Summary

The action is continuous.

Stage directions describe a shift in atmosphere. There is music, and a different light. The court remains frozen as Miss Benare stands and speaks.

Miss Benare begins by speaking of having had much to say for much of her life, but of keeping it to herself in the belief that no-one would understand. She describes being tempted to laugh at everyone around her because of their stupidity, and how she used to cry because she felt her heart was broken. She then describes how, in the aftermath of her suicide attempt, she found her way back to happiness. “There’s great joy in a suicide that’s failed,” she says. “It’s greater even than the pain of living” (116). She celebrates her joy in teaching, and her pride in helping her students learn that “life is no straightforward...