Another example of hypocrisy is The Headmaster. When the headmaster is presented to us for the first time he shows us that what he appears to be and what he says is not what he is in reality. The Headmaster is in his sixties and he is “amused by the disappointments of life and career”. When Alan comes to see him in his study he tells him that “I don’t believe in corporal punishment” but he still punishes him with the cane. The act of beating a child is an echo of the violence of the war just gone. Alan is horrified when he kills the spider, whereas for the headmaster it is just common to commit violence. The contrast between Alan’s attitude toward violence and the Headmaster’s emphasises the uncaring nature of the adult world.
Also the Headmaster doesn’t believe in the miracle which Alan told him about. He says that “miracles are for weekends and holidays only”. This shows how cynical the Head really is. He has lost his sense of wonder. When the Headmaster meets Miss Land in his study he hands her the play “The Tables Turned”. Tables turned means that the table has turned upside down, the roles have been reversed on the adult world. The children have swapped places with the adults and behave more openly and much more thoughtfully. In the end the tables are also turned on Alan who loses his naïve optimism of the world. When the headmaster is supposed to be watching the school play he falls asleep and starts clapping at the wrong bit when he wakes up which shows he does not really care about his pupils. As Rosenthal’s play develops new adult characters who are unfamiliar to us are introduced. At this point in Alan’s life he has many role models and all of them are shown to be phonies. Tommy is a prime example of a fake because he was pretending to be a war hero which he never was or as the Headmaster cynically comments: “The dichotomy of Appearance and Reality”.
Jack Rosenthal shows Alan in isolation with nobody to help him. The spider Alan treads on and which releases all its young represents what Alan himself will have to experience, leaving home and becoming independent of his parents. His parents never appear on stage suggesting that Alan the will deal with his problems on his own without their support. Alan appears on stage on his own and his mother who could and should be more attentive to his needs is represented as a disembodied voice. Alan is dramatically shown as being very lonely.
There are lots of contrasts between Miss Land and Tommy’s affair, and the relationship of Alan with Ann. The adults are more selfish and are just using each other for sex. Alan’s naivety is juxtaposed with Miss Land’s very cynical attitude towards men. “And number two: the fact she is displeased with you is immaterial to you. You’re a philanderer. “A grown man. A man of the world. You are amused that she is upset”. This quote shows us what criteria a grown man should have by Miss Land’s view. “That’s precisely what grown men are like”. Miss Land has probably never met and experienced a man for whom sex is not the most important thing in the relationships. Sex for Miss Land means just simple fun; she has no understanding of sensitivity. That is juxtaposed to Alan’s honest and open feelings. Alan is young and he is experiencing his first love therefore he has no background knowledge of being in love. He values very much the importance of dignity, honor and truth. The main difference is that children are very honest with each other e.g. when Alan tells Ann “You’re beautiful, Ann. Sometimes I look at you and you’re so beautiful I want to cry.” In fact when Alan finally has the opportunity to kiss Ann in the play he chooses instead to shake her hand: he wants their first kiss to be special and not something to be performed in front of an audience. In other words he symbolically rejects the adult role that Miss Land is forcing him to play.
Throughout the play the audience is invited to experience what Alan is feeling by use of John Arlott’s cricket commentary. “And so, with 365 runs still to get and now only one wicket remaining”, “So Duckworth in with a chance”, “And Duckworth…and. Duckworth… and Duckworth has done it!”. He is using John’s cricket commentary as an extended metaphor. The playwright is trying to make the audience understand what is going on inside Alan’s mind by using the analogy of cricket mach. The cricket commentary acts as a kind of soliloquy which represents how externalised commentary effects can be used to represent internalised experience. In this way the playwright humorously dramatises the difficulties of, figuratively speaking, “building an innings”. By scoring runs for England he goes through a Test match and to achieve a victory he has to experience failure, pain and hardship.
By the end of the play Alan has learned that life is not so clear-cut and black and white as once he believed. His relationship with God amusingly expressed in the bed room, denotes his naivety. “Please God let it be today. Somehow let it come true today”. He assumes that good will deliver Ann to his hand.
By the end of the play Alan loses his naivety and gains knowledge about the adult world and real life. He is no longer able to dream. “Real men don’t mess about dreaming.” He also does not wish to say P’tang Yang, Kipperbang when Ann asks him to. This means that he has grown up and became much more serious especially in his feelings towards people of opposite sex. “Would you like to say P’tang, Yang, Kipperbang?”, “He smiles and shakes his head”. Alan is now using different gestures which is what adult do because the can understand each other without words sometimes. Alan also greets the workman in adult fashion. “He nods to them curtly- the greeting of a men among men”.
Alan feels liberated by the knowledge he gains and he inherits wisdom only through suffering.
Nick Ocheretin.
