The play was first performed in 1988 in Deptford, it was set in Victorian London. Around this time over 4% of the populations were employed as servants, this links to the play as Annie was a servant. The servant would be in charge of the household accounts, washing the family’s clothes, ironed them, and finally they would clean the house. Also in this time the cattle disease act was implemented, and that livestock had to be slaughtered before it was taken to the dockyard. This was done so that no diseases from the foreign dockyard could spread around England. Due to this Act, it meant women were now working in slaughterhouses for 12 hours a day. This links to the play also as Annie went to work in a slaughterhouse after her time as a servant. …show more content…
This was by wring as a servant in somebody’s house. However I it not all as it seems, as who she is cleaning for has a son that isn’t very nice. The son is enrolled at Oxford University. He comes home in the holidays to see his family. But this one time when he did he wouldn’t leave Annie alone, which resulted in him raping her. This is when Annie mentioned how she ends up on the streets, left alone, to where people believe she is a prostitute, which she wasn’t. After she roams the streets she is picked up and taken to be examined, from this she finds out she is pregnant (from the rape), and she then gives birth to the baby at a house. But the baby she gave birth to had died due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around its neck. The monologue shows the emotional impact rape has on people. At the start of the monologue Annie appears to be happy, talking about how she worked in a beautiful house, the word beautiful shows the lightness of the monologue showing she was happy working there, but then something changed. I know this as when she mentions the son coming home she uses words that I can see changes the mood/atmosphere. She used words like fought, threatened, pleaded, and to me these words are intense and how the tension building up in the monologue. The part where she says pleaded suggests she was desperate, showing how badly affected she