1. The History Boys: Act 1 – character and theme (pages 1-17)
This will probably take 2-3 lessons and the last slide would probably work best if done as a homework.
Alan Bennett

2. The Characters: Headmaster (Felix Armstrong) - Headmaster
Douglas Hector - English/General Studies teacher
Irwin - History teacher; brought in as a special coach
Mrs Dorothy Lintott - History teacher
Akthar - Pupil; of Asian ancestry, Muslim
Crowther - Pupil; acts as a hobby
Dakin - Pupil; handsome, object of Posner's and Irwin's affection
Lockwood - Pupil; strong opinions
David Posner - Pupil; youngest, gay and Jewish
Rudge - Pupil; better known for athletic skills than for intelligence
Scripps - Pupil; Anglican, plays piano
Timms - Pupil; joker, overweight
Director on Irwin's television programme (a small role)

3. Irwin: History Teacher, brought in as a special coach
A very young teacher – not much older than the boys.
Pretends to have been to Oxford.
Teaches the boys to approach history in a more ‘original’ way. i.e Hitler had a point.
Later is in an accident (and in a wheelchair) and becomes a spin doctor and presenter of a TV programme about history.

4. What do these quotations suggest about the character?
AO2: Analysis of language, form and structure
“In my experience, Oxbridge examiners are on the lookout for something altogether snappier. After all, it’s not how much they know about literature. Chant the stuff till they’re blue in the face, what good does it do?”
‘So, our overall conclusion is that the origins of the Second War lie in the unsatisfactory outcome of the First?’ [The boys say yes] First class. Bristol welcomes you with open arms. Manchester longs to have you. You can walk into Leeds. But I am a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and I’ve just read seventy papers all saying the same thing – and I’m asleep.’
What do these quotations suggest about the character?
How do they suggest this?

5. Act 1: Irwin’s speech
This is a flash-forward – in the body of the play Irwin is in his twenties.
Why do you think Bennett chose to begin the play with this speech?
What can you tell from the speech and stage directions:
About what Irwin does now?
About what sort of character Irwin is?
AO2: Analysis of language, form and structure

6. UK Politics around 2004
2001 June - Blair's Labour party wins a second successive general election victory.
2001 September/November - Following September 11 attacks on targets in the US, PM Tony Blair offers strong support for US-led campaign against international terrorism. British forces take part in air strikes on targets in Afghanistan.
2003 March - UK joins US-led military campaign against Iraq after UN-based diplomatic efforts to ensure Baghdad has no weapons of mass destruction are perceived to have failed.
2003 August - Prime minister, defence secretary, government officials and aides, BBC managers and journalists testify at Hutton inquiry into death of government scientist at centre of row over claims government embellished case for Iraq war.
2004 January - Lord Hutton delivers findings from inquiry into death of government scientist. His report exonerates government, heavily criticises BBC.
2004 October - Iraq Survey Group concludes that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction in run-up to US-led invasion. Tony Blair acknowledges flaws in pre-war intelligence but stands by case for war.
Do you think that Irwin’s speech/ role is Bennett’s way of criticising UK politics at the time?

7. Do you agree that Irwin is presented as ‘clever but cynical’?
AO5: Different interpretations
‘a clever but cynical young historian advising British members of parliament on how to sell a nasty bill that would restrict trial by jury.’ (David Greenberg)
Do you agree that Irwin is presented as ‘clever but cynical’?
Why do you think Bennett chooses to have him advising on ‘how to sell a nasty bill’?

8. Douglas ‘Hector’ - English/General Studies teacher
Charismatic, eccentric, non-conformist.
Invites the boys for rides on his motorbike (inappropriately).
Married (as we find out later) but assumed gay.
Teaches the boys quotations from literature, films, songs etc which are not necessarily seen as relevant.
Inspires and influences the boys.
AO1: Understanding the play

9. What do these quotations suggest about the character?
AO2: Analysis of language, form and structure
"I am your teacher. Whatever I do in this room is a token of my trust. I am in your hands. It is a pact. Bread eaten in secret. ‘I have put before your life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live’.”
“Hector’s stuff’s not meant for the exam, sir. It’s to make us more rounded human beings."
What do these quotations suggest about the character?
How do they suggest this?

