Bennett Explores the Fine Line Between Wisdom in ‘the History Boys’

Bennett searchs the ticket limn mingled with perception and anomalousness in The History Boys. Discuss with reference to this comedic drama. The alright line mingled with intuition and foolery has often been explored and blurred in dramatic comedies through with(predicate) tabu the ages. Often, in Shakespe bes plays especially, the fool figure turns reveal to be the foolhardyst figure out of all of the other geeks, and is used as a bureau to induce a gab on the social context of the magazine.This theme is save in The History Boys, as Bennett mostly uses char causeers as a way of exploring the fair line. He also uses scenes and themes during the play to explore the fine line among wisdom and absurdness, plainly he t arrests to focus on victimization the characters to explore the line instead. The sea captain is a character with whom, when first introduced to, the hearing would appoint the title of derisory, as Bennett marchs him to be a rattling foolish chara cter.However, this would differ from Shakespe ares fool in his plays the fools were often the wisest of characters, but in this circumstance, with this character, the maestro acts foolish without becoming the fool from Shakespeare, as the Headmaster doesnt hit the hidden wisdom and pick outledge Shakespeares fools had. For instance, when discussing competing take aims in the conference tables with Mrs Lintott, he says Leighton Park. Or is than an open prison?No proposition This citation essays the reader what a foolish man Bennett has created a sea captain not dealing the difference betwixt a competing school in the league tables and a prison is absurd. However, it helps Bennett to show the fine line between wisdom and foolery, as some members of the audience whitethorn think that the Headmaster is wise in some of the decisions he makes, as he does know methods to catch up with the students to achieve academic levels that allow entry into Oxbridge. other moment where Be nnett explores the fine line is when he says, upon discussing Oxbridge with the supply teacher Irwin, I thought of button to, but this was the fifties. Change was in the air The first impression tending(p) of him from this line of speech is that the characters around him must be able to arrest through his perchs and see the fool that he ultimately is in the fifties, liveness was the same as in the forties it was the sixties where change was in the air and the characters around the Headmaster would know that he was ying to veil the particular that he wasnt academically smart enough to attend Oxbridge. This does show him to hold some wisdom, however, as he was smart enough to cover up the fact that he didnt attend Oxbridge, til now if the lie wasnt successful, and that he is wise as he does want the outflank for the boys, but over again, this is outweighed by the foolish decision that is to get the boys to Oxbridge to raise the school in the league tables to enhance its rep utation and thereby his own flight showing he is mostly trying to get the boys do to well(p) for his benefit.Bennett also uses the character of the Headmaster to make a social comment of the schooling at the time he wrote the play, hinting that headmasters of schools often tried to get the better grades for the students entirely to pull their school up in the league tables, and thereby improve their own reputations of headmasters. A second character Bennett uses to explore the fine line between wisdom and foolishness is hector, one of the boys teachers.One of the first impressions we get of intimidate is that he is a character who Bennett presents to be very wise he has taught the boys so well they flush toilet quote literature at any time of the day in the correct context Posner (Edgar) Look up, My Lord. Timms (Kent) Vex not his ghost This is quite a a feat to achieve, and it also shows that he too knows and understands when and where to quote literature, again showing his wisdom.However, this is a point where Bennett does show how fine the line between wisdom and foolishness actually is, as some people may view this readiness as useless, as it probably wont be able to help them in their university or working life, unless they abide by a career where literature and the need to quote it is needed, so this act may be viewed as quite foolish spending time teaching the boys something they probably wont need in their hereafter lives, despite the fact that they and Hector may be considered wise for having this skill.Bennett does show Hector to be a character who does act very foolish sometimes No Headmaster, (He covers his ears. )Non. Absolument non. Non. Non. Non. The stage directions used here make Hector act like a naughty child who is refusing to stop what theyre doing a grown man, who is a teacher nonetheless, performing this way does pop out to be a fool to people around him, even if they know he is solely pretending. However, this is one of the moments where you can explicitly tell that Bennett is exploring the fine line etween wisdom and foolishness and is showing indeed how very fine it is some people may see past Hector performing like a fool and see him to be very wise he knows that if he carries on refusing to do what the Headmaster askes of him, the Headmaster may well just give up and drop the subject. This could be gloomy to the fact that Hector doesnt view the Headmaster as a wise man more of a fool who you can walk of life over and expect to carry on doing things the way you want to, even if the Headmaster is against it. A hand on a boys genitals at fifty miles an hour, and you call it nothing? This is a very important quote in showing how Bennett explores the fine line. Hector is a very wise man he has a deep consciousness and knowledge of literature, he has helped get the boys A-Levels up to the standards of Oxbridge and is, academically, quite smart. However, the quote shows that, in terms of his judgements , he is quite a fool the acts he performed were frowned upon by society at the time, and show to many people that he has track the line between wisdom and foolishness with ease without really realising it. infection of knowledge This also shows how his judgements are foolish, and how he can be seen to be a fool by many people when he is confronted round his actions, he uses quotes from poetry to try to get out of the confrontation. By the end of the play, many people would probably see Hector as a very wise man, but a man who has the tendency to thwart the fine line between wisdom and foolishness, whilst others would see him as only being a fool, despite his knowledge in literature.Overall, Hector is probably Bennetts main way to explore the fine line between wisdom and foolishness, as Hector crosses the line countless times without realising it himself. Another way Bennett explores the fine line between wisdom and foolishness is by using scenes, such as the French Scene. This s cene takes place towards the scratch line of the play, and is where Hector and the boys use speaking fluent French by acting out a scene of their choice in French. Mais une maison de passe ou tous les clients utilisent le subjonctif ou le conditionnel, oui? (But a brothel where all clients use the subjunctive or conditional, yes? ) This quote is taken from the scene and helps to show the wise and the foolish sides of Hector he and the students are acting out a scene in fluent French (which in itself is a very academic skill for the students to have learnt) and Hector is quite wise in getting them to practise using their French in everyday scenes, thus improving their fluency.However, the foolish part is the fact that the scene they are all acting out is a brothel, which is a very foolish thing to do considering where they are (in a school), but the fact that Hector keeps on going on about their grammar whilst speaking French does show some wisdom, with the fact that he knows exac tly how to get the boys to improve their fluency and grammatical skill in French, but in a very foolish circumstance. A ternary way the fine line between wisdom and foolishness is through themes specifically the themes of sexuality and sex.For sexuality Dont touch him This quote is quite important in showing the fine line between wisdom and foolishness, as it is said when Hector and Irwin are discussing Hectors early retirement, teaching and Dakin. Bennett shows here that Hectors foolish decisions have turned him into a wiser man, who is advising Irwin on how not to make the same foolish mistake he did. The foolishness here makes the scene quite tragic rather than comic. For the theme of sex, the fine line is explored when Dakin and Scripps have a communion together about Fiona (the Headmasters secretary). like particularly her tits, which only fell after a prolonged campaign some terzetto weeks ago The wordplay in this conversation is very foolish indeed, which Scripps finds jo lly albeit embarrassing, but the wisdom in Dakin is evident by the way Dakin applies soldiers logistics to a new context with ease, using the semantic field of war. Overall, these are the main ways Bennett uses to explore the fine line between wisdom and foolishness in The History Boys, mainly using the characters of the Headmaster and Hector.