Duchess of Northumberland Essay

What impressions of the Duchess of Northumberland do you get from Rachel Cookes article. The article began by saying how a ‘splendid but hugely expensive garden would be created in the grounds of Alnwick castle’. This gives us the impression that she is rich and is wasting her money away on some project that is costing 5 million pounds. It is until around line 70 when the readers get a bad impression of the Duchess as until then it says how ‘the locals’ ‘were less than impressed’ asking who ‘does she think she is’. This gives us the impression that the locals don’t think that she is a worthy Duchess and are not fond of her. It then goes on to say how the ‘duke and duchess believed they just had to click their fingers and everyone else would come running’. This gives the impression that they think they can do what they want and they think they are so powerful that everyone will come running to them and do whatever they please. By line 70 however, the readers start to see a different side of her when Rachel Cooke’s actually goes to see her when she realises that she’s not actually a bad person. The Duchess goes on to say how she ‘should try to win the critics round’ but she cannot be bothered. This gives the impression that she doesn’t care about impressing the locals and if they don’t like her then she will deal with it and not chase after them persuading them to like her. When she speaks she then says how she never expected to be Duchess and how it was ‘difficult for [her] to leave the farmhouse’. This gives us the impression that she’s actually a normal person and her background isn’t from royalty. Just because she is a duchess doesn’t mean that they have ‘unlimited cash’ she goes on saying. This gives us the impression that she feels that people instantly judge and think that she is very rich and doesn’t have any money problems but she has to ‘pay card bills’ just like anyone else. Furthermore it gives us the impression that she doesn’t feel like royalty she just feels l ike a normal human being.