Bennett Explores the Fine Line Between Wisdom and Foolishness in ‘the History Boys’. Discuss with Reference to This Comedic Drama.

Bennett explores the bonny melodic phrase amidst soundness and whackyness in The taradiddle Boys. Discuss with reference to this comedic drama. The elegant guide of credit between sapience and leniency has often been explored and blurred in dramatic comedies finished emerge the ages. Often, in Shakespeares plays especi ein truth last(predicate)y, the fool figure turns out to be the extraneousst figure out of all of the other char effecters, and is used as a carriage to make a comment on the social context of the time.This theme is present in The History Boys, as Bennett mostly uses characters as a means of exploring the exquisite gunstock. He to a fault uses scenes and themes during the play to explore the fine line between scholarship and fatuity, save he tends to focus on utilize the characters to explore the line instead. The schoolmaster is a character with whom, when first introduced to, the audience would agitate the title of foolish, as Bennett shows hi m to be a real foolish character.However, this would differ from Shakespeares fool in his plays the fools were often the recklessst of characters, except in this circumstance, with this character, the Headmaster acts foolish without becoming the fool from Shakespeare, as the Headmaster doesnt buzz off the hidden wisdom and association Shakespeares fools had. For instance, when discussing competing schools in the federation tables with Mrs Lintott, he says Leighton Park. Or is than an open prison?No matter This name shows the reader what a foolish man Bennett has created a headmaster non knowing the difference between a competing school in the union tables and a prison is absurd. However, it helps Bennett to show the fine line between wisdom and foolery, as some(prenominal) members of the audience may think that the Headmaster is wise in some of the decisions he makes, as he does know methods to thump the students to achieve academic levels that allow entry into Oxbridge. Another moment where Bennett explores the fine line is when he says, upon discussing Oxbridge with the supply teacher Irwin, I thought of going to, further this was the fifties. Change was in the air power The first impression given of him from this line of speech is that the characters around him must be able to see through his lies and see the fool that he ultimately is in the fifties, life was the very(prenominal) as in the forties it was the sixties where change was in the air and the characters around the Headmaster would know that he was ying to coer the fact that he wasnt academically smart enough to attend Oxbridge. This does show him to book some wisdom, however, as he was smart enough to cover up the fact that he didnt attend Oxbridge, even if the lie wasnt successful, and that he is wise as he does want the best for the boys, notwithstanding again, this is outweighed by the foolish decision that is to get the boys to Oxbridge to raise the school in the league tables to enhance its reputation and thereby his own career present he is mostly trying to get the boys do to headspring for his benefit.Bennett also uses the character of the Headmaster to make a social comment of the schooltime at the time he wrote the play, hinting that headmasters of schools often tried to get the wear grades for the students only to pull their school up in the league tables, and thereby improve their own reputations of headmasters. A second character Bennett uses to explore the fine line between wisdom and foolishness is ballyrag, one of the boys teachers.One of the first impressions we get of hector is that he is a character who Bennett presents to be very wise he has taught the boys so well they can reiterate literature at any time of the day in the settle context Posner (Edgar) Look up, My Lord. Timms (Kent) Vex not his ghost This is quite a a feat to achieve, and it also shows that he too knows and understands when and where to bring up literature, agai n demonstrate his wisdom.However, this is a point where Bennett does show how fine the line between wisdom and foolishness actually is, as some people may spot this skill as useless, as it probably wont be able to help them in their university or working life, unless they pursue a career where literature and the need to quote it is needed, so this act may be viewed as quite foolish spending time teach the boys something they probably wont need in their future lives, disrespect the fact that they and Hector may be considered wise for having this skill.Bennett does show Hector to be a character who does act very foolish sometimes No Headmaster, (He covers his ears. )Non. Absolument non. Non. Non. Non. The stage directions used here make Hector act alike a naughty child who is ref exploitation to stop what theyre doing a grown man, who is a teacher nonetheless, acting this way does appear to be a fool to people around him, even if they know he is only pretending. However, this is one of the moments where you can explicitly tell that Bennett is exploring the fine line etween wisdom and foolishness and is showing indeed how very fine it is some people may see past Hector acting like a fool and see him to be very wise he knows that if he carries on refusing to do what the Headmaster askes of him, the Headmaster may well just give up and drop the subject. This could be down to the fact that Hector doesnt view the Headmaster as a wise man more of a fool who you can walk over and expect to carry on doing things the way you want to, even if the Headmaster is against it. A hand on a boys crotch at fifty miles an hour, and you call it nothing? This is a very pregnant quote in showing how Bennett explores the fine line. Hector is a very wise man he has a deep understanding and intimacy of literature, he has helped get the boys A-Levels up to the standards of Oxbridge and is, academically, quite smart. However, the quote shows that, in legal injury of his judgement s, he is quite a fool the acts he performed were frowned upon by sparkicipation at the time, and show to galore(postnominal) people that he has crossed the line between wisdom and foolishness with ease without really realising it. transmission of knowledge This also shows how his judgements are foolish, and how he can be seen to be a fool by many people when he is confronted about(predicate) his actions, he uses quotes from poetry to try to get out of the confrontation. By the end of the play, many people would probably see Hector as a very wise man, but a man who has the tendency to cross the fine line between wisdom and foolishness, whilst others would see him as only world a fool, despite his knowledge in literature.Overall, Hector is probably Bennetts primary(prenominal) way to explore the fine line between wisdom and foolishness, as Hector crosses the line countless times without realising it himself. Another way Bennett explores the fine line between wisdom and foolishne ss is by using scenes, such as the French Scene. This scene takes place towards the start of the play, and is where Hector and the boys practise speaking quiet French by acting out a scene of their choice in French. Mais une maison de passe ou tous les clients utilisent le subjonctif ou le conditionnel, oui? (But a brothel where all clients use the subjunctive or conditional, yes? ) This quote is taken from the scene and helps to show the wise and the foolish sides of Hector he and the students are acting out a scene in fluent French (which in itself is a very academic skill for the students to have learnt) and Hector is quite wise in getting them to practise using their French in everyday scenes, thus improving their fluency.However, the foolish part is the fact that the scene they are all acting out is a brothel, which is a very foolish thing to do considering where they are (in a school), but the fact that Hector keeps on going on about their grammar whilst speaking French does show some wisdom, with the fact that he knows scarcely how to get the boys to improve their fluency and grammatical skill in French, but in a very foolish circumstance. A third way the fine line between wisdom and foolishness is through themes specifically the themes of sexuality and sex.For sexuality Dont touch him This quote is quite important in showing the fine line between wisdom and foolishness, as it is said when Hector and Irwin are discussing Hectors early retirement, teaching and Dakin. Bennett shows here that Hectors foolish decisions have dark him into a wiser man, who is advising Irwin on how not to make the same foolish fracture he did. The foolishness here makes the scene quite tragic sort of than comic. For the theme of sex, the fine line is explored when Dakin and Scripps have a conversation together about Fiona (the Headmasters secretary). like particularly her tits, which only overlook after a prolonged campaign some three weeks ago The wordplay in this c onversation is very foolish indeed, which Scripps finds funny albeit embarrassing, but the wisdom in Dakin is evident by the way Dakin applies military logistics to a new context with ease, using the semantic field of war. Overall, these are the main ways Bennett uses to explore the fine line between wisdom and foolishness in The History Boys, mainly using the characters of the Headmaster and Hector.