Do We Really Know Hal In The Play Of Proof
If anyone has read through the play of Proof by David Auburn, we’d all know who Hal is and his nature. Hal, or Harold Dobbs, is a primary character within the play. He was the student of the well-known mathematician, Robert, who recently passed away. Hal was an aspiring young man since his days in college to be one of the greatest math innovators of his time, but, do we really know Hal behind the scenes, outside of the play? Hal was born in Vancouver, Canada, to a very fortunate family, He had two siblings, of which both were boys, Cato Dobbs (one year older than Hal) and Stephen Dobbs (three years older than Hal). Him being the baby of the family, he was basically handed things, anything he wanted. However, this privilege came with a price
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Being the youngest meant he couldn’t do as much either and since he had older brothers, the expectations of his efforts were set to an all time high, since both his brothers were over achievers. There was this one day when Cato (at the time, 17) was the first place winner at the local science fair, as result, he was able to attend a party with all of his friends, drinking involved (their parents are very lenient with Cato). Coincidentally, Hal has also got an award for having the highest performance on the math portion of the standardized test at school. Hal asked his parent if he could go out drinking with with his brother. His mother and father laughed, and said that the level of math he was completing was simple. Following up, his father said “Maybe if you can be more innovative with something, then maybe you can, but you would have to have the brains of your brothers, Hal.” This event set the tone for him. At this point, it wasn’t even about partying and drinking, it was about proving to his family that he can be an innovator too. His brother, Stephen, a recent college grad from University of Toronto, had already aided in the discovery of groundbreaking information to the advancement towards curing cancer, at just 21. His other brother,
Being the youngest meant he couldn’t do as much either and since he had older brothers, the expectations of his efforts were set to an all time high, since both his brothers were over achievers. There was this one day when Cato (at the time, 17) was the first place winner at the local science fair, as result, he was able to attend a party with all of his friends, drinking involved (their parents are very lenient with Cato). Coincidentally, Hal has also got an award for having the highest performance on the math portion of the standardized test at school. Hal asked his parent if he could go out drinking with with his brother. His mother and father laughed, and said that the level of math he was completing was simple. Following up, his father said “Maybe if you can be more innovative with something, then maybe you can, but you would have to have the brains of your brothers, Hal.” This event set the tone for him. At this point, it wasn’t even about partying and drinking, it was about proving to his family that he can be an innovator too. His brother, Stephen, a recent college grad from University of Toronto, had already aided in the discovery of groundbreaking information to the advancement towards curing cancer, at just 21. His other brother,