TWENTY MINUTES WITH MRS.

OAKENTUBB

(Frank Arthur)

SUMMARY

Mrs. Oakentubb arrives by train at a country railway station. It was a stormy

night. So that she could warm herself. From here, she was going to catch a train,
which was due to arrive in twenty minutes, to take her to Stainthorpe, her
hometown. As she takes off her gloves and spreads her hands to the fire, a man
comes in. He too was going to Stainthorpe, by the same train as Mrs. Oakentubb.

The two, start a conversation, as the porter leaves. The Man tells Mrs. Oakentubb
that he is going to Stainthorpe to meet a lady by the name of Mrs. Oakentubb. He
says, I saw a photograph of her in a newspaper, but couldn’t tell how she looked
like. He says I am going to meet her, on a very important matter. During the
discussion, the Man accuses her of murdering his wife and daughter in a car
accident. Mrs. Oakentubb defends herself by saying, that it was an accident. The
police called it manslaughter. Mrs. Oakentubb had gone to a cocktail party and
was driving very fast to win a bet of £5/=. Mrs. Oakentubb killed Man’s wife and
daughter. The police sentenced her to eighteen months’ imprisonment, which she
had served.

But the Man is not satisfied with the punishment given to her. He wanted to
punish her and take revenge, for ruining his family life, besides killing his wife and
daughter. So, the Man pulls out his revolver to kill her. But Mrs. Oakentubb fools
the Man by convincing him that he would be doing her a favor, by killing her,
whereas, if she were alive, she would continue to suffer mentally, as she would
continue to see the crushed dead bodies of his wife and daughter. This horrible
scene, the picture of the accident will haunt her forever, which is unbearable for
her. She holds her hand and makes an appeal he pushes her down and she falls to
the ground and starts weeping.

The Man believes her and leaves the waiting room. As soon as he is gone, she
jumps to her feet in joy and “puts her fingers on the nose, at him.”

Suddenly the door opens and the Man comes in to take his luggage what he sees,
makes him very angry He pulls out his revolver and shoots. She falls dead Thus,
the Man takes his revenge.

Question and Answer

Q1.   Explain the importance of the label on Mrs. Oakentubb’s suitcase. Why
does she hide it?
Ans.    In the melodrama ‘Twenty Minutes with Mrs. Oakentubb’, the male
character, whose name remains unknown throughout, enters the railway waiting
room and glances at the tie-on label attached to the suitcase of a lady who was
already sitting there. She is Mrs. Judy Oakentubb, the very lady he is going to see
in Stainthorpe. Mrs. Oakentubb killed this man’s wife and daughter in a car
accident and he wants to avenge their “murder”. If the man had not seen the
label, he would have remained oblivion of her identity and the murder would not
have taken place. The development of the plot would have taken different lines.
Realizing the malicious intention of the man, she deems it appropriate to hide the
label so that the man might not know who she is. In addition, if she had escaped,
she might have taken protective measures and her murder might never have
taken place. 

Q2.        What motive has the man for murdering her?

Ans.    Revenge was the clear motive behind the murder of Mrs. Oakentubb. As
the male character in Frank Arthur’s play ‘Twenty Minutes with Mrs. Oakentubb’,
whose name remains unknown throughout, thinks that eighteen months’
imprisonment was not the sufficient punishment for crushing life out of his wife
and daughter. Mrs. Oakentubb’s lawyer advised her to tell to the court that she
had not seen them before the accident. As a matter of fact, she was drunk and
driving criminally fast for a bet. One of her friends wagered her five pounds that
she could not go from Stainthorpe Cross to the coast in fifteen minutes. That is
why the man thinks that killing for his wife and daughter in the accident was
not manslaughter, but “plain deliberate heartless cruel murder”, and that
the punishment for such a murder should be death “in the most painful way.”

Q3.        In this melodrama, the author keeps on  building up the tension and
then relaxing it, until the final moment of tension when the murder is done.
Briefly describe the chief moments of tension and what follows after each  one?

