The Theme of Kindness in The Browning Version by Terence Rattigan

I have to remember that the reason I was going to reflect on this in play form--mostly dialogue--is that I thought that would be an easier way to sketch, but it's turned out to be more difficult because of my inability to mimic the kind of speech I heard from ESL students for more than thirty years!  So I'm going to interrupt my 2014 version of Terence Rattigan's play to talk about the theme of kindness in The Browning Version.

Kindness reflects positively on the person being kind but not necessarily on the person towards whom the kindness is extended.  I think Taplow's act is really one of kindness, not motivated as Millie Crocker-Harris suggests, by his fear that he won't be allowed to complete the level Andrew Crocker-Harris is teaching (for his final semester)  and move on.  It is interesting, though, that Andrew C-H himself has such a great need to believe in the sincerity of Taplow's gesture that he doesn't question it himself but takes it at face value until Millie calls Taplow "the artful little beast" and describes the imitation she caught him making of him and states explicitly that he was afraid that A.C.H. would retaliate by changing his final notation to a non-passing one.

...I came into this room this afternoon to find him giving an imittion of you to Frank here.  Obviously he was scared stiff I was going to tell you, and you'd ditch his remove or something.  I don't blame him for trying a few bobs' worth of appeasement.
Until Millie has made that revelation, Andrew Crocker-Harris has taken the gift as a sign of redemption.  At least one student has seen him not as "the Himmler of the Lower Fifth" but as "a gentle master," the kind of teacher he'd wanted to be.  Taplow understands this and has personalized the gift he's given in a way that shows he was paying attention to both the teacher's lecture (in which he went over this passage) and to the teacher's needs.  (An earlier act also reveals Taplow as kind, when he has laughed at a joke Andrew C-H has made just because he wants his teacher to feel successful and not be embarrassed by the joke falling flat.)

Frank is also probably kind.   When Andrew shares the gift and the meaningful inscription with him, he says, "Very pleasant and very apt."  He notices Andrew's emotion as he replies, "Very pleasant.  But perhaps not, after all, so very apt."  Frank says, "Nonsense."  Andrew goes on to say that he isn't a very emotional person "but there was something so very touching and kindly about his action, and coming as it did just after..."  It appears that Andrew is reacting to the kindness  of Taplow's gift and inscription, but that's probably just a way to explain his tears at the relief that it indicates something about Andrew himself as a teacher, and Frank is kind enough to want Andrew to believe that he has succeeded in some measure, so when Andrew says "and perhaps he means it," Frank quickly says, "I'm sure he does, or he wouldn't have written it.  Frank, of course, saw Taplow's imitation and knows that he'd feared that Millie had seen it too and would tell on him, but he reveals none of this at the moment.  Millie, of course, does.  She is cruel possibly out of anger or contempt that her husband has not met her needs--either her sexual ones or the ones for social status that she's shown to value with all the name-dropping and mention of  family connections.    (She wants the noblesse without the oblige.)  Or perhaps it's to get a rise from her husband, who is so stoic and, as he says "can bear anything."

The Browning Version 2014 Screen 21

Dr. Frobisher

I didn't mean to undermine your efforts!

Andrew Crocker-Harris

Efforts!

Dr. Frobisher

I very much appreciate all your hard work.

Andrew

Didn't the chancellor say something about working not harder but better?

Dr. Frobisher

I hope you're not feeling...under-appreciated.  Maybe you're feeling burn out.  Which in a way relates to what I wanted to talk to you about.  But first.  I want to correct what I told you about your retirement pay.  I was mistaken about the amount you'll be receiving.  It will be sixty percent of your regular pay.

Andrew

Not eighty?

Dr. Frobisher

No, I'm sorry.  I miscalculated when I advised you.    I'm glad you have your wife's one hundred percent.

Andrew

I don't consider that I have her salary.  I've always tried to use my salary for both of us.

Dr. Frobisher

Well, I'm sorry about the miscalculation.

Andrew

Were you afraid that I might not retire if I knew how little it would be?

Dr. Frobisher

Andrew!  Please!  You sound so defensive.  I think it's burn out.  You need a rest.

Andrew

I don't feel burned out.

Dr. Frobisher

You need to take it easy and get some rest.  I wanted to say that I appreciate your offering to present a song for the gathering tomorrow, but you don't need to do that.

Andrew

I've already done it.  That is, I've already written it.  Would you like to see it?

Dr. Frobisher

Oh, I'm sorry you went to all that trouble because I'm afraid it's going to have to be cut out of the program.  There's just not enough time.

Andrew

Oh?  I wanted that to be my...final offering.  My swan song as they say.

Dr. Frobisher

Yes!  And we all enjoy your songs so much.  But you know how almost all students suffer from ADD, and in addition, sing-alongs seem to sort of...embarrass them.

The Browning Version 2014 Screen 20

Andrew

Mr. Gilbert?  Who is that?

Dr. Forbisher

Gilbert is new to this campus.  This will be his office  I thought he might want to see it, and you could show him  where things are located.  The copy machine.  Things like that.

Andrew

I'd be happy to.

Dr. Forbisher

I think I've told you about him.  He's pretty well-known in our field.  He's written textbooks that are pretty widely used.  Presented at conferences.  

