How does Alan Bennett make the audience feel empathy for Doris in A cream Cracker under the Settee?

A lap up cracker low the settee is a dramatic monologue written by Alan Bennett in 1987 for television, as part of his prattleing Heads series for the BBC.Doris is in her s yetties. This hints at her be grizzly and vulnerable in motivation of c ar and assistance. More exclusively over, she outlines that she does not attempt to sparge, this is by chance because she is physic each(prenominal)y unable or consumed by her thoughts.Zulema says that her dustings days are over. This makes you find oneself sorry for Doris and deeply see with her. She may take a disquietude of dirt rupophobia or she may respectable be an demurionally sanitary person.Further more(prenominal), Zulema exploits Doris old age and feelings by saying she doesnt project the sense she was born with, this perchance adjust but it is incon spotrate towards Doris feelings. thusly again, Zulema does postulate the right to deliver her mind, as she has to rig up with Doriss nagging all week.Doris is nee r satisfied with Zulemas housekeeping saying, Zulema doesnt dust, she half-dusts This emphasises Doris obsession with cleanliness, maybe suggesting that she has OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). Alternatively, maybe occupying her mind with such things helps her forget the melancholy she feels deep within.However, as we progress through the monologue we construe that Zulema in feature intimidates Doris. Ultimately, making Zulema the more dominating character. She does not hesitate in telling Doris I am the single person that stands between you and Stafford House. In evoke of this, Doris is adamant that she will not drop her indep annihilateence and is sure that she will abide in her own billet.Another bang-up example of this is when she shoves the duster down the side of the chair. We can only don that Doris does this to avoid a lecture or confrontation with Zulema, preventing further distress. Again, we feel empathy for Doris as important issues such as interference of the aged, growing old and life choices are brought to our attention. Therefore, we can conclude that she sometimes feels discontent and unsettled in her own home.In the midst of all this, the fact form Doris is suffering from a numby leg. Alan Bennett deliberately bums talk about her leg between pauses so that the hearing has time to focus on and consider Doriss current situation and indeed feel a nifty stack of compassion for her. These strategic pauses are use constantly throughout the monologue, giving us plenty to sympathise with.Throughout the monologue, the closing curtain of each scene is indication by the simple stage direction Go to black. This maybe connotes a profane shift or the passing of time. Moreover, before each scene fades to black, Alan Bennett gives the audience something to deliberate over and keep in the covering of their heads.For the whole of the monologue, Doris speaks to us directly. This enhances her vulnerability, yet she maybe biased, as we only know her touch of view and nobody elses. This leads us to trust that Doris thinks e trulything revolves around her and she may come crossways as self-centred or self-obsessed. so again, we feel great sympathy for Doris as she is isolated, cut cancelled from reality, and maybe unwanted by a society, which considers her as an outsider.The range varietys throughout the monologue, as Doris travels to assorted separate of her home, nevertheless she remains in the aforementioned(prenominal) location. This connotes a very static nature, suggesting that Doris simply ever goes out and mostly corset in the same room. According to her, I never get a bona fide party, this tells us the only visitor she promising has is Zulema. We feel great empathy for Doris because she is lonely, lacking a faithful companion. Furthermore, the moving from the comfy plaza of her settee possibly indicates the movement from a secure and comfy position in life to her current situation. Still, th is isolated place is her comfort zone, perhaps signifying that she is more likely to tell the truth as she is under no pressure and can speak of her own free will. Subsequently, she does in fact unravel the truth about various stages in her life.Another clever winding Alan Bennett uses to make the audience feel empathy for Doris is surliness and Doris surely has a sense of peevishness, we ca-ca this when she says, Love God and close all gates. The audience finds it easier to empathise with her because they can joke with her and not at her. Her dry, sarcastic humour is a hit with audience off all ages.As Doris discusses her husband Wilfred, she talks about him getting mad ideas, stating how unlogical they were and how he never got round to it. Yet, jibe to her, A kiddydve solved all that. This makes us wonder why Doris does not have a child and whether she has any family at all. We suddenly feel a great deal of compassion for her because her only family, Wilfred, has passed away. later on, we discover that she did have a baby, which also passed away. If it had lived I might have had grandchildren now, she explains. Our course of sympathy for Doris expands to greater lengths. Death is certainly one of Alan Bennett says of gaining empathy for his characters.Further on in the monologue we discover that Doris and Wilfred were not very outgoing people. Doris plainly explains, We werent the gregarious type. This implies that even when Wilfred was alive, Doris was a secluded, reserved individual. Then she refers to Wilfred, he thought he was, but he wasnt. This gives us the impression that Wilfred could have been a sociable person except Doris stood in his way as she essentially controlled their relationship. We feel empathy for both characters here since they never very experienced anything amazing in their lives except for grief and now for Doris, loneliness.This could all change though if Doris decided upon leaving home and moving to Stafford House but plainly You go daft there, theres nowhere else for you to go but daft according to Doris. perhaps Doris is against the idea of leaving home because all her memories of Wilfred will remain there or she might just feel afeard(predicate) and unprepared to face the real worldly concern on her own at a late stage in her life.Towards the end of the monologue, Doris hears the voice of a police officer, enquiring as to why her home lights are off. alternatively of asking for his help, she lets him leave. It is assumed by the audience that Doris later dies, because she feels the time is right. Also as the conclusions to Bennetts plays are usually miserable. Her last actors line are Never mind. Its done with now, anyway. Then the LIGHT FADES, a sense of despondency and sadness fill the readers heart and mind, no greater empathy can possibly be felt for Doris at this stage. This dramatic and right on text leaves the audience wondering, hoping. This is without doubt Alan Bennetts clever est composing technique