How we cite our quotes: Cloud 9. Caryl Churchill. Routledge, 2000.
Quote #7
"I used to touch myself when I was very little, I thought I'd invented something wonderful." (2.4.118-120)
Betty has spent her whole life avoiding the knowledge that she really enjoys sex. Like a traditional gentlewoman, she has always believed that sex is a duty that she performs for her husband and her country. But now that's she's older and she has left Clive, Betty can finally get in touch with herself (so to speak) and overcome her sexual repression. Get it, gurl.
Quote #8
"I think Edward did try to tell me once but I didn't listen." (2.4.259-260)
Not only does Betty have trouble acknowledging her own sexual tastes; she has trouble acknowledging her son Edward's as well. It takes a direct confrontation with Edward's gay lover Gerry to finally make Betty understand who her son truly is. And for Churchill, nothing could be better than this sort of acceptance, both for families and for society.
Quote #9
"I love you too, Ellen dear. But women have their duty as soldiers have. You must be a mother if you can." (1.4.81-82)
Ellen tells Betty that she like-likes her. But rather than recognize what's actually being said, Betty shakes off the comment with a Platonic, "I love you too dear, " and tells Ellen that there's no escaping her destiny as a woman in colonial England. Ellen needs to find herself a male husband and have some babies to help spread British culture all over the globe. Or in other words: repress, repress, repress.