Our Country’s Good: Act One, Scene Four Summary & Analysis

Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark is up late one night writing in his diary. He addresses his entry to Betsey Alicia, his wife who stayed behind in England. In his writing, he tells her about life in the colony, saying that a prisoner named Liz Morden was whipped for being “impertinent.” This, Ralph thinks, was much deserved, since Liz has had such punishment coming for a long time. Moving on, he tells Alicia that he kisses her picture a thousand times every Sunday. He also mentions his frustration regarding the fact that he hasn’t been promoted to First Lieutenant. As he writes, Harry Brewer enters and starts talking to him, clearly wanting to soothe his loneliness. At one point, he mentions that he could easily have ended up like the convicts if it weren’t for Governor Phillip, with whom he’s worked for a long time.

Changing the subject, Harry says that he saw Handy Baker the night before. “You hanged him a month ago, Harry,” Ralph replies, but Harry insists that Baker has “come back,” explaining that he saw him holding a rope. He then starts talking about Duckling, the female convict with whom he lives. He tells Ralph that she has stopped talking to him because of his involvement in Handy Baker’s hanging, since Handy was Duckling’s other lover. When Harry saw Baker’s ghost the night before, Baker taunted him by talking about Duckling, bragging about how she likes having sex with him better than having sex with Harry. “I didn’t want to hang him, Ralph, I didn’t,” Harry says. In response, Ralph points out that Baker stole food, adding that he himself voted to hang him because he didn’t know Phillip would oppose the punishment.

Still talking about Duckling, Harry tells Ralph that she claims to not “feel anything” when she’s with him. He then worries that she did “feel something” when she was with Handy Baker. “She thinks I hanged him to get rid of him, but I didn’t, Ralph,” he reiterates. After a brief pause, he explains that he saved Duckling’s life by getting her exiled to Australia when she was about to be executed. “But when I remind her of that she says she wouldn’t have cared,” he says. He then points out that Governor Phillip thinks the guards should treat the female prisoners with “kindness,” and Ralph wonders how he could possibly show convicts respect. “Not all the officers find them disgusting,” Harry says, asking if Ralph has ever been “tempted” by them—a question that appalls Ralph.

Ralph complains that Phillip never notices him, and Harry tells him the Governor wants to stage a play with the convicts as actors. Ralph finds this idea ridiculous, but he soon sees that this might be a way to get Phillip’s attention. He mentions that he has experience in the theater. Still, he finds it hard to believe that the convicts could possibly be good actors, but Harry tells him that some of the female prisoners are “good women. “I believe my Duckling is good,” he says. “It’s not her fault—if only she would look at me, once, react. Who wants to fuck a corpse!” Trying to ignore this, Ralph asks Harry to tell the Governor that he would be capable of directing the play. Harry agrees, and before he leaves, he asks Ralph if he thinks he killed Handy Baker. “No, Harry,” Ralph answers.