HISTORY BOYS
History boys mostly-> divide up by characters/ groups-> break down of key
points
Sex and sexuality
Eccentric and charismatic personality
Hector uses his sexuality for validation and status as the boys start of the
play by “each boy removing an item and presenting it with a flourish”
Hector wrongly uses sexuality as power/ different relationship with
students
uses it for wrong – gets away with it- downfall humiliated hector first
specifically gay – too dangerous won’t respond to his actions
Linked to power Dakin uses sex and sexuality to have power over people
“Rudge is having sex apparently”
Fiona: “She’s my western front”
“the fair Fiona” he objectifies her
“territory hotly contested…like particularly her tits”
His obsession with sex exemplified by his
All the way through- more about power
“Dakin more master than pupil”
“theres such a difference between the way you teach and the way you live”
Power and status
, Sensitive and unrequited feelings for Dakin
“I love Dakin”
“I’m a Jew. I’m small. I’m homosexual. And I live in Sheffield. I’m fucked.”
“with your spaniel heart”
“too fucking brief I was looking for something more..lingering
Posner sexuality makes him fragile- made vulnerable by his sexuality->
alienation Hector trying to protect him
“you don’t fit the bill”
Fraught not particularly comfortable with their own sexuality
SUCCESS AND FAILURE
The play follows the boys' central aim - a specific type of academic success:
getting into Oxbridge. Hector immediately questions what 'success' is as he
values education for later life, not exams. The boys have to navigate between
Irwin and Hector's visions of success and though they all get into Oxbridge,
their futures (as well as those of Hector and Irwin) hold different versions of
'success' and 'failure' Bennett questions societal concepts of 'success' and
'failure ‘and he seems to argue that superficial success can be vacuous or even
immoral.
PARA 1: Bennett shows how highly academic superficial success is valued
Headmaster's focus on exam results at start:
"I am thinking league tables, Open scholarships."
He employs Irwin specifically as "something more is required."
“think charm think polish think Renaissance man”
“All keen. One oddity. Rudge. No hope”
“its not how much literature they know. What matters is how much they know
about literature”
“It isn’t for the boys. It’s for the school”
History boys mostly-> divide up by characters/ groups-> break down of key
points
Sex and sexuality
Eccentric and charismatic personality
Hector uses his sexuality for validation and status as the boys start of the
play by “each boy removing an item and presenting it with a flourish”
Hector wrongly uses sexuality as power/ different relationship with
students
uses it for wrong – gets away with it- downfall humiliated hector first
specifically gay – too dangerous won’t respond to his actions
Linked to power Dakin uses sex and sexuality to have power over people
“Rudge is having sex apparently”
Fiona: “She’s my western front”
“the fair Fiona” he objectifies her
“territory hotly contested…like particularly her tits”
His obsession with sex exemplified by his
All the way through- more about power
“Dakin more master than pupil”
“theres such a difference between the way you teach and the way you live”
Power and status
, Sensitive and unrequited feelings for Dakin
“I love Dakin”
“I’m a Jew. I’m small. I’m homosexual. And I live in Sheffield. I’m fucked.”
“with your spaniel heart”
“too fucking brief I was looking for something more..lingering
Posner sexuality makes him fragile- made vulnerable by his sexuality->
alienation Hector trying to protect him
“you don’t fit the bill”
Fraught not particularly comfortable with their own sexuality
SUCCESS AND FAILURE
The play follows the boys' central aim - a specific type of academic success:
getting into Oxbridge. Hector immediately questions what 'success' is as he
values education for later life, not exams. The boys have to navigate between
Irwin and Hector's visions of success and though they all get into Oxbridge,
their futures (as well as those of Hector and Irwin) hold different versions of
'success' and 'failure' Bennett questions societal concepts of 'success' and
'failure ‘and he seems to argue that superficial success can be vacuous or even
immoral.
PARA 1: Bennett shows how highly academic superficial success is valued
Headmaster's focus on exam results at start:
"I am thinking league tables, Open scholarships."
He employs Irwin specifically as "something more is required."
“think charm think polish think Renaissance man”
“All keen. One oddity. Rudge. No hope”
“its not how much literature they know. What matters is how much they know
about literature”
“It isn’t for the boys. It’s for the school”
