In ‘The History Boys’ Dorothy Lintott is the only female character who gets given a voice by Bennett as she can be seen as a symbol for feminism, the role of women in history and can represent the middle ground in the education debate between Hector and Irwin. Bennett uses Dorothy Lintott to provide comedy for the audience through her perceptive insults towards the male characters whilst also representing how women can have control and authority in a male dominated society.
Moreover, her teaching style displays the balance between Irwin and Hector by providing the passion and motivation that all teachers aspire to show as well as teaching the boys’ information in order for them to pass their exams. This is supported when she exclaims “what’s all this learning by heart for, except as some sort of assurance against the boys’ ultimate failure?” which shows middle ground between Hector and Irwin. The phrase “ultimate failure” is powerful as it can be used to represent how Hector’s style of teaching is becoming extinct and how Mrs Lintott is choosing the functional method of teaching. She is excluded from the power struggle which is important as effectively it excludes her from the educational debate.
Mrs Lintott is presented to believe that education is about facts and the…show more content… Although she is the only female, she makes use of this voice to defend the role of women at the time the play was set. The phrase “I’ll tell you why there are no women historians on TV, it’s because they don’t get carried away” suggests her irritation at the lack of top jobs available for women. The phrase “carried away” echoes the opening of Act 2 with Irwin getting carried away on TV in his speech claiming “God is dead. Shit lives”. This makes her come across far more sensible than the 2 male lead