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Sidney Hopcroft
Jane Hopcroft is Sidney Hopcroft’s long-suffering wife. Obsessed with cleaning her house (and, at times, cleaning other people’s houses), she lacks much of a sense of empathy or understanding for other people’s thoughts and feelings. She is, in some ways, the most sympathetic character in the play, since she’s never shown to do anything to hurt another character, and seems not to be greedy or interested in “getting ahead.” At the same time—and this probably isn’t a coincidence—Jane is probably the least fully developed character in the play: compared with the five other cast members, she has the smallest number of lines.
Jane Hopcroft Quotes in Absurd Person Singular
The Absurd Person Singular quotes below are all either spoken by Jane Hopcroft or refer to Jane Hopcroft. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act One
Quotes
SIDNEY: [chuckling knowingly] I don't imagine the wife of a banker will particularly choose to spend her evening in our kitchen. Smart as it is.
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JANE: No, but it's special tonight, isn't it? I mean, with Mr. and Mrs. Brewster-Wright and Mr. and Mrs. Jackson. It's important.
SIDNEY: Don't forget Dick and Lottie Potter. They're coming, too.
JANE: Oh, well, I don't count Dick and Lottie. They're friends.
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MARION: Just look at these working surfaces and you must have a gorgeous view from that window, I imagine.
SIDNEY: Well…
MARION: It must be stunning. You must look right over the fields at the back.
SIDNEY: No—no.
JANE: No, we just look into next door's fence.
MARION: Well, which way are the fields?
JANE: I've no idea.
MARION: How extraordinary. I must be thinking of somewhere else.
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MARION: [bending to read the dial] What's this? Whites-coloureds—my God, it's apartheid.
JANE: Beg pardon?
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RONALD: Ah. Well, as long as you know about him. Might have been after your silver. I mean, you never know. Not these days.
SIDNEY : No, indeed. No, he—he was from the off-licence.
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SIDNEY: These people just weren't anybody. They are people in the future who can be very, very useful to us...
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Act Two
Quotes
JANE: I must clean that oven if it kills me.
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JANE: Shall I tell you something—Sidney would get so angry if he heard me saying this—but I'd far sooner be down here on the floor, on my knees in the oven—than out there, talking. Isn't that terrible. But I’m never at ease, really, at parties. I don't enjoy drinking, you see.
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Act Three
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MARION: Why don't you just go in the hall and shout "Go away" through the letter-box?
RONALD: Because he happens to have a very large deposit account with my bank.
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Get the entire Absurd Person Singular LitChart as a printable PDF.
Jane Hopcroft Quotes in Absurd Person Singular
The Absurd Person Singular quotes below are all either spoken by Jane Hopcroft or refer to Jane Hopcroft. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act One
Quotes
SIDNEY: [chuckling knowingly] I don't imagine the wife of a banker will particularly choose to spend her evening in our kitchen. Smart as it is.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
JANE: No, but it's special tonight, isn't it? I mean, with Mr. and Mrs. Brewster-Wright and Mr. and Mrs. Jackson. It's important.
SIDNEY: Don't forget Dick and Lottie Potter. They're coming, too.
JANE: Oh, well, I don't count Dick and Lottie. They're friends.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
MARION: Just look at these working surfaces and you must have a gorgeous view from that window, I imagine.
SIDNEY: Well…
MARION: It must be stunning. You must look right over the fields at the back.
SIDNEY: No—no.
JANE: No, we just look into next door's fence.
MARION: Well, which way are the fields?
JANE: I've no idea.
MARION: How extraordinary. I must be thinking of somewhere else.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
MARION: [bending to read the dial] What's this? Whites-coloureds—my God, it's apartheid.
JANE: Beg pardon?
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Page Number and Citation:
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RONALD: Ah. Well, as long as you know about him. Might have been after your silver. I mean, you never know. Not these days.
SIDNEY : No, indeed. No, he—he was from the off-licence.
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SIDNEY: These people just weren't anybody. They are people in the future who can be very, very useful to us...
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Act Two
Quotes
JANE: I must clean that oven if it kills me.
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JANE: Shall I tell you something—Sidney would get so angry if he heard me saying this—but I'd far sooner be down here on the floor, on my knees in the oven—than out there, talking. Isn't that terrible. But I’m never at ease, really, at parties. I don't enjoy drinking, you see.
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Act Three
Quotes
MARION: Why don't you just go in the hall and shout "Go away" through the letter-box?
RONALD: Because he happens to have a very large deposit account with my bank.
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