The History Boys Notes Alan Bennett was born May 9th 1934 in Leeds. He attended Leeds Modern School. In 1957 he graduated from Exeter College‚ Oxford University with a first class degree in medieval history. Like his favourite poet‚ Philip Larkin‚ Bennett is interested in and what lies beneath the surface appears in the lives of ordinary people- the play is about private lives‚ race‚ sexual orientation etc. In his introduction to ‘Talking Heads’ Bennett talks about his personal faith when he
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The History Boys‚ by Alan Bennett‚ is a play that tells the story of the conflict between two teachers over students while they prepare of their exams. The first teacher is Hector. Hector has been the boys’ teacher longer‚ teaching them literature and knowledge for the sake of it. Irwin is different in this matter. He was brought in solely to prepare the boys for their exam and was promised a permanent position if the Oxbridge boys do well enough on their exams. One scene in which you can see Irwin’s
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What strategies does Alan Bennett use to create sympathy for the characters in the History Boys? To what extent is he successful? Alan Bennett is a playwright acclaimed for his controversial plays such as “Beyond the Fringe” and “The Madness of George III”. The most famous of these is “The History Boys” winner of a Tony Award for Best Play in 2006. It is set in the 1980s in a traditional secondary school in working class Sheffield. Education‚ in this case A levels‚ is the overall focus of the
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“The comedy in The History Boys centres around the opposition created between the two teachers‚ Hector and Irwin.” What is the significance of Bennett’s use of opposition? The book ‘The History Boys’ provides opposition between the two teachers Hector and Irwin. These two characters are presented by Bennett to show the audience the difference in the teaching of both characters. Hector is described on page four as ‘a man of studied eccentricity. He wears a bow tie.’ By this‚ we get a first impression
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The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett The “Uncommon Reader” is a quirky little book about Queen Elizabeth II‚ who becomes an avid reader in her 80’s‚ and her life takes a dramatic turn when she discovers the pleasure of reading. At the beginning‚ the Queen was not a big fan at all; she had never taken much interest in reading‚ her feeling was that liking books is "something that should be left to other people." Due to this new obsession‚ she begins to ignore her formal duties much to the dismay of
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The melancholy of life‚ death and old age‚ are one of the many issues dealt with‚ in Alan Bennett’s heart-rending tale. It tells the story of an isolated‚ fragile‚ elderly woman‚ who feels ensnared in a modernised society in which she strives for her sovereignty and prominence. In a culture where the old are forgotten‚ neglected and depicted as useless. ‘A Cream Cracker Under The Settee’ seems to be the perfect title of the play as the double entendre epitomizes this remarkably. In addition‚ another
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"Her Big Chance" is a dramatic monologue written by Alan Bennett. Her big chance is in a series of programmes called Talking Heads. Talking Heads are all programs about a person talking about an event in their lives and they were all written in 1980’s and are set in the 1980’s. Alan Bennett was born in Leeds‚ Yorkshire. He grew up there and was educated there. He grew up in an ordinary family with an ordinary life. Allen Bennett has used many techniques to make Lesley seem real. He makes Lesley
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What elements of Bennetts own educational experiences has he used in “the History Boys”? Bennett says that he was made fun of at school for coming to school in a suit on the day of his exams. He says he did this because he thought the exam was an occasion and he must rise to it. This show us how he felt towards his exams and probably shows how some of the boys in his book would have felt like when taking their exams. This shows how important he thinks exams are and this theme will probably reflect
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The History Boys Bennett’s setting is a northern grammar school and his focus is on the varied methods of training post A-level students for life. The headmaster‚ obsessed with league-tables and results‚ wants them all to be Oxbridge candidates. To this end‚ he engages a young historian‚ Irwin‚ who knows that the key to exam success lies in singularity and that "the wrong end of the stick is the right one". In the opposite camp is the gentle English master‚ Mr Hector‚ who argues that exams are
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relationships? The history Boys is a comedy play based on a group of intelligent and funny sixth-form boys in the 1980’s.The boys find themselves in different sitations‚whether it’s to do with love‚ heartbreak or heir further education and their future. These situations that they are faced with‚ contribute o he humur the play. In the beginning of the play‚we are introduced to one of he boys teachers‚Mr Hector.The relationship between Hector and the boys seems informal and sexual as he hits the boys and allows
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