The Headmaster is used by Bennett as a source of comedy in the play. He is used to providing different types of comedic elements; through his hypocritical nature where he strives for his school to succeed academically, but he himself is not academically strong. Despite having a wife, his actions towards Fiona, his secretary, display his misogynistic idea of ​​women, but also introduce humor in the form of black comedy. The director's ridiculous behavior can be seen as pantomime-like material, however, Bennett informs us about it in dribs and drabs and thus changes the perspective in which we see it. The Headmaster, also known as Felix, is usually portrayed as a strict principal who lives only by the rules, is aggressive and impatient, but also fails to maintain any form of respect from the teachers and students . Additionally, his strict and boring character, "Get me scholarships, Irwin..." is harshly juxtaposed with the other characters' open and pleasant approach to learning "Bristol welcomes you with open arms." » This creates a striking caricature of a director; generously filling the room with even more comedy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay The principal's philosophy is similar to that introduced in the 1980s, where teachers were encouraged to teach students to pass the exam rather than teaching for life as a whole; Critic John J. Stinson asserts that "Bennett had devised his own 'flash' method for passing exams, particularly in history, and it worked. » We can deduce that although teaching only for exams is not the best long-term solution, it actually works. In the play, the headmaster has hired Irwin to teach boys just for exams in order to achieve exceptional results to boast his status as the rankings will show positive results. As we know, the director is only interested in results and how he is represented. So he doesn't care whether the boys will succeed later in life, but rather whether they just get the exam results now. Bennett himself would probably have favored Hector's path of teaching for later in life and to make the students more well-rounded, therefore he allows the headmaster to introduce Irwin into the room so that he retains his unsympathetic relationship with the public. example of the headmaster's nature when we meet him in the staffroom talking to Mrs Lintott where he asks her: "When was the last time we had someone in history at Oxford and Cambridge?" Here we can see that the headmaster only really cares about how the school is portrayed and perceived by others because, just like today, Oxford and Cambridge were the top universities in the 1980s when the play was was filmed and so you had to be academically brilliant to go. there. We can also see some irony in this part of the play since the principal wants his students and school to be academically strong while he himself is not; we find out when he meets Irwin. “I was a geographer. I went to Hull. Here the headmaster tries to cover up the fact that he did not go to one of the "top" universities by telling Irwin, who went to Oxford, that he studied geography. Perhaps he feels weakened by Irwin's references. We can also see thedirector as a rather manipulative character and compare certain aspects of his character to that of a doctor of communications. Felix regularly changes the words he uses in the play because he considers that what he initially said did not have the desired effect. The headmaster realizes that the word "more" makes it seem like the task at hand is too much for Mrs. Lintott to handle, and so he changes it to "grooming" and "presentation", thus making it seem more digestible. Again we can see this happening later in the play when he withdraws his "stupidity" comment in front of the boys because he does not want to use such a simple word in their presence as he wishes to appear educated but more importantly again because he does not wish to launch an attack or criticize their learning for fear of harming him. Bennett also uses role reversal to create comedy when the authority and role of the director is activated. his head. For example, when Félix interrupts Hector's French class, he addresses Hector formally. "Mr. Hector, I hope I am not..." Here he uses a formal title towards Hector, thus giving him authority and portrays an element of politeness by saying "I hope I am not " with the verb "hope" leading to us. feel this. This is, however, juxtaposed quite surprisingly by Hector when he holds up “a finger of warning.” It's quite a harsh contrast between Felix's polite and formal sentences interrupted by a rather non-formal gesture. “Admonitory” shows that Hector feels like he is the only character in the room with authority, we can also see another example “English is forbidden”. The imperative is an order towards Felix thus generating humor because even Hector seems to mock the director by directly reversing his role and emphasizing his inability to maintain respect even from his colleagues. Bennett continues to present the director as a character to be ridiculed as Felix. is under the impression that he has managed to conspire with Mrs Lintott and persuade her to be on his side, when in reality she has not paid attention to a word and is simply putting up with him because he has the authority and she doesn't have it. This is evident from the way she describes the principal as “An asshole…” and “A condescending asshole”. Additionally, the response given to the principal when he leaves the staff room is also important. “Yes, Director.” This response can be seen as imitating young schoolchildren as they all respond sadly to their teacher together, making the audience understand that this is a routine that Mrs Lintott follows rather than something she says who actually acknowledges what the director said. . Comedy can still be found here in the form of dramatic irony, as the audience knows that Mrs. Lintott is only supporting Felix, while the headmaster feels like he has conspired with her. The manager is also showing impatience, which may be another reason. why we don't like his character. Impatience can be seen as a childish quality and thus depict the headmaster as a childish and uneducated character, as he is too impatient and acts in a manner as if he would like the boys to take their exams now so that he gets results. . We can also see insecurity; When challenged by Hector's comment, he attempts to respond rather than take control of the situation. He responds in French, which highlights his lack of education as he stumbles without speaking fluently, even adding a few words in English. "Why is this boy...Dakin, right?...is without his...pants." This inflicts satirical comedy on the audience as we see their inability to..