{In the play, Dr. Forbisher compares Gilbert's success with Andrew's own early distinctions and accomplishments.  I doubt that the 2014 Dr. Forbisher would even know about any of Andrew's accomplishments.}  

Andrew

As I once did.

Dr. Forbisher

Is that right?  Before you spent all your time...tutoring...students like that one who just left.

Andrew

And I ...published.

Dr. Forbisher

And now you devote your time and energy to teaching remedial students a week after classes are over!  Good for you!  You really have worked hard.  You've always tried--

{Before Dr. Forbisher became the chair, he was on an evaluation team for Andrew and used a lot of tries.}

Andrew

Didn't I teach you that?  That try business?

Dr. Forbisher

Pardon?

Andrew

I remember back in the days when we were what I considered friends that I told you about the strategy of using the word try in a recommendation if you wanted to communicate an absence of enthusiasm.

The Browning Version 2014 Screen 19

Taplow

No more book?

Andrew

No more book.

Silence

Taplow

timidly, meaning this as a question

Go on?

Andrew

Yes, Taplow.  Let's finish your essay.  What do you want to say about the obstacle of snow?

Millie and  Dr. Forbisher , the Department Chair

enter main door together

Millie

walks ahead

Andrew?  Bob needs to talk to you about a couple of things.

Andrew

turns around

Hello, Forbisher.  I'm giving a student some extra help.

Dr. Forbisher

Today?  Classes were over a week ago!  That's either a sign of over-conscientiousness on your part or exceptional  need on his!

Andrew

Maybe a little of both. 

Dr. Forbisher

Well, since this is the only chance I'll have to speak to you before the gathering tomorrow, I hope your student will excuse us.

Andrew

translating this for Taplow

He needs to talk to me, Taplow.  I'm sorry.  We'll have to stop.

Taplow

Oh!  No problem! 

gathers his paper

I finish my home! 

{In the play there's talk about reimbursing Taplow's father for the money he gave for the lesson not finished.}

Goes out quickly

Dr. Forbisher

Has Mr. Gilbert called on you yet?

ESL Received English

Jajaja, as Javier would say.  I'm using "received English" in  different way--in reference to the English we receive or hear.  Erika, who works at the CLAD, had some good examples:

You have healthy problem.
US a freedom country.
This a high technology country.
my another brother
to at the CLAD
I was go to downtown, but now I stay because I am learn English.

The Browning Version 2014 Screen 18

3.       Check for full subordination:  She’s here because now^needs the form.

4.       Check the verbs:  TV is interested.  (Interesting is the norm.)

5.       Check the pronouns:  form, agreement, reference:  themselfs.  (themselves instead)

6.       Check the word form:  Pregnant brides are sometimes quick and quiet wed.

7.       Check word order:  Ask him where was he should be Ask him where he was then.

8.       Parallel:  He hates our nagging and to ask him where he’s been.

9.       Check for repetition not needed:  She runs quite fast and rapidly.

10.   Check for correct usage:  Looking forward for what may soon be.

 Yeah, I acknowledge that this isn't exactly a perfect parallel to Andrew Crocker-Harris feat of translating the whole Agamemnon in rhyming couplets!  But then, Taplow isn't a privileged student at a boys' school either.

So let's imagine that Andrew, at the appropriate moment, had confided in Taplow.

Andrew

When I was a young teacher, I wanted to make English musical for my students.  I wanted them to enjoy the process of learning the language.  So I wrote English lessons in the form of songs.  

Taplow

You write song in present tense too.

Andrew

But at the beginning, I was successful.  That is, the students liked the songs.  They liked the lessons.  I was so successful that a publisher approached me at a teachers' conference and asked me to compile them for a song book.  And I did.  And it was a big success.  I was once the keynote speaker at a conference.  People asked me to give workshops.  

Taplow

That very good!

Andrew

But somewhere along the way.. .it was no longer wanted.  They stopped ordering it.  And it went out of print.   

The Browning Version Screen 17

found another way of seeing.  Through touch.  You need to explain that.  Then you illustrate with Frank McCourt.  Read this part.

Taplow

"Also Frank McCourt had many obstacles.  One of his obstacles was poverty and his father." 

Andrew

Poverty and his father.  Are those one thing?

Taplow

Two.  Two thing.

Andrew

Yes.  Two things.  Two obstacles.  You could have a separate paragraph for each.  So how can you change that?

Taplow

They  need overcome. 

Andrew

I mean your sentence. 

Taplow

Two of his obstacle was poverty and his father.

Andrew

Two of his obstacles were poverty and his father.

About now the headmaster needs to interrupt them and destroy what little hope (for a pension) and pride (for a dignified exit) Andrew Crocker Harris has managed to salvage up to that point.  But I need to put in what Andrew confides in Taplow--his earlier success with his songbook of new words to tunes in the public domain to help ESL students remember phrases and grammar structures.  In the play, Andrew Crocker-Harris tells about his writing, as a school boy just two years older than Taplow,  a translation of the Agamemnon in rhyming couplets.  I think I need to go back to when Taplow bursts out with "To dream the impossible dream."  I could also have Andrew mention it when Taplow has two subjects.  

10 Common Errors to Find and Correct

New words by Andrew Crocker Harris to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”

1.       Check to see the verb and subject both are there but neither twice.

Example:  In the summer people they take trips and pay the price.

2.       Check to see the verb agreement, tenses and form are all correct.

Lately it was been too difficult for us two to connect.