10. Act 1: Introduction to the boys and Hector (p. 3-4)
AO2: Analysis of language, form and structure
Act 1: Introduction to the boys and Hector (p. 3-4)
How does Bennett present the relationship between the boys and their teacher?
What is the effect of the air of ritual? And why the use of French?
Why/ how does Bennett ‘break the fourth wall’?
Why is this so important to the success of the play?
The scene ends with Hector taking off his helmet. What is the significance of Hector’s ‘protective clothing’?

11. AO1: Interpretation of the text, AO2: Analysis of language, form and structure
Pages 4-7
What details can we learn about each of the boys (and Hector) and their approaches to/ perceptions of education in these pages?
How is the portrayal of the relationship between the boys and Hector developed?

12. AO5: Different interpretations
Do you agree that ‘an aura of approval [has been] adeptly set up and managed by Bennett’ (Stinson)? Homework: Write a paragraph responding to the critique and supporting your ideas with quotations from the scene.

13. Ideologically, what is the relationship between teacher and student?
Dakin: ‘You should treat us with more respect. We’re scholarship candidates now.’
Hector: ‘Child, I am your teacher.
Whatever I do in this room is a token of my trust.
I am in your hands.
It is a pact. Bread eaten in secret.’
Akthar: ‘There was a contract between him and his class.
Quite what the contract was or what it involved would be hard to say. But it was there.’
Ideologically, what is the relationship between teacher and student?
What are the roles, duties and responsibilities of each?
And in 21st society?
AO3: Contexts

14. AO1, AO2, AO3
The tragic hero: p. 7
Here, the boys and Hector recite the ending of King Lear, one of Shakespeare’s tragedies.
The tragic hero should be a man of outstanding greatness whose destruction
Is for a greater goodness.
Can Hector be seen as a tragic hero?
Usually of noble birth
He has a fatal flaw, which results in his downfall (harmartia)
Note: this can’t be that he ‘fiddles’ with boys; it is the reason why he does/ his attitude
His fatal flaw leads to a reversal of fortune (peripeteia)
This leads to an increase in self awareness (anagnorisis)
The audience feel pity and fear for this character, and are ‘purged’ of their own sins (catharsis)

15. Hector In Greek Mythology ...
Heir to the throne of Troy
Greatest defender of Troy
What does Hector’s name suggest about his purpose?
As depicted by Homer, thoughtful, peace-loving, bold and without a darker side.
AO2, AO3

16. Heroic Hector? (Louisa Mellor)
The name Hector takes our discussion back three thousand years to a legendary war immortalised by Homer in The Iliad. As an introduction to the character, I begin by showing my students an image of his mythical namesake (well, actually Eric Bana from the 2004 film Troy but it’s close enough). Muscles bulging, chiselled jaw, sword held aloft, the sweat of battle dripping from his brow, I ask the class what kind of character they think he is. Same answer every time – a hero. The image is then replaced by one of the excellent but somewhat less sculpted Richard Griffiths in the 2004 National Theatre production of The History Boys, and immediately, laughter ensues. Our Hector is not heroic, in fact, he’s comic, perhaps even a little ridiculous.
These contrasting images of literary Hectors set up an essential debate about the character: what kind of teacher is he? One who furtively locks his classroom door, speaks in enigmatic literary riddles and is caught ‘fiddling’ with his students on the back of his motorbike. Less than heroic behaviour it seems. Or, like the fortifications of Troy, does that locked door represent a community under siege? Hector is attempting to protect his students not from marauding Greeks but from the invading forces of league tables and assessment objectives. Both Hectors represent essentially admirable ideologies, both are ‘invaded’ by outside forces and both, sadly, perish.
AO5

17. Mrs Dorothy Lintott - History teacher
Is accredited for getting the boys excellent A level results but is not deemed good enough (by the Headmaster) to get them into Oxbridge.
Is, unlike Hector and Irwin, a secondary character.
Is presented as a patient sufferer of male ineptitude.
AO1
‘History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket.’

18. Felix Armstrong: Headmaster
Presented as foolish and shallow.
His main focus is on results and appearances.
He could be viewed as the villain of the play.
He is mocked both by the other teachers and the students.
“I want to see us up there with Manchester Grammar School, Haberdashers’ Aske’s, Leighton Park. Or is that a prison? No matter.”
“This is no time for poetry.”

