ACO,THB

Charlotte Crewe

Candidate Number: 1056

Compare ways in which ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘The History Boys’ portray sex.

In ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘The History Boys’, both authors present sex through the lack of maturity and experiences of the male characters as well as exploring alternative attitudes to sex which reflect the novel contextually. Arguably, the portrayal of sex in both texts, on two different extremes, is controversial; in Anthony Burgess’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and Alan Bennett’s ‘The History Boys’, the characters’ attitudes to sex gradually alters as the texts and narratives progresses. Unmistakably, the male characters in ‘The History Boys’ have attitudes based upon a normal ‘school boy’approach towards sex as opposed to the boys in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ who perceive sex as more of a power over women; characters in both texts lack understanding of that sex is a meaningful concept as opposed to just a necessity of men.

In both texts, sex is portrayed through the characters' immaturity with a lack of experience suggested. Very early into Bennett’s play it is apparent that the boys perceive sex in a very naive way as they are yet to experience actual sexual interaction. The first sense of sexuality is reflected through the brothel scene when the boys mock and share laughter regarding the idea of a prostitute or even a naked female; this reflects the overall attitude of sex which the boys all share. The way Dakin teases “next client please” reinforces their behaviour as being severely inexperienced and naïve as it’s as if this is how they perceive a typical woman. The fact they are so indulged in the idea of a naked female arguably is the boys’ way of objectifying women and only being able to see them as an item to be sexualised. Their perception of a typical woman shown during this scene is massively encouraged by the absence of their teacher’s disapproval; he finds it amusing and fails to tell them their objectification is wrong. This also reveals Hector’s viewpoint as an adult and how he too perceives the notion of sex immaturely, almost as if he too is a school boy; this shows he has never really grown up and his viewpoints have been stagnant since he too was in school just like the boys, for example, within the stage directions, Hector is seen to pretend to act unamused before calmly telling the boys to stop with the 'silliness', showing he thinks very little of the objectifying behaviour of the boys and his disapproval clearly goes amiss. Contextually, this reflects the way in which sex in 1980’s Britain was sometimes a laughable concept to males and there was a lack of protection towards the mistreatment of women which is clearly present throughout the play.  The fact that the History Boys is a play means that Bennett can reflect the boys humour and immaturity through the stage directions and so the audience can notabley recognise how the boys view sex as laughable. Similar perceptions of women are mirrored in Anthony Burgess’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’ from Alex and his Droogs; they see women as an object which gives them the means for intercourse as opposed to being an actual human being, however this lack of respect and vulgarity is much more intense than the History Boys because it can be argued that Dakin and the others are only having innocent, naïve, school boy 'fun', as opposed to the Droogs sexual abuse of women. Unlike the 'History Boys', the Droogs find their amusement and entertainment through, yes, a considerably childish perception of sex, but conversely  a twisted and almost psychotic desire to sexually abuse, reflected through the way he describes how he 'cracked her a little bit to hard'; Alex and the Droogs go beyond the arguably harmless 'school boy' attitude. 

