The History Boys: Act 2 Summary & Analysis

Act two opens with Irwin, about five years after the end of act one, sitting in a wheelchair and talking to a camera. He is doing a television piece on King Henry VIII, who dissolved Catholic monasteries during his reign in the 1500s. Irwin narrates a shot of the latrine at one of these monasteries. He laments that, for many tourists, “the monastic life only comes alive when contemplating its toilet arrangements.” Then the Director comes out to tell him that he sounds a bit too “schoolmasterly.” They begin the narration again. Irwin describes the many other aspects monastic life that a visitor might conceivably enjoy learning about, but concludes, “God is dead. Shit lives.” He says that scraps of fabric, once used as toilet paper, now inhabit the abbey museum.

Irwin goes on to say that these “rags are hallowed…by time.” They have become “sanitised by the years and sanctified, too.” He ends the segment by saying that the “cults” of today are no more rational than the ones that came before. He stumbles a bit as he finishes, and apologizes to the Director, who says this is unusual for Irwin, and suggests that they take a break. Irwin wheels himself back to a Man who has been watching, and asks if all this sounds familiar. He says that it is “meretricious, of course, but that’s nothing new.” The Man asks what meretricious means, and Irwin says that it means “eye-catching, showy; false.”

The Man says that Irwin was a “good teacher,” and Irwin replies that meretricious people are often effective teachers, especially on TV. He says that his disability also makes him come off as more sincere. Then he says to the Man, “I hope they’re paying you well,” and asks who gave him the idea. The Man says that he has a “counsellor,” or a psychiatrist, who thought that this project would help him. Irwin asks, “What happened at Oxford?” and the Man says that he actually went to Cambridge, but “it didn’t work out.” He says he spent all his energy trying to get in, and “I thought I’d got somewhere, then I found I had to go on.”

Replying to Irwin’s question about the money, the Man says that his counsellor told him payment would be “therapeutic.” Irwin says he’s surprised anyone is interested in the story, and we gather that the Man is writing some sort of journalistic piece. He says that because Irwin is a celebrity, the story doesn’t have to be a big one. Irwin asks if the Man wrote the piece, and the man says “yes,” then clarifies that he had help from someone at the paper. He says that Irwin looks good in the story. Irwin asks how Hector comes off. The man doesn’t reply.

Then the Man says that the piece doesn’t mention anything about Irwin and Dakin. Irwin says that nothing happened with Dakin, and the Man says he doesn’t believe that. Irwin says “it’s not true,” and the Man says, “you used to say that wasn’t important.” He says that Irwin “liked” Dakin, and asks if he wants to talk about it. Irwin repeats that nothing happened. The man asks if Dakin liked Irwin—he says, “I need to know.” Irwin asks why. Then Irwin asks if the Man is recording this conversation, and the Man doesn’t reply. Irwin realizes (or assumes) that he is, and asks, “how did you come to this?”

The Man says that it won’t go to print without a comment from Irwin, and that it’s a chance to tell his side of the story, to avoid looking like Hector. Irwin says, “I wasn’t like Hector. Now fuck off.” He wheels back towards the Director, and the Man calls after him, asking if he can sign a book. Irwin takes it, and asks whom to make it out to. The Man says it’s for him, David. Irwin says that he only knows the Man as Posner. He says that he’s going to inscribe the book “To Posner,” and that he means it to be “unfriendly.” Posner briefly protests, but then he is hurried away by a Make-up Assistant.

Irwin goes back to the lighted area to film his narration. He says that nowadays, people care more about things than they do about people, and that this is why they find Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries shocking. It meant the destruction and loss of things. He says that people don’t focus on a loss of community or on the loss of a spiritual practice. This is ironic, Irwin says, because the monasteries were meant to be a place to escape things. He ends with the counterintuitive conclusion that the dissolution of the monasteries thus brought them to their purpose and their “apotheosis” by allowing an escape from worldly objects. The Director says that sounds good, though “apotheosis” might still be too erudite. Irwin responds that this is “BBC Two,” which is a place for British television’s more highbrow shows.

