The Principal is used by Bennett as a source of comedy within the play. He is used to providing different types of comedic elements; due to his hypocritical nature where he strives for his school to do well academically, yet he himself is not academically good. Despite having a wife, his actions towards Fiona, his secretary, show his misogynistic idea of ​​women, but also introduce humor through the form of black comedy. The headmaster's ridiculous behavior can be seen as pantomime-like material, however, Bennett delivers it to us via IV and thus alters the perspective in which we see it. The principal, also known as Felix, is generally described as a strict principal who lives exclusively by the rules, is aggressive and impatient but fails to maintain any form of respect from teachers and students. Furthermore, his stern and narrow-minded, "Get me some scholarships, Irwin..." character is harshly juxtaposed with the other characters' open and fun approach to learning, "Bristol welcomes you with open arms." This allows you to create a striking caricature of a principal; generously filling the play with even more comedy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The principal's ethic 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 argues that "Bennett had devised his own 'flash' method of passing exams, especially in history, and that it worked." From this we can see that although teaching exclusively for exams is not the best long-term solution, it actually works. In the play the headmaster has hired Irwin to teach the boys exclusively for exams in order to achieve exceptional results which will allow him to boast of his status as the rankings will show positive results. As we know the headmaster is only interested in results and how they are represented, so he is not interested in whether the children will be successful in future life but rather in whether they only get the results for their exams now. Bennett himself would probably have favored Hector's teaching path for later life and made the pupils more well-rounded, which is why he allows the principal to introduce Irwin into the show so that he can maintain his unpleasant relationship with the audience. example of the headmaster's nature when we meet him in the staff room talking to Mrs Lintott where he asks her "When was the last time we had anyone in History at Oxford and Cambridge?" Here we can see that the headmaster really only cares about how the school is portrayed and seen by others as, just like today, Oxford and Cambridge were top universities in the 1980s when the play was set and so you had to be academically brilliant to go there. We can also see some irony in this part of the play as the principal wants his students and the school to be academically good when he himself is not; we find out when he meets Irwin. “I was a geographer. I went to Hull. Here the headmaster tries to hide the fact that he did not attend one of the "best" universities by making excuses to Irwin that he went to Oxford, that he studied geography. Perhaps he feels weakened by Irwin's credentials. We can also see the principal as a rather manipulative character and compare some aspects of his character to that of a spin doctor. Felix regularly changes the words he uses in the play as he feels that what he initially said didn't make the cutthe desired effect. The principal realizes that the word "other" makes the task at hand seem too much for Mrs. Lintott, and so changes it to "preparation" and "presentation", thus conveying it in a more digestible tone. Once again we can see this happen later in the show when he retracts his 'nonsense' comment in front of the boys because he does not want to use such a simple word in their presence because he wishes to appear educated but more importantly, because he does not wish to attack or criticize their learning for fear of damaging it. Bennett also uses role reversal to create comedy when the principal's authority and role are activated. his head. For example, when Felix interrupts Hector's French lesson, he formally addresses Hector. “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” which leads to us feeling this way. This is however juxtaposed quite strikingly by Hector as he raises “a warning finger.” This is a rather stark contrast between Felix's politely formal sentences interrupted by a rather non-formal gesture. “Admonition” shows that Hector feels like the only figure in the room with authority, we can also see another example “L'anglais, c'est interdit”. The imperative is a command towards Felix thus generating humor as Hector also appears to mock the principal directly reversing his role and highlighting his inability to maintain respect even from his colleagues. Bennett continues to present the headmaster as a figure to be ridiculed as Felix feels he has managed to conspire with Mrs Lintott and successfully convince her to take his side, when in reality she hasn't paid attention to a word and puts up with him simply because he he has the authority and she doesn't. This is made evident by the way he describes the principal as “A cunt…” and “A condescending cunt.” Furthermore, the response given to the principal when he leaves the staff room is also important. "Yes, principal." This response can be seen as an imitation of school children as they respond sadly all together to their teacher, this makes the audience aware that this is a routine that Mrs Lintott follows rather than something she is saying that actually acknowledges this what the principal said. Comedy can also be found here in the form of dramatic irony as the audience knows that Mrs. Lintott is simply putting up with Felix, while the headmaster feels that he has conspired with her. There is also impatience shown by the principal which may be another reason as to why we don't like his character. Impatience can be seen as a childish quality and therefore portray the principal as an ignorant and childish character as he is too impatient and acts as if he wants the kids to take exams now so he can get 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 fluency, even adding a few words in English. “Pourquoi cet garcon…Dakin, right?…est sans ses…pants.” This inflicts satirical comedy on the audience as we see his inability to speak French, which would likely involve a rather strange French accent, but also his inability to prove himself to the other characters, thus failing to meet his expectations as a headmaster. However, we can see that the headmaster is not entirely unsympathetic as when he talks to Mrs Lintott about Hector's departure, he tries to empathize with..