Stella’s deafness, depression, chronic poor
health and frequent medical emergencies made much of her life a misery.
Many of even her worst experiences would not
seem so bad to strong, healthy, ‘real’ people with plenty of resources; other
ordeals - the Zeppelin bombing raids on London during World War I for example -
are not very relevant because she did not experience them as an individual: they
were simultaneously endured by many other people. However, one or two very painful episodes in
her life stand out; they are of particular interest because of some familiar
elements.
This article features a minor incident that
affected her very badly.
The release of Sylvia Pankhurst
By the spring of 1914, Stella Benson had started
a new life of independence. She came to live in London. She found work and became
involved with the cause of women’s suffrage.
This led to an assignment that turned into a
nightmare for her. Acting on instructions previously given, she went to
Holloway Prison early one morning to witness the release of leading
suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst.
From her diary:
“The policemen laughed at me, and pointed me
out to their friends, the wardresses came out to shriek with laughter too. I
got fainter and fainter...at last I began actually collapsing on the doorstep
of a sort of church. The police, thinking it was a ruse, were more and more
amused. I felt I should never see a friendly face again.”
Stella Benson cried and cried when she got back to
her boarding house, fearing that she might not be strong enough for the life
she hoped to lead.
On top of all the horrors she had endured,
she was distressed to learn that Miss Pankhurst had been released the night
before and her suffragette society had not bothered to let her know.
Common elements in the Pankhurst affair
I see the very familiar ‘all for nothing’
element here. This is where people make huge efforts or go through an ordeal
only to find that it was all for nothing. Why didn’t anyone tell Stella, and
why didn’t she think to make a last-minute check?
Some people in similar situations are met
with help and sympathy because they have missed the boat. Perhaps the people
who made fun of her were affected by her inner state.
Elizabeth Taylor’s fictional novelist Angel is laughed at by strangers on a few occasions too. It turns into a nightmare
scenario when she visits London for the first time and encounters unhelpful,
mocking people.
I myself experienced first help and sympathy
then laughter and indifference before and after a strange changeover caused by
a shock.
Distress signals attract predators.
Cats and mice
In fairness, this episode would have been
just a minor annoyance to most people; it was Stella Benson’s chronically
fragile state that made it so terrible for her.
Her extreme reaction when she got back to her
room may have been partly caused by the fear that her bid for independence had
been sabotaged - again.
An Act of Parliament from 1913, popularly known
as the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’, was used to release imprisoned suffragettes on
hunger strike when they became very weak or ill just to give them a chance to
recover a little, at which point they would be re-arrested. Sylvia Pankhurst was detained and released
under this act.
A similar feature appears in the lives of
some people of interest, Charlotte Brontë for example. They desperately make
changes to their unbearable lives in the hope of getting something better; they
benefit from the new environment for a short time, only to find that they have ended
up in the same old prison and terrible state, inside, outside or both.
Their efforts have all been for nothing, and they
are overwhelmed and devastated by the feeling that no matter where they go and
what they do there is no hope and no escape.
In this connection, the previously mentioned story of Stella Benson’s escape at the age of 17 from this...
“Now we shall stick at this beastly little
cottage...I shall be expected to sit alone and watch Mother dig potatoes until
I die, which I jolly well hope will be soon.”
...to Germany is very relevant. For the first time in her life she was happy and
got on well with other girls. Then she lost it all and ended up as ill and
isolated as ever, back with her mother and a 'miserable set of people’.
Perhaps something evil is playing cat and
mouse games with selected people.
There is still more to come about nightmare
scenarios and the life and works of Stella Benson.