The scene flashes back again, to Hector’s classroom. Hector seems “somber and distracted.” Posner steps up to define apotheosis: “a perfect example of its type. Moment of highest fulfillment.” It takes Hector a moment to realize what he has said, but then he says that this is “very good.” He calls the class’s attention, and says that he has something to tell them. Akthar and Dakin cut him off, saying that they know: Hector is now going to share his lesson times with Irwin. Hector begins to say that that wasn’t what he was going to tell them, but Timms, Lockwood, Crowther, and Akthar are busy quipping with each other about how different Hector’s lessons are from Irwin’s. Hector says that he’s not in the mood for this. Dakin jokes, “what mood is that sir? The subjunctive?”

Hector tells them all to get back to reading. Akthar and Lockwood complain that that’s no fun. Hector, becoming more worked up, asks if they think his classes are just fun. Posner tries to say that they’re more than just fun, and Akthar asks if Posner singing will cheer Hector up. Then Hector loses his temper. He tells them to “shut up,” calling them “mindless fools.” He asks, “what made me piss my life away in this god-forsaken place? There’s nothing left of me.” He dismisses the class and puts his head on his desk. At first the boys think that he’s joking, but when they realize he’s serious, they don’t know what to do. Scripps is closest to Hector, and he motions to Dakin that Hector is crying. Neither boy moves to comfort him. Eventually, Posner comes up and pats him on the back. Scripps, narrating to the audience, says that he should have been the one to do this, or Dakin, but that they didn’t. He says that he later wrote the scene down.

Hector begins to recover. He says that he doesn’t know what he was crying about. Timms, trying to bring things back to normal, says that Dakin and Scripps have a scene from a film for him. Hector says that’s good, as there are currently twenty-three pounds up to be won if he can’t guess it. The two boys do a portion of a scene from the movie The Seventh Veil. Hector pretends not to know it at first, but then gets it on his third try. The boys pay up, and the bell rings. They all clear out, and Hector is left alone on stage, “sitting at the table.”

The scene changes. The Headmaster asks Mrs. Lintott whether Hector told her the reason for his departure. She says, “more or less.” The Headmaster is surprised. He says that he hasn’t told anyone, and adds that he hopes Hector will decide to leave on his own. Mrs. Lintott says that Hector wants to stay, and that she’s here to ask about that. The Headmaster launches into a long explanation of Hector’s shortcomings as a teacher. He says that there’s no way to concretely measure Hector’s results, and that his classes are too wide-ranging. Then he says, “so the upshot is I am glad he handled his pupils’ balls because that at least I can categorize.” It is clear that Mrs. Lintott did not know this, and the Headmaster says that he assumed she did. He asks her to be discreet with this information, and tells her that it happened on the motorcycle, and that he finds it completely unacceptable.

The Headmaster exits, and Mrs. Lintott begins narrating to the audience. She says that she has so far not been given an inner voice in the play, but rather has been a witness to the “predilections and preoccupations of men.” She says that it is condescending of the Headmaster to assume so much discretion on her part. He is treating her as a safe person to confide in because she is a woman. Irwin enters, and Mrs. Lintott says to him that the Headmaster is “a twat.”

Mrs. Lintott asks Irwin if he thinks that Hector is a good teacher, and Irwin says he supposes that he does. Mrs. Lintott says that she does not. She thinks that he inspires some students to think, unrealistically, that they can be artists. She wonders what learning poems and songs by heart is “except as some sort of insurance against the boys’ ultimate failure.” But she says that it doesn’t matter now, and Irwin asks her what she means. She doesn’t tell him. She asks why Irwin is here at the time of Hector’s lesson, and he reminds her that they are sharing. Mrs. Lintott assumes that this was the Headmaster’s idea. She exits, calling the Headmaster a “twat” as she goes.

The boys and Hector enter the room. Irwin asks Hector how they should start, and he says that he usually has the boys decide. They are silent when Irwin asks them for ideas, and when Hector encourages them to respond and not to “sulk,” Dakin says that they’re not sure how to act, because they act differently in Irwin’s and Hector’s classes. Timms says that they’re not sure if they should be “thoughtful” or “smart.” Hector says they should be “civil,” and hits Timms. Timms lodges a mock complaint to Irwin as a “witness,” and Irwin tells them all to “settle down.” He says that he thinks they should talk about the Holocaust. Hector asks, nonplussed, how you can teach the Holocaust. Irwin takes this as their first question—can you and should you teach a class about the Holocaust?

