Alan Bennett

Can someone be born evil or is the ability to be immoral something that’s acquired through the environment? Various techniques were used by Alan Bennett in the History Boys to convey how Hector wasn’t purely immoral because he let his sexual desires lead to the fondling of his student’s genitals, but because he was a dedicated educator who would stop at no means including disconnection with the traditional form of teaching in order to per-quire his students futures through alternative education.

Alan Bennett Talking Heads In Bennett's monologues the main character faces an important decision which will affect the course of their lives. I will go on and explain in this essay, the play writer's use of literary techniques - including setting, theme and characterisation- which may make the decision seem correct or not. Talking Heads was originally produced for BBC television but has recently been used as a collection of short stories. Each of the characters portrayed, is played by an

In this essay I will be analysing how Alan Bennett’s ‘The History Boys’ and ‘Educating Rita’ by Willy Russell investigate the notion that ‘all knowledge is precious whether or not it serves the slightest human use’ along with how they explore the purpose of education. Educating Rita is about the journey of Rita, a twenty-six year old working class woman from Liverpool, entering the world of formal education through an Open University course or as she refers to it as a ‘degree for dishwashers’. Rita’s

A Sense of Tragedy and Humour in alan Bennett's Talking Heads Monologues Alan Bennett uses a variety of techniques to convey a sense of both tragedy and humour in his 'Talking Heads' monologues. I will be looking specifically at 'Bed Among The Lentils' and 'Cream Cracker Under The Settee.' Alan Bennett achieves both of these effects by use of several clever choices regarding the casting as well as sound and visual effects. There are two very different types of humour

Terrible Loneliness Conveyed In Alan Bennett’s A Lady Of Letters? Miss Irene Ruddock is an ordinary middle-aged woman who lives on her own. She was close to her mother who had recently passed away. Miss Ruddock has no real friends and finds it difficult to fill her time so she is often sitting in her chair, looking out of her window and noting what is going on in other people’s lives. She has no social life and she only leaves the house when she has to. Alan Bennett shows Miss Ruddock’s loneliness

Teaching is a strenuous profession considering all the influences that mold and shape children. In the play by Alan Bennett, The History Boys, the seventeen-year-old boys are confronted with the realities of educational climate at the time as they try to get into Oxbridge. The Headmaster (of …) wishes that all of the boys would get into Oxford or University of Cambridge to prove to the bureaucrats of the British education system. Irwin is introduced as the supply teacher that will provide this extra

In Alan Bennett’s play, The History Boys, a unique approach to education is continuously made by Hector, an aged english teacher, and Irwin, a young and ambitious “Oxford” graduate. Rather than solely focusing on his students future college endeavors, Hector chooses to highlight what he deems as important in the “real world”, as more exists to him than an acceptance letter to Cambridge or Oxford. On the other hand, Irwin places college at the utmost importance, continuously reinforcing this idea

In the play ‘The History Boys’, Alan Bennett portrays the generalised view of females in society during the 1980’s. The 1980’s saw the first female Prime Minister in the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, who was a controversial choice; mainly due to her gender. The play can be seen as having been written with a satirical angle about the lesser role of women at the time; Bennett’s use of the comedic genre allows him to address the subject in a lighter, humorous tone, whilst still being able to convey

Bennett’s dramatic techniques from page 70 “boys come in” to “the bell goes” on page 74 and consider how this passage might be viewed as a significant and dramatic moment in the History Boys. In Alan Bennett’s, The History Boys, the Holocaust Scene is vital to the development of drama in the play. Bennett uses the conflict in this scene to develop the significance of inter-character relationships. It is a significant moment because it forms a climax to the antagonism between Hector and Irwin, influencing

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