which relate to Alan Bennett’s Lesley and Irene. Brent is obsessed with his own good fortune and well being, he also has little idea of how should act in the real world. Brent is not a sociable person, although he believes he is, and has little real contact with others. These are some of the many similarities, which include spitefulness and colloquial language. Pathos is generated as we feel sorry for Brent, because he is so awful.
The first monologue that we studied was ‘Her big chance’. Lesley is a character who wants to believe she is special, when she is infact a very ignorant and untalented person with little genuine qualities. Her so called profession is acting; which she describes all the small insignificant roles she has had, as being major successes due to her talent. When watching and reading about Lesley we discover that Bennett has made Lesley very self obsessed and boastful, ‘’ I am professional to my fingertips’’. Lesley is a character who needs attention, ‘’I’d taken a fancy to the hotel in the hope I might catch the director’s eye’’. Bennett has made Lesley desperate for the chance to excel herself and appear popular, so he uses a lot hyperbole in her monologue, ‘’I was playing a woman in a musquash coat’’. Lesley is very ignorant and arrogant, ‘’I’m a very convincing reader’’; this shows that she is untalented but believes that she is. Lesley is also very stereotypical towards many people, ‘’ my experience of tattoos is that that they’re generally confined to the lower echelons’’. Lesley is very much obsessed with statues, which could be a reason for the wide us of hyperbole used in her monologue; she desires fame and fortune and believes that she can achieve it by doing as little as possible. The hyperbole used by Bennett generates a more obvious and desperate Lesley, as Lesley is always exaggerating even the smallest things, ‘’ I was told it was a fork lunch, the script said it was a finger buffet’’.
From the text we discover that many of her work colleagues in the ‘over seas market’ ( ironic term for pornography) have little respect for her, ‘’he said,’ I don’t care if you play a championship game of ice hockey, just don’t get pregnant’’. There is a lot of irony in the monologue as Lesley denies her own failure. We can sympathise for Lesley as we can tell from her story that she has been taken advantage of and is unaware of the image she presents to other people ‘’ I know it’s only 9:30 in the morning, could I see you in your bra and panties?’’. There is dramatic irony displayed to us by Lesley as we know she is generally unintelligent but makes herself believe she is; therefore she is delusional. Some argue that she deserves to be treated badly due to her stupidity and arrogance, but instead we may sympathise. We can also sympathise at the fact that she is socially incapable of making real friends as she does not act her natural personality.
The second Monologue that we studied was ‘a lady of letters’. Irene Ruddock is an elderly lady who is very isolated in her traditional house. Bennett has made a a very nervous character who likes to criticise everyone ‘’The kiddy looks filthy’’. Irene leads an empty life with no relatives and no friends, but she feels that she is important. Bennett has included a lot of symbolism in Irene’s environment, being her house. In most of the scenes that we see of Irene there is a window. We can gather from the window that she is a ‘curtain twitcher’, or a nosy person who spies on the neighbourhood. ‘’The couple opposite are just having tea. No cloth on.’’ We can tell from this that she stays by the window, which is a form of symbolism and could show how alone she is as it may be the only freedom she has. Another form of symbolism is the letters; which Irene writes instead of socialising in public or with friends. Her letters are her form of escapism, which she uses to inform the world of her opinion, ‘’I thought the least I could do was write’’. As Irene is so isolated it enhances her delusion that she is better off alone. When we see Irene she is not irritated by being alone; but possibly because of the outside world, which she is constantly moving away from. Irene is slipping away from reality. The third form of symbolism is Irene’s pen, ‘’ It’s stood me in good stead this pen.’’ Irene always uses the pen to write her letters. She feels secure having a pen, which her late mother had bought for her, ’It’s been a real friend’. Bennett uses personification to make it seem like it is a real person.
Bennett has used a large amount of Irony in Irene’s monologue, which helps make it a more effective tragic-comedy. Irene loves status, like Lesley; ‘’I thought I’d get out my little maroon coat’’. Hyperbole is used to boast the status of the coat, maroon is a posh word for brown; which is a quite traditional colour and a normal coat. This is ironic as we as an audience know that she lives very simply. This helps make tragic-comedy because something so pointless can matter so much to Irene, like her pen. Other parts of Irene’s monologue include her stereotypical nature, ‘’people knocking about’’, she relates to youths unofficially, which make is ambiguous. An irony in her monologue is that she does nothing except complain. I believe that she is acting like a child by being judgemental. Bennett has used irony when Irene talks about waiting for the newspaper. ‘’I’m just waiting for the paper coming. Not that there’s much in it.’’ This shows that Irene feels she has the authority to complain and change things, but has infact nothing to do other than wait for the newspaper. This shows us where Irene actually is in social civilisation; she is very insignificant but believes otherwise.