Akthar says that it is “a subject like any other,” and Scripps protests that it’s “not like any other at all.” Hector says that concentration camps are now destinations for school trips, and that he has always wondered where students “eat their sandwiches.” Crowther says that it happens in a “’visitors’ center. It’s like anywhere else.” Hector further wonders whether they take pictures there, and says that there would be no appropriate expression in a photo, much as an exam question is inappropriate. He says that any answer will “demean the suffering involved.” Irwin says that “tone” or “tact” is the issue, and Hector calls it instead “decorum.”

Lockwood suggests that they could write that the Holocaust is so far beyond their life experience that they must remain silent on the topic. Dakin counters that this answer could apply to many different topics. Hector agrees, earnestly. Dakin then quotes the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein: “whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent.” Irwin says this is good, but Hector says it’s “flip” and “glib.” He calls it, groaningly, “journalism.” Dakin protests that it’s Hector who taught him this quote, and Hector says, “I didn’t teach you and Wittgenstein didn’t screw it out of his very guts in order for you to turn it into a dinky formula.” He says he thought Dakin would see that, and Dakin says that he does understand, he no longer agrees.

Timms recalls a time in class when Hector said that one death can be more instructive than many deaths. Timms quotes Hector back to himself: “when people are dying like flies, you said, that is what they are dying like.” But Posner objects that in the Holocaust, people were “processed” and killed, and that this makes it different. Irwin says this is good, and Hector objects, saying, “Posner is not making a point. He is speaking from the heart.” Dakin says that this doesn’t matter. He turns to Irwin, and reminds him of his idea that Hitler is not a crazed lunatic, but a politician “discernibly operating within the framework of traditional German foreign policy.” Dakin asks whether, within that argument, they could say that “the death camps have to be seen in the context of this policy.” Irwin calls this line of argument “inexpedient.” Hector repeats the word incredulously.

Irwin starts to say that for one thing, the argument isn’t true. But Scripps cuts in to remind him that they’ve already discarded truth as a major factor in crafting their examination answers. It’s practically just “another point of view.” Hector asks, “why can you not simply condemn the camps outright as an unprecedented horror?” A “slight embarrassment” follows these words, and Lockwood replies that it won’t set them apart, because every student will take this line: “evil unprecedented, etc.” Hector says that “etcetera” is what the Nazis would have said, and that reading George Orwell should have taught them to treat language with more care. Lockwood revises his wording, but still suggests that the camps could be put “in proportion” in an examination answer.

Scripps objects to the word “proportion” and Dakin calls it “context.” Posner says that putting something in context is on the road towards explaining it away, and forgetting its true gravity. Rudge speaks a French proverb meaning “to understand all is to forgive all,” and Hector is again discouraged by the shallow use of this quote (he groans). Irwin says Posner’s point is “good” and Posner counters, “It isn’t ‘good.’ I mean it, sir.” Dakin says that putting the Holocaust in context is the same as putting the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in context, but Posner says that the Holocaust is different because his relatives were killed. Irwin says “good point” and Scripps objects that Irwin sees the Holocaust as just another topic for the exam. Irwin says this isn’t true, but that as historians, it is important to find distance, even on a subject like the Holocaust.

The bell rings. Irwin tells Hector that he thought the lesson went well. Hector says that it was discouraging to hear the boys use his knowledge in that way. He had hoped to be “lining their minds with some sort of literary insulation, proof against the primacy of fact.” But the boys have been drawn to use that literature as part of Irwin’s examination game. The worst part of it, he says, is that Irwin “wanted them to show off, to come up with the short answer, the handy quote.” He says that it’s time for him to go, and Irwin asks where, but Scripps and Dakin enter, so Hector says that he just means he has to go home. He exits.

Dakin tells Irwin that he and Scripps were just discussing whether Irwin is disingenuous—insincere—or meretricious—falsely attractive. Dakin says that Irwin is not disingenuous. He asks whether Irwin’s idea that our perspective changes on history as time goes on also applies to literature. Irwin says that it doesn’t—art is different. Dakin says, “we still love you, even if you are a bit flash,” and Irwin exits.

