The patient is entirely passive in this scene. Does that mean that she has no role and is unimportant to the scene? Does her silence contribute anything?
The patient is actually essential to the scene. It would be unnecessary to play the doctor?nurse game without the patient. But the patient also contributes, simply by accepting her passive role. Her contribution is to defer to both doctor and nurse. Her silence accentuates the busy and assured professional performance going on beside her. Perhaps Mrs Brown did not want to be sedated, but in the presence of an ‘expert? nurse, who defers to an even more ‘expert? doctor, she does not voice an opinion. She seems to understand her role and plays it faithfully.
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