The Speaker is an observant and conflicted individual who contemplates a mummified body found in a peat bog. He experiences a mix of genuine empathy, protective instinct, and voyeuristic fascination as he imagines the circumstances of her execution. Functioning as an artist figure, he turns his gaze from ancient history to his own present day, questioning his passive neutrality in the face of ongoing violence in Northern Ireland.

An ancient woman whose body has been chemically preserved in a Northern European peat bog for centuries. She bears physical evidence of a brutal execution, including a shaved head, a soiled blindfold, and a noose around her neck. Believed to have been killed by her community for a sexual indiscretion, her preserved form represents the historical policing and punishment of women's bodies.

Modern Northern Irish women living through the Troubles who face brutal retribution from their own community. The Irish Republican Army subjects them to tarring and feathering as punishment for allegedly fraternizing with British soldiers. Their contemporary suffering forces the Speaker to confront his own inaction and connects the ancient past to modern tribal revenge.