Scripps teases Dakin for flirting with Irwin. Dakin says that he wants to impress Irwin in a way that surprises even himself. Scripps says that what he doesn’t like about Irwin is the way he argues for things that he doesn’t even believe in, and Dakin says that sex is like that—just “making it up all the time. Being different, outrageous.” Then Dakin says that Hector no longer seems to like him as much. Scripps says that he’s stopped taking anyone on his motorcycle. Dakin says that’s because he’s been fired—he found out through Fiona. Scripps is surprised, but they both agree that they won’t miss the “genital massage.” Dakin asks if they are “scarred for life,” and Scripps says that he hopes it will “turn me into Proust.”

The scene changes to the Headmaster’s study. He tells Irwin that he’s gotten a letter from Posner’s parents, who are Jewish, and object to Irwin’s ideas about putting the Holocaust in “proportion.” Irwin says that they did discuss the Holocaust, and “ways of discussing it that went beyond mere lamentation.” The Headmaster doesn’t want to hear this argument. He says that Irwin must write a letter of apology to the Posner parents, and suggests again that Irwin grow a moustache. Then the scene changes. Posner tells Irwin that he suggested to his family that the Holocaust is “a historical fact like other historical facts,” and Irwin apologizes for being “too dispassionate.” Posner asks what he should do if the Holocaust comes up on the exam. Irwin says that, because he’s Jewish, Posner can get away with more on the exam than other students can. He concludes, “but…say what you think.”

In a new scene, Irwin is passing back essays. Dakin boasts that he’s getting the hang of Irwin’s expectations—“it’s like a game”—but it turns out that Irwin has given him a low grade. Scripps tells Dakin that his handwriting is starting to look like Irwin’s, and that Posner’s is too. Posner responds that Dakin writes like Irwin, while he writes like Dakin. Dakin says that he talks about Irwin so much now that Fiona has to have sex with him to get him to stop talking. Scripps asks if Dakin has considered sleeping with Irwin, and Dakin says that he’s thought about it, to “bring a little sunshine into [Irwin’s] life.”

Scripps begins to ask Dakin about having sex with Fiona, and Posner asks whether Dakin is ever worried about not having sex to look forward to anymore. Dakin says he looks forward to more sex—and he just wishes that it could be with Irwin. Dakin exits. Posner tells Scripps that he knows Irwin likes Dakin. Posner always looks at Dakin in class, so he sees Irwin doing so, to. Scripps comforts Posner that his feelings “will pass.” Posner says he’s not sure he wants them too, but they’re painful. Scripps reminds him that Hector considers pain the best education. Posner says he wishes he could get graded for it.

The scene changes. Hector, Irwin, and Mrs. Lintott are sitting behind a table, giving the boys mock admissions interviews. They ask the boys about their interests, but when Crowther begins to mention acting, Irwin says that he shouldn’t emphasize that. The university professors will look down on it. Hector says, wryly, “so much for Shakespeare,” and encourages the boys to talk about what they enjoy. When Posner says he like Mozart, Irwin tells him to say something more unusual. Hector says that they should tell the truth. Irwin agrees, provided that they can “make it seem like [they’re] telling the truth.”

Hector asks Mrs. Lintott what she thinks. She reminds them that one of the dons interviewing them might be a woman. She says she doubts they have considered this. She catches Dakin yawning as she speaks. Timms says that this line of conversation is embarrassing to the boys, because the inequality is “not [their] fault.” Lockwood quotes Wittgenstein to back up this point: “the world is everything that is the case.” Mrs. Lintott asks if Wittgenstein was gay (“did he travel on the other bus?”) and Hector confirms that he was. She says this makes sense, as the quote Lockwood has offered actually shows a “rueful, accepting” stance toward the world, while a straight man would say, “the world is everything that can be made to seem the case.”

Mrs. Lintott says that there are no women historians on TV because they “don’t get carried away” promoting whatever new thought comes into their heads. The other reason, she says, is that history is more painful for women than it is for men, because they “never get round the conference table.” History, therefore, is made up of men’s mistakes and “incapabilities.” She says, “what is history? History is women following behind with the bucket.” They don’t need to argue this on the exam, she says, but they might allude to it briefly. The boys meet this tirade with silence. Mrs. Lintott notes that the other teachers, and some of the boys, seem to “find this undisguised expression of feeling distasteful.”

