the theme of history in the play

1. The History Boys – Alan Bennett
 L.O: To explore the theme of history in the play.
 To plan a response to an exam question on this
topic.
AO1 Respond to texts critically and imaginatively; select and
evaluate relevant textual detail to illustrate and support
interpretations.
AO2: Explain how language, structure and form contribute to
writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings.

2. What is History?
 Write a paragraph explaining how the theme
of history and the nature of history relates
to the play.

3. The Theme of History
 Find the quotes relating to the theme of
history made by the characters on the page
numbers listed on the sheet.
For each quotation write a PEE paragraph
about the character and their link to the
theme.

4. Controversial History
Throughout the play, Irwin encourages the boys to make
controversial arguments about the origins and outcomes of
historical events.
What alternative arguments are being made in these
extracts?
Historical Event Irwin/Dakin’s alternative view
Origins of WWI (p.25)
Japan’s 1942 attack on Pearl
Harbour (p.35)
How Henry VIII affected the
monasteries (p.63)
Hitler’s role in WWII (p.72)
How Halifax affected the outcome
of WWII (p.90)

5. What is History?
 Review
 Look back at your paragraph explaining how
the theme of history and the nature of
history relates to the play.
 Change or add to your paragraph based on
what you learnt last lesson.

6. Exam question.
How is the theme
of history
presented by
Bennett in the
play?

7. Some points you could include
 The character of Irwin is representative of many modern historians in
search of untrodden ground. Irwin teaches his boys to take some hitherto
unquestioned historical assumption and prove the opposite.
 Using this theory, Irwin makes the short leap from history teacher to
journalist to government spin-doctor, whose job it is to prove that the loss
of trial by jury does not impinge on civil liberties, but instead broadens
them.
 For Irwin, history is not a matter of conviction and he encourages the boys
to be dispassionate, to distance themselves. This is a theory which works
well when he is teaching the Reformation, but causes controversy when the
class moves on to discuss the Holocaust.
 In a key scene, Irwin, Hector and the boys argue over whether the
Holocaust should be studied, and if so, how. Whilst Hector’s approach – to
perceive the Holocaust as an unprecedented horror – may seem typically
naive, Posner points out that to put the Holocaust ‘in context is a step
towards saying that it can be… explained. And if it can be explained then it
can be explained away.’
 The History Boys highlights the responsibility of the historian, and asks
questions about the approach the historian should take in studying the past.

8. Now answer the question…
 How is the theme of history presented by
Bennett in the play?
 40 minutes – Exam conditions.