19. AO2
Pages 8-10
Why do you think the setting changes here? What is the effect?
What can we tell about Mrs Lintott and the Headmaster in terms of:
Their characters
Their perception of and approaches to education.

20. Scripps Plays the piano Highly religious Often acts as a narrator
“The things I do for Jesus. (As he goes he gives Dakin the finger)”
Dakin: “Kneeshaw. He’s a philosopher. Frederick Kneeshaw.”
Scrippps: “I think it’s pronounced Nietszche.”

21. AO2
Page 10 – Scripps’ speech
In Scripps’ speech he seems to be taking on the role of a narrator, speaking to the audience. What effect does this have?
You may want to consider:
The portrayal of time in the play
The relationship between Irwin and the boys
The sense of realism in the play

22. AO2, AO3, AO5
Place and Time
‘At first sight, The History Boys could seem typical of Alan Bennett’s distinctive dramatic style: a group of characters, restricted almost entirely to a single location and a short period of time. Bennett’s past work, such as his Talking Heads monologues, take this style to its extreme, with single characters on a single set for only half an hour.’
James Middleditch
‘Talking Heads’ were a series of 30 minute monologues to camera, telling characters’ life stories.
So far, how has Bennett subverted the ‘typical’ style that Middleditch describes?

23. AO2
Pages 10-12
What more do we learn about the Headmaster’s perceptions of:
The students?
Education?
His teaching staff?
Consider the line ‘there’s a vacancy in history’ (p. 11). Why does Irwin say ‘(thoughtfully) That’s very true.’
What do you think Bennett is implying?

24. Pages 12-14 (the Headmaster’s entrance)
The scene changes after the Headmaster’s line ‘I am thinking classroom control.’ Why do you think this is?
Do you think the boys are learning anything in this scene?
To what extent do you think this scene is comic?
What do we learn about:
Hector’s teaching style?
The boys’ sexuality and their perceptions of women and sex?
For a translation of the French students may want to look at this site:
The stage version of the scene is also here:
AO1, AO2

25. AO2, AO3
Music in the play
In the French scene the boys are playing/ singing Edith Piaf songs.
Piaf lived from ‘La Vie En Rose’ was released in The title can translate to ‘Life through rose-tinted glasses.’
Popular music is used throughout the play, including The Smiths (1980s), The Pet Shop Boys (1980s) and Ella Fitzgerald’s ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’ (1940s).
What do you think is the effect of using popular 20th century music?

26. AO2, AO3
Pages 14-16
How does Bennett present The Headmaster as an outsider, theatrically and with language?
How can we see a power struggle between The Headmaster and Hector? Who do you think has the upper hand? Why/how?
What role does Irwin play in the scene?
The scene changes from a French brothel to a field hospital in Belgium (Ypres, WW1). How do you think this is significant?

27. “Historical and literary references move from World War 1 in Act 1 through World War 2 in Act 2 into topics such as the Holocaust, reflecting the darker tone of the play by considering the difficulty of studying the more recent painful history of only a few decades past. Humour is used to counterpoint these more uncomfortable discussions” (James Middleditch)
“With references to the Boer war, the World War 1 battles of Passchendaele and the Somme and the attack on Pearl Harbour, Bennett mines a rich seam of military metaphor in the play. He uses this backdrop of combat to draw parallels between military engagement and the symbolic battles his characters undergo in their experience of education, adolescence and sexual identity.” (Louisa Mellor)
AO3, AO5
Choose one of these critiques and write a short response to it, using quotations from the text to support your ideas.
Extension: Can you put the critics in conversation with one another?

28. The Boys Dakin Posner Scripps Timms Rudge Akthar Crowther Lockwood
Look back over Act 1 so far and make notes (with quotations) on 1-2 of the following characters: what do we learn about them/ what can we infer about their actions and dialogue?
Dakin
Posner
Scripps
Timms
Rudge
Akthar
Crowther
Lockwood
N.B you may want to assign these characters to students so that all characters are covered.
This is probably a homework task – you may want to get students to produce a powerpoint or handout of their findings.
AO1, AO2