Irwin calls Rudge for a mock interview. Mrs. Lintott asks him how he defines history. He answers, after asking permission to swear, that “it’s just one fucking thing after another.” She asks him why he wants to come to Christ Church, the smaller college within Oxford University that he has chosen to apply to. Rudge says that he thought he had the best chance of acceptance there. He wants to talk about sports, but eventually says that he also likes movies. They discuss this briefly, then Rudge says bluntly that he’s “shit at this,” but maybe they’ll accept him because he’s “dull and ordinary” and pleasant to spend time with on the golf course. He “may not know much about Jean-Paul Sartre,” but he is good at golf. The bell goes off, ending Rudge’s interview. The boys file out.

Dakin and Irwin are left on stage. Dakin asks how Irwin did at Oxford, and he says that he got a second degree (not top honors). He says that he was at Corpus college. Dakin notes that none of the boys are applying there. He asks if Irwin thinks they’ll be happy at university, and Irwin says that Dakin will be. Dakin fills in the reason: he is “uncomplicated,” “outgoing,” and “straight.” He says he might prefer to be “complicated.” Irwin asks how Posner is doing, given that he likes Dakin. Dakin says that Posner’s affection is “boring” and that he wouldn’t do anything about it, because Posner is “too young.” The sexual charge has been building throughout this scene, and then Dakin tells Irwin, “you still look quite young.” There is a long pause.

Dakin asks Irwin how history happens, then fills in the answer: people “make moves.” Irwin responds that “others react to events.” They banter briefly about whether Poland was “surprised” by Hitler’s advances, then turn to Dakin’s essay, which is about “turning points” in history. Irwin suggests a few major ones, and Dakin agrees that he has written about them, but he has also written about two moments when chance or randomness came into play and led to drastic consequences. Irwin says that this essay sounds “first class.” Dakin says it’s like a game, and Irwin reminds him that thinking about history this way makes him take another look at what actually happened. Dakin calls this “subjunctive history,” and says Hector is crazy about the subjunctive, the “mood you use when something might or might not have happened.”

In a new scene, the boys and teachers are all taking a photograph. Posner, squatting in front, jokes that he’d “just like to graduate to a chair.” Mrs. Lintott and the Headmaster arrange the boys, and then the Headmaster asks Hector to take the photo. Mrs. Lintott objects, but the Headmaster says the photo is “for the school.” He tells them to “look like Oxbridge material,” As Hector takes the photo, he quotes a line of poetry: “magnificently unprepared for the long littleness of life.” The boys do a “farewell song and dance” to a Gracie Fields song, and then they all exit.

Irwin and Mrs. Lintott wait for the Headmaster. They are not sure what he wants to discuss with them, but they assume that it has to do with Hector. Irwin asks if Hector’s wife knows what’s going on, and Mrs. Lintott says that Hector doesn’t think so. Mrs. Lintott herself suspects that his wife does an idea of the truth, and may even have married Hector for his “lukewarm attentions.” Mrs. Lintott muses on the randomness of Hector’s fate, “the junction of a dizzying range of alternatives any one of which could have had a different outcome.” She says that analyzing this incident with the students would teach them more about history than she has “managed to do so far.”

Irwin wonders aloud how the boys will do at University. Mrs. Lintott asks him if he wishes he could go back, and he says that he’s “not clever enough. Not…anything enough really.” He says that he fantasizes about making a big research breakthrough to “fling it in their faces,” and Mrs. Lintott suggests that Oxford just cares that he make a lot of money. Hector and the Headmaster emerge from the office, and the Headmaster calls Mrs. Lintott in with him. The Headmaster and Mrs. Lintott exit.

Hector tells Irwin that the discussion will be about his “marching orders,” and Irwin says that Dakin has already told him. Hector asks if Irwin knows why he has been asked to leave, and Irwin says yes. Hector says that he has an idea to make a mobile library and drive around on “the open road.” Then he says that he didn’t want to teach students who, in middle age, would talk grandly (and, he implies, shallowly) in middle age about their “love of words.” He tells Irwin that that’s why he includes so much “sheer calculated silliness”— to fight against that self-aggrandizement.

Irwin asks if a student has ever made Hector “unhappy,” and Hector says that he’s over that phase. He sees pain as an “inoculation” which will “provide immunity” for future situations. Irwin calls this “love,” and Hector says that no one could love him because he talks too much. Then Hector tells Irwin not to keep teaching. Irwin says that he didn’t “intend” to, and Hector says that most people end up doing it without intending to. He expected teaching young people to “renew” him and provide “vitality,” but instead it creates “a fatigue that passes for philosophy but is nearer to indifference.” Hector cautions Irwin not to “touch him” (implying Dakin). He says it will make the boys think Irwin is a “fool,” as they now think that Hector is.

