Dakin's 'Coming Of Age In The History Boys'

The History Boys
What is the most enduring emotion that you take from The History Boys?
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Beyond the immediate, beyond being a play about coming of age and the value and nature of education, The History Boys is a play about the complexities and difficulties of being a human being. Bennett goes to lengths to explore and understand the trials and tribulations of his characters, and allow his audience too to understand the character’s troubles. It would appear Bennett’s goal is for his audience to learn and develop an understanding and empathy, not only for his characters, but also for humankind and to appreciate the intricacies of human nature.

One of the most obvious examples here is the
Irwin has been, thus far, a supremely confident character, who knows exactly what it is he wants to say, who will turn around and convincingly explain that the fourteen foreskins of Christ is a good subject on which to base an essay, but who, when confronted with life, reveals himself to be a nervous and uncertain character. During the scene where Dakin asks him ‘for a drink’ we see a side of Irwin yet unseen, his sentences are short and hesitant, he does not formulate an argument. While this can be largely attributed to his apparent sexual inexperience, especially when compared with Dakin, though equally it is important to realise that he is simply not that character he originally seemed, that his boisterous and know-it-all appearance was a façade to hide a real Irwin who does not have to courage to live as recklessly as his teachings would have you believe. Once again this incongruity between what he preaches and his practice make him a believable and developed character, one who the audience can sympathise with, especially as some could argue the insensitive, arrogant and ‘amoral’ Irwin we have seen previously does not invoke any sympathy from the audience. Once more, by presenting us with characters as real as we are, Bennett encourages his audience to empathise with people and understand the messiness of who we
From the beginning, Posner is shown to be something of an outsider to the lives of the other boys, Posner notes that because he ‘was late growing up’ he is ‘not included in this kind of conversation’ here referring to a conversation between Dakin and Scripps about being groped by Hector on the bike, combine this with his poignant and often darkly humorous and self-depreciating lines and the audience cannot help but sympathise with him. Which means that when we learn of Posner’s future, at the end of the play, it bears all the more impact. First, it is in stark contrast to how the other boys have fared after they had left university; after hearing of the success of the other boys Posner’s ‘periodic breakdowns’ carry far more emotional weight; secondly, as Mrs Lintott points out, he is the one who ‘truly took everything to heart’ and, as far as the viewer is concerned, Hector did everything right with Posner; he taught him well, as illustrated at the end of act one, didn’t molest him and encourages him to learn and grow as a human being – ‘He makes you want to [learn poetry], sir.’ And yet, Posner is without a doubt the one who has been least prepared for life. What is the viewer meant to take from this? Is it Hector’s teaching that is at fault? After all, other boys think Hector to be a ‘fool,’ ‘a joke’ and so it is possible that they took Hector’s teachings with a pinch of salt and, as a result, achieved