Mrs Lintott and Fiona

Mrs Lintott
Mrs. Lintott, whose first name is Dorothy, is a lower-form history teacher
at the grammar school, and the only female character who speaks in
the play. She is very good at giving the boys a factual grounding in
history, but the Headmaster hires Irwin to take charge of the boys’ final
year of schooling. He thinks that Mrs. Lintott doesn’t have what it takes
to give the boys “polish” for their university interviews. Mrs. Lintott is dry
and practical.
 Role
 Provides a much needed female perspective in a cast otherwise comprised
of men.
 Brings to attention the themes of gender and inequality.
 Acts as something of a maternal figure to the boys
 She is a commentator - an onlooker and observer, much like Scripps,
providing an external view on events.
 Whereas women are usually portrayed as submissive, Mrs Lintott is
presented as a dominant character, contradicting this tradition.
 Nicknamed 'Tot or Totty' by the boys; 'totty' being defined as 'Girls or
women collectively regarded as sexually desirable', perhaps
emphasising her gender and thus her expected role in society - as
nothing more than a bit of totty.
 Mocks men as figures of authority, especially the headmaster, who
she repeatedly refers to as a '****'.
 Use of terms such as '****', '****-struck', and other male-orientated
language (in other words, language used primarily by men) to mock
men.
 Uses her soliloquy to emphasise women's muted role in society
 Quotes
• 'History is a commentary on the various and
continuing incapabilities of men'
• 'I have not hitherto be allotted an inner voice, my
role a patient and not unamused sufferance of the
predelictions and preoccupations of men.'
• 'Unsurprisingly, I am Tot or Totty. Some irony
there, one feels.'
• '...My gender some sort of safeguard against the
onward transmission of information ...'
• 'Can you, for a moment, imagine how dispiriting it
is to teach five centuries of masculine ineptitude?'
• 'History's not such a frolic for women as it is for
men. Why should it be? They never get around the
 Fiona's relationship with Dakin

Through the presentation of Fiona, Bennett explores another

sexual stereotype, namely through her relationship with
Dakin. Bennett presents Fiona as being a sexual object,
whose inclusion in the play heightens male sexual prowess
and dominance. This is epitomized by Dakin’s statement that
“I’m hoping one of the times might be on the study floor... it’s
like the Headmaster says one should have targets”. Dakin
accentuates the relationship between sex and education as
he notes the importance of measurable targets in pursuing
Fiona. Dakin having sex with Fiona on the floor of the
Headmaster’s study will also result in the comic upheaval of
youth dominating age which again emphasises Fiona's role in
heightening male dominance.
 Bennett's use of imagery and
language concerning Fiona
Bennett uses imagery of war in describing Fiona; and the
humour rests in the word play, as Dakin compares sexual
advances with Fiona and the advances of the British soldiers in
the war. Fiona is depicted as his ‘Western Front’, a territory to be
taken, and, more alarming, the enemy, the ‘Hun’; her body is
‘ground’ to be ‘reconnoitered’; Dakin’s efforts to continue to her
intimate parts are ‘deployments’. This both symbolically and
literally depicts Fiona’s subservience and reaffirms her character
as elevating male sexual accomplishment. The language
becomes more explicit when he states he ‘had begun the
evening thinking this might be the big push’. What’s more, he
seems to be enjoying his cleverness with language: ‘And the
beauty of it is, the metaphor really fits’. In addition, Bennett
emphasises Fiona’s role as an enjoyable pursuit which presents
a sense of insignificance associated with the role of women.
Fiona is introduced after Rudge discusses his relationship which
occurs " only on Fridays..." Because he "...needs the weekend
free for 'rugger and golf.' And it’s at this point that Bennett
introduces Dakin 'currently seeing Fiona',as if Fiona is merely a
 The General presentation of
women in the play
However, it could be interpreted that Bennett uses Mrs Lintott to
emphasize women’s muted role in society, presenting her as
showing elements present within the 'submissive' contemporary
stereotype of women. Bennett presents Mrs Lintott’s confession
that she has “not hitherto been allotted an inner voice...” in
contrast with the self-absorbed behaviour of the male characters;
on multiple occasions Bennett indubitably juxtaposes Mrs
Lintott’s role of passively accepting confidences of more
prominent figures such as the headmaster, which heightens the
audience’s sense of sympathy for her position. Furthermore, the
reference to the lack of an “inner voice” emphasizes the
enclosed world of male relationships within the play and the
limited affect women had on the world. Bennett presents Hector,
the Headmaster and Irwin as having very well defined teaching
philosophies: the headmaster is concerned with superficial
'targets',Hector believes“all knowledge is precious...” and Irwin is
chiefly concerned with originality and practical uses of it.
However, Bennett excludes Mrs Lintott from the educational
debate and presents her without any viewpoint on it,