Discuss and explore how Alan Bennett develops the character of Miss Ruddock in a dramatic and
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
For the audience there were two ways that Miss Ruddock can be interpreted: one of which is that she is a concerned citizen and the she has a right to complain, as peoples funerals should be a place to express emotion and be hassle free; the other is that Miss Ruddock seems to be an elderly woman in her 70's or 80's, who has never been in love and a busybody for whom everything has to be perfect. "I can't say the service was up to scratch".
You also get an impression that she's well educated as she uses big, long and some complicated words, 'reverence', 'lack-lustre', 'courteous' and 'verification'. In most cases she was able to use shorter and less formal words, i.e. plant, she could have used this instead of rhododendron, which is its Latin name. Alan Bennett has deliberately used these words to make sure that the audience knows that Miss Ruddock she is defiantly well educated and knows what she is talking about, she is a voice for the people, 'public-spirited'.
During the time of this monologue Britain was going through its worst economical crisis since the Second World War. Margaret Thatcher had just come into power and the economy was in ruin, unemployment was sky high, and any jobs there were, were poorly paid. This meant that it was everyone for themselves, 'dogs eat dog world'...