 The ideology that sex is an ‘impulse’ or a ‘need’ is  portrayed significantly in both texts through what appears as instinctual behaviour from the male characters. This is arguably an issue which Bennett is deliberately exploring and we can see this through Dakin’s abysmal treatment of Fiona; he discusses his sexual relationship with Fiona to Scripps and Posner and utilises a metaphor of World War One to show he feels she is the ‘Western Front’ that needs to be ‘conquered’. The way in which Dakin makes use of this metaphor reveals his sheer persistence and how he feels the genuine need to have sex with Fiona when he refers to ‘conquering’ her; he sees her as a battle that he needs to win and get his own way. The fact he refers to his personal mission through an educated metaphor mirrors the previous argument of how the boys perceive sex immaturely; he so easily compares the meaningful concept of sex to a history topic which highlights his minute understanding of sex and merely sees it as a personal triumph. In comparison with regards to A Clockwork Orange, Scorzo argues that ‘What has been prevented for Alex is his ability to have a normal sexuality’ and this is revealed through the fact that the entire dystopian society clearly doesn’t have Alex’s sexual attitude, so it is not the norm but the individual; this is clearly shown in the novel.  Despite this, the persistence from male characters to have sex is also seen on a much more extreme scale in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ when Alex and the Droogs make relentless attempts to rape the two young girls; arguably, the dystopian society of which the novel is set reinforces the normality of males acting upon their sexual impulses which is seen by Alex's euphemistic descriptions of blood as 'purplewurple' and killing a girl as 'real horrorshow', showing how very little meaning these crimes have towards him. In Bennett’s play, Dakin’s impulsive sexual desires are revisited, similar to Alex, when he confronts Irwin and enquires sexual relations with him for the sake of it; his monotonous persistency to have his sexual impulses satisfied could be carried out purposely by Bennett to show the lack of consequence present in the 80’s with regard to sexual exploitation; in a modern day society it would be frowned upon for a former student to publically ask his teacher for this. Similarly, Scorzo argues that ‘Yet with the rape, it is not just the excitement of inflicting violence on random individuals that is grounding the pleasure that Alex and his gang gain from the activity. It is the thrill of inflicting violence that is presented through a traumatic and unexpected experience of psycho-sexual torture and humiliation.’. This viewpoint is clearly portrayed through Burgess’s portrayal of attitudes to sex through the characters reflects a much more sinister outlook, as we see Alex’s ideology towards sex having the same intentions as the likes of Dakin, but he actually acts upon his impulses whereas with Dakin you can argue they are merely just laughable, within the context, as opposed to genuine sexual assault; Alex frequently rapes women based on his impulses.

 Burgess and Bennett explore how the impulsiveness and immaturity in relation to sex makes them treat women within the texts.  In ‘The History Boys’ the way of which male attitudes to sex influence their treatment of women is seen throughout the entirety of the play, significantly through the portrayal of Dakin’s treatment of Fiona. Additionally, Mrs Lintott is arguably a figure of representation with regards to how women were treated in 1980’s Britain as we see how her treatment- which is based off the male immature attitudes to sex- develops throughout the play. Like the Alex’s mother in ‘A Clockwork Orange’, Mrs Lintott is stripped of her humanity when she has credit taken from her by the other teachers in the school; firstly, reflecting the underlying discrimination against women in the 1980’s and also portraying how the male characters in ‘The History Boys’ lack of appreciation of women and the presence of gender inequality on a whole, for example when the Headmaster disregards her efforts in teaching by telling her that her teaching needed 'something more', completely disrespecting her intelligence because she is female. Additionally, the characters in The History Boys have fairly consistent attitudes to sex throughout the play's entirety; the brothel scene is arguably mirrored in the final scene when Dakin asks Irwin ‘if there was any chance of you sucking me off?’. The fact we see Dakin in the first seen imitating the women in the Brothel disrespectfully, although contextually accurate, suggesting his immature and uneducated ideologies of women, is reinforced by him asking Irwin this at the end. Like Alex and the Droogs, Dakin doesn’t care about respect when it comes to sex and he sees it as a personal achievement because he doesn’t even care if it is with a male or female, which only exaggerates the fact Dakin doesn’t understand the meaning of sex.  Alex’s attitudes and actions towards sex remain fairly stagnant throughout the novel as before he is arrested he sees sex merely as a means to an end and has very limited understanding of its significance to life, just like Dakin. However, Alex’s rehabilitation causes him to perceive women as individuals as opposed to sexual objects, and he at least makes a conscious effort to stick by this new attitude. I think that structurally, this is Burgess’s way of reflecting a society where women are exploited sexually and there is very little being done to the criminals doing it; he is showing us how not to be and how to be through the before and after of Alex’s imprisonment.

The History Boys also portrays some alternative attitudes to sexuality- which is a far from Dakin who subconsciously objectifies women and has to control his sexual impulses- as there are individuals who reflect the struggles of life in the 80’s for those who express alternative sexuality: Posner, who Bennett himself regarded as a 'child in a class of young men' (Untold stories), for example. Posner has a secret admiration for Dakin and confides in Irwin by telling him that he thinks he might be homosexual, Posner feels as