Mrs. Lintott re-emerges from the office. Hector says that he assumes she knew, and the boys too. Mrs. Lintott jokes that “they had it first hand.” Hector begins to say that it was “more in benediction than gratification,” but Mrs. Lintott says that she loves Hector, but “a grope is a grope. It is not the Annunciation.” Then she says that the Headmaster is hoping Irwin will take over her position when she leaves next year. The Headmaster comes out and calls Irwin in.

In a narration to the audience, Scripps, Dakin, and Posner describe their visits to Oxford and Cambridge. Scripps says that he took communion there as a “genuine act of worship” but that he also “really wanted to get in.” Looking back on his past self at that moment, he says, “fills me now with longing and pity.” Dakin says that he stayed with a pitiable host and that he looked at a list of college alums, visited Irwin’s college, Corpus, and didn’t have sex. Posner says that he “can see why they make a fuss about it,” because the college was beautiful. He says that he downplayed the Holocaust on his exam, and that the interviewers “praised what they called my sense of detachment.”

Following this narration, “the boys erupt onto the stage.” The Headmaster says that all of them have received places at Oxford and Cambridge, with special honors for Posner and Dakin. He congratulates Irwin and Mrs. Lintott. Mrs. Lintott reminds him that Rudge didn’t get a place, and the Headmaster says this is a pity. Then Rudge enters. He tells them that the examiners already told him his fate during the interview—he got in. Irwin is surprised, and Rudge says that he “had family connections.” The Headmaster asks whether someone in his family really went to Christ Church.

Rudge says that his father was a servant there, and this came up during his interview. One of the older interviewers asked him about it, and then said that this was what they were looking for as “evidence of how far they had come, wheel come full circle and that.” He says that he also played the game by saying that “Stalin was a sweetie”—and that they accepted him then and there as “plainly someone who thought for himself and just what the college rugger team needed.”

In a new scene Dakin and Irwin are alone together. Dakin tells Irwin that he looked up his name at Corpus while visiting Oxford, and that Irwin wasn’t listed. Irwin plays this down, but Dakin persists, saying that it matters “because I imagined you there.” Irwin admits that he didn’t get into Oxford for his undergraduate degree—he only went for “a teaching diploma.” He asks whether this “makes a difference,” and Dakin shrugs. He says that they’ve established that lying works, but Irwin should learn to be a better liar. Then he casually suggests that they get a drink.

Irwin says that he can’t tonight. Dakin suggests tomorrow. Irwin can’t. Dakin says that the drink is a euphemism, and that he’s actually wondering “whether there were any circumstances in which there was a chance of your sucking me off.” Irwin says that he didn’t know Dakin was “that way inclined,” and Dakin says that he isn’t, but he thought it would be a fun celebratory measure for the end of the year. As he is leaving, he turns to Irwin and says that there’s a distinct difference between the way he lives and the way he teaches. In argument, he is bold and reckless, but “when it’s something that’s actually happening, I mean now, you’re so fucking careful.”

Irwin protests that Dakin has already had to endure Hector’s gropings, but Dakin says that Hector is “a joke” and that Irwin couldn’t be like him. Irwin says Hector isn’t a joke, but Dakin says “that side of him is.” Irwin says that the situation is a cliché, and Dakin says that while clichés don’t play well on exams, “in this subject there are no examiners.” He says that Irwin should give in to the fun of a cliché. Irwin agrees. He takes out his calendar and suggests next week. Dakin makes fun of his crowded schedule and his tight-laced demeanor, saying that they’ve “got a long way to go.” He suggests Irwin take his glasses off. Irwin, flirting openly now, says “taking off my glasses is the last thing I do.” Dakin leaves, saying, “we’re not in the subjunctive either. It is going to happen.”

