“ | A nursery maid is not afraid of what you people call work, so I made up my mind to go as a kind of piratical maid-of-all-work. | „ |
~ Ruth describing her position. |
Ruth is the secondary antagonist of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty. She is the hearing-impaired maid who mistakenly apprenticed the protagonist Frederic to the Pirate King at the age of eight in the first place and stayed on the ship for thirteen years thereafter, gradually accepting life as a swashbuckling buccaneer.
She was most famously portrayed by the late Angela Lansbury in the 1983 film adaptation of the opera, who also portrayed Mrs. Lovett in the original 1979 production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Mommy Fortuna in The Last Unicorn and Mrs. Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate.
Biography[]
Background[]
Before the events of the story, Ruth was merely Frederic's nursery maid. Frederic proved to be so adventurous and daring that his father decided he should seek out a career in seafaring. He tasked Ruth with apprenticing the young lad to a pilot, however she misheard it as pirate and apprenticed him to the Pirate King. Quickly realizing her mistake, Ruth was too embarrassed to return to Frederic's father and admit to her error, so instead she stayed put and consigned Frederic to a life of piracy until his apprenticeship was to end on his twenty-first birthday.
Act 1[]
The musical opens on Frederic (on his twenty-first birthday) revealing his indentures to the pirates have ended. When the pirates ask for clarification Frederic refuses to elaborate out of respect for Ruth, but the maid cannot bear to keep it a secret anymore and explains her humiliating mistake which set all of this into motion. When Frederic intends to sail on land Ruth asks to go with him and displays a patent desire to enter into a romantic relationship with him. Frederic, no doubt being put off by their age difference, confesses that he has not seen many women for the majority of his life to compare Ruth to and therefore has to asks if she is what qualifies as a good-looking lady. The pirates awkwardly insist that she is fair, just so they can be rid of her.
On land near the Pirate Lair Ruth successfully persuades Frederic to accept her advances, but just then a bevy of beautiful young maidens appear singing joyfully. Ruth vainly attempts to brush them off as the coast guard, but Frederic is no longer fooled. He lashes out at Ruth for deceiving him all this time, deeming her an old, plain and faithless woman. Ruth contrives to win him over again, if just for a moment, but totally turns him off when, by boasting her love has been accumulating for forty-seven years, she inadvertently reminds him of their monstrous age gap. Frederic, utterly disillusioned, sends her back to the ship.
Ruth appears near the end of the act after the pirates give up on attempting to forcibly marry the beautiful ladies on the spot, as their father the Major General successfully fools them into thinking he is an orphan boy; since all of the pirates are orphans themselves, their moral code ordains they never hurt one of their own king. As they are retreating Ruth throws herself at Frederic's feet once more and begs for him to give her another chance. He however (having found love with the youthful and stunning Mabel) rejects her one more. Ruth returns to the crew for good.
Act 2[]
Ruth, now dressed from head to toe in flashy pirate clothes, returns along with the Pirate King to Frederic whilst the latter is bracing himself for a police raid on the Pirate Lair in a ruined chapel purchased by the Major General. Though Frederic at first threatens to destroy them both, he decides to be merciful when they aim their pistols at him. They tell him they've recently thought of a fun new paradox while languishing for Frederic's company and traveled here to share it with him as he famously has a predilection for quirky contradictions. Frederic bites and they explain that since Frederic was born on February 29th, meaning he was born in a leap year, he has technically only had five birthdays and is thus technically only five. This cracks the unsuspecting Frederic up until Ruth coolly remarks that he must be glad he didn't kill his two comrades. Frederic is confused, and they set forth that since Frederic is only five, he is still apprenticed to the Pirate King. A mortified Frederic begs them not to force him to re-join the crew, but they cleverly maintain they are forcing him to do nothing, only pointing out his duty. Frederic, who can never say no to duty, gloomily accedes to their implicit demand and is once more a part of the team.
Frederic realizes, painful as it is, that he is now obligated to inform them of any deceptions against them. With a heavy heart he reveals that the Major General was never an orphan, and the Pirate King and Ruth fiercely vow that the "traitor" will die tonight. They plan to assemble their crew for a swift attack on Tremordan Castle; the Major General's estate. Frederic's objections to this are futile and the raid is arranged.
Later that night, after unintentionally luring both the Major General and his daughters into the garden, the pirates strike and the Major General is detained. After ferociously condemning the officer, the Pirate King attempts to kill him, but Frederic's old police corps shows up and a battle breaks out wherein Ruth personally tackles the sergeant. It is decidedly a victory for the pirates, but when they are ordered to yield in Victoria's name they cannot deign to defy their Queen and instantly surrender. Just as the Major General decrees the pirates be locked up, Ruth interjects to reveal that they are not mere commoners-turned-thieves but "noblemen who are gone wrong." Moved by this, the Major General pardons them for their crimes and permits them to marry his daughters. Ruth's fate is unknown.
Gallery[]
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