The third monologue that we studied was ‘A cream cracker under the settee’. Bennett has made his character Doris an old lady who has a lot in common with Irene, as she lives a very isolated life and has strange habits. We can tell from the text that Doris is very lonely and deluded. From certain parts we discover how helpless and lonely she is, ‘’ Doris do not attempt to dust’’. From this monologue interpretation of Doris’s cleaner by Doris we find out that she is quite incapable of looking after herself. The audience’s reaction to this can be sympathy as Doris wants to be able to do things for herself, but can’t physically manage it. Bennett has created a sense of Pathos by making her seem so helpless and sad. Doris does not want to accept that she is incapable of doing things for herself, and is being told not to do so as if she were a child.
From Doris’s reaction we can gather that her cleaner Zulema is not cleaning to her standards, ‘’ Well Zulema, I bet you haven’t dusted the top of that’’. This helps make the audience react with less sympathy and generates their incomprehension, because we realise that Doris is fussy. This text involves more pathos as Doris is virtually helpless to do otherwise. ‘’I’ am the only person that stands between you and Stafford house’’. This was another interpretation of Doris’s cleaner by Doris and shows us that Doris is on a very fine line of going to Stafford house; which is ambiguous. This is a form of pathos in the text and symbolism as she is being threatened, and makes us believe that she has no family to look after her. There is no delusion in Zulema’s words, as they are her conclusion for Doris. The text shows us that Doris may take this as a threat. Stafford house is ambiguous to us as it seems to be either positive or negative. ‘’I am the only one who stands in the way’’. From the story we gather that Doris does not want to go to Stafford house, as it seems to be a special home.
The audience can start to feel much less sympathy for Doris as we find out more about her and how obsessively clean she is, ‘’ I could do with trees if they didn’t have leaves, going up and down the path. Zulema won’t touch them’’. This text shows us that Doris has major problems with the tree leaves on her path, they make it messy. We can have less sympathy as she expects her cleaner to clean the outside, which the audience can see as pointless and also provides a sense of the ridiculous. We can gather more evidence from this statement that Bennett has made Doris delusional, because she needs everything very clean and tidy for no clear reason so far. This creates a further sense of delusion and pathos.
The picture of her late husband is an effective form of symbolism in Doris, she talks about her husband as if she were alive and there with her. ‘’Cracked the photo, we’re cracked Wilfred’’. She refers to Wilfred quite often during her monologue, which is shows more pathos and includes nostalgia. In a lot of the mis-en-scene we see of Doris, the picture is there on the floor, which shows that it may be her most prized possession. Bennett includes nostalgia as Doris’s memories may be the most important thing to her.
We have found from studying the Alan Bennett monologues that he likes to use clever devices. All of Bennett’s characters that we’ve seen so far have something in common. One of the main devices that I have come across is hyperbole, which I feel is mainly used in Lesley’s monologue. The structure and aim of Lesley’s monologue was to deliver a self obsessed woman to the audience ‘’Whatever it is I’m doing, even if it’s just a walk on, I must get involved, right up to the hilt.’’ Euphemisms were used creatively, especially in Irene’s monologue and in Doris’s. All of the three characters in their monologues have an obsession, each is different but they all seem to be equally focused on their own obsession. Lesley has her status and social life problem, Irene writes her letters and Doris’s is her cleaning. All three include pathos, which seems to be Bennett’s ultimate secret to making good tragic-comedy; we have to sympathise with each one, but we can also love to hate them at the same time, the characters could be known as anti-heroes. The structures in each include an interesting mis-en-scene, which displays the character. Nostalgia and Irony are the other two extreme successes for Alan Bennett as they all include them, which makes them all seem twisted humans and make us feel better over their defaults.
Susan’s monologue also contains most if not all of these things as she is another strange character, who is an alcoholic. Her faults are directly in common with all the other characters because they don’t realise that they have a problem.
I believe that the most successful monologue in conveying loneliness and alienation is Irene’s monologue ‘A lady of letters’. This is because Irene seems to be the one with the least actual social contact with other people, but I feel she is the most isolated. Lesley had her work colleges, Doris had her cleaner. Irene has no-one except the police when she is in trouble. Bennett’s style of conveys my opinion by his technique of making Irene seem entirely helpless when we first meet her. Ironically she is the only one who actually benefited in the end, but I still felt that before she was the loneliest. Irene had formed herself to accuse a person about anything that was not to her liking and approval, she is very stereotypical. The most successful device that supports this is Nostalgia, she always relates to the past as if everyone and everything was better back then, then now. Alan Bennett has made a very dislikeable and disagreeable character, by making her unable to move on and except change.