Dakin tells Scripps that he made Irwin this offer as a way of saying thank you. Scripps jokes that this seems excessive. Then Dakin says that he talked to the Headmaster. He asked him pointedly whether there’s any difference between Hector’s gropings and the Headmaster’s own pursuit of his secretary, Fiona. The Headmaster eventually agreed to give Hector another chance. Scripps says that “everybody’s happy.” Dakin says, “I hadn’t realised how easy it is to make things happen.” Then Scripps steps in with some foreshadowing narration. He says, theatrically, that suggesting everybody was happy made everything unravel. Dakin showily gives Posner a hug of “reward.” Posner says that it was disappointing—“too fucking brief.” Dakin hugs him again. Then he puts on his motorcycle helmet, saying that he’s going to ride with Hector “for old times’ sake.”

Hector enters, cheerful and wearing his motorcycle outfit. Rudge asks him whether they’re still playing the guessing game for money, because he has something. Rudge sings a verse of a popular modern song. Timms says that he can’t expect Hector to know such a “crap” song,” and Rudge says that Gracie Fields is also crap, “only that’s his crap.” Hector reminds them of his presence and says that he doesn’t know the song, but “his crap or my crap, it makes no difference.” He says that Rudge wins the money.

The Headmaster enters and sees Dakin in the motorcycle helmet. He immediately protests, and then Irwin walks in. Scripps says, “and here history rattled over the points…” and the Headmaster tells Hector to take Irwin instead. Irwin says “why not.” Dakin hands Irwin his helmet, and tells him to hold on to his briefcase. Scripps then begins to narrate. He says that they don’t know what happened, but there are many theories about why Hector crashed his motorcycle. Some suggest that he wasn’t used to driving with two hands, and therefore went too fast, but Scripps find this too obvious, and says Irwin would disapprove. His own theory is that Irwin didn’t know how to ride a motorcycle, and leaned the wrong way, unbalancing Hector. He says that this would be more appropriate.

Irwin begins narrating from his wheelchair. He says that he doesn’t remember anything after his conversation with Dakin. He says that they never got their drink. Dakin, narrating, says that he “couldn’t face the wheelchair,” but that it’s good he asked. He says, “barring accidents, it would have happened.” Rudge then comes in to narrate, saying that you can’t ignore accidents. He repeats his theory: “history is just one fucking thing after another.” Scripps says that a person dying at school can affect your whole life.

The whole staff, including Irwin in his wheelchair, and the students sing the song Bye Bye Blackbird while photos of a young Hector flash across a screen. The Headmaster begins a eulogy. He says that Hector “loved language. He loved words.” He helped students to gain enthusiasm about literature. Timms remembers Hector saying, or quoting, that “one person’s death will tell you more than a thousand.” Lockwood remembers the time that Hector put his head down on the desk in despair, and says, “it was the first time I realised a teacher was a human being.” Akthar says that there was an inscrutable “contract” between Hector and his students. Crowther says that, though he was “stained and shabby,” he “led you to expect the best. His death brought a lesson.”

Mrs. Lintott says that Hector didn’t have an agenda about where each boy would end up. She then gives details about where the boys do end up. Crowther and Lockwood become judges. Akthar is a headmaster. They are all “pillars of a community that no longer has much use for pillars.” Timms runs a dry-cleaning business and does drugs. Dakin is a highly paid tax lawyer. Rudge is a builder of “handy homes.” Rudge himself protests to this characterization, saying, “like them or not, Rudge Homes are at least affordable homes for first-time buyers.” Rudge says that death is “another excuse to patronise,” something he’s endured too much of. Mrs. Lintott says that she has, too. Scripps, she says, became a journalist, but is always saying he will someday “really write.”

Irwin, Mrs. Lintott says, was a journalist, too—first at the school, and then on TV. Now Irwin is in politics, she says. Irwin clarifies that he is in “government.” Mrs. Lintott says that either way, he hasn’t gone on to an academic career. Then she turns to Posner, who she says is the “only one who truly took everything to heart.” Posner lives a reclusive life in a cottage, having “periodic breakdowns.” He reads a lot at the library, and follows his classmates’ careers. He lives a shadow life online, and has many friends, though “none in his right name or even gender.” He “has long since stopped asking himself where it went wrong.”

Hector comes back into the scene. He tells Mrs. Lintott to finish, saying, “the bright day is done and we are for the dark.” Irwin says that Hector’s teaching was not suited to this time period. Scripps disagrees: “love apart, it is the only education worth having.” Hector says, “Pass the parcel, that’s sometimes all you can do. Take it, feel it, and pass it on…that’s the game I wanted you to learn. Pass it on.” The play ends.