Ans.    The first moment of tension comes when the man describes the death of
his wife and daughter in an accident and speaks of his intention to kill Mrs.
Oakentubb who was responsible for that terrible accident. The second moment of
tension is when he takes out the revolver and tells the lady in the waiting room
that he is going to shoot her as she herself is Mrs. Oakentubb. The last and final
moment of tension is when he comes back, opens the door and finds her putting
her fingers to the nose at him, takes out the revolver and shoots her dead.

Q4.        Write a brief character sketch of Mrs.  Oakentubb?

Ans.    Mrs. Oakentubb is the central character in Frank Arthur’s play ‘Twenty
Minutes with Mrs. Oakentubb’.  She appears to be in her early middle age as she
has mouse-brown hair, well streaked with grey. She is deceptively
respectful. However, her villainous character is soon exposed when we come to
know that her daredevil attitude has claimed two innocent lives. She was drunk
when she was driving criminally fast for a bet. In an attempt to avoid a head-on
collision, she swerved onto the pavement and killed two innocent pedestrians.
Unscrupulous as she is, Mrs. Oakentubb tells a lie in court to reduce her crime
to manslaughter, and gets away with only eighteen months in prison. Another sly
and deceitful aspect of her personality is revealed when she keeps up the
pretence of being regretful. As soon as the vengeful man leaves the room thinking
that the unremitting mental anguish is her real punishment, Mrs. Oakentubb rises
to her feet and puts her fingers to her nose at him. The man suddenly re-enters
the waiting room, sees her offensive gesture, and shoots her. Thus, Mrs.
Oakentubb in rightly punished for the wrong she did.

Q5: At what point in the play do we become certain that the man knows that
the woman in the waiting room is Mrs. Oakentubb? When, in fact do you think
he discovered her identity?

Ans: When the man takes her coat and throws it on the bench his glance falls on
the table of the suitcase he becomes certain that the lady is the waiting room in
Mrs. Oakentubb.
When she tries to hide her identity by hiding the label with a flap it confirms that
the man has discovered her identity.

Q6: When is the audience likely to suspect she might be Mrs. Oakentubb?

Ans: The man talks the lady of his tragic story, happened in the Korea and informs
her that her smile gave him the purpose of life that to kill the lady who killed his
wife and daughter. She becomes nervous and started at him fascinated. She tries
to persuade him not to devote her life for the wicked purpose. And when, after a
while she tucks the flap on her identity the audience begin to suspect that she
might be Mrs. Oakentubb.

Q7: Why, in your opinion, does the anther make the porter a humorous
character?

Ans: Suspense, humor and romance are the essentials parts of a thrill. In this play
the porter gives relief in the tense and gloomy atmosphere. He relaxes the
audience by his humor.

Q8: Suspense is an important element in a thriller. Briefly show how the anther
keeps the audience in suspense for the answer to two questions will he find out
who she is? Will he kill her?

Ans: The author keeps the readers in suspense and delaying the murder. He
wants to kill the lady in a painful way. The author keeps the audience in suspense
they are compelled to think weather he will find out who she is. And when he
identifies her he prolongs the murder and it took place when the play ends.

Q9: Write a brief character sketch of the porter.

Ans: Although Porter is not a major character like Mrs. Oakentubb and the man
but he also plays a significant role in the drama. By his simple, romantic and
humorous nature he amuses the audience. He also relaxes the tense situation. He
addresses the lady as love and chuckles at her. He looks after the passengers and
serves them.

Q10: Briefly discuss whether the play would have had a more satisfying ending
if the man had not come back through the door, seen Mrs Oakentubb vulgar
and impenitent (rude) gestures and shot her that is to say if it had ended in Mrs
Oakentubb collapsing with genuine remorse (regret) and the man’s decision
that he would be adequately revenged if she went on living.

Ans: I think the play would not have had a more satisfying ending if the lady was
to be saved. It was inevitable to kill her because of her vulgarity and impertinent
gestures. If the murderer goes set free the aim of justice is violated. Justice
demands that punishment should be proportionate to crime.