Silly Old Biddy

Ms. Pole is, as Jeannie puts it, "cray-cray!" While Cranford contains many elements of comedy, I find Ms. Pole to be the most ridiculous and amusing character in the book. Is it possible to have a comic relief character in a comedy? I love her descriptions of the robbers. As Mary Smith says, " I noticed that every time she went over the story some fresh trait of villainy was added to their appearance" (ch. X). The tall robber keeps getting taller; the other sprouted a hump on his shoulder; etc. Of course, many of us are inclined to embellish the details to a story to make it all the more impressive, but something about this older woman going on and on about these crazy details makes me laugh. The section with the ghosts is equally as amusing, especially since afterwards she acts like she wasn't scared to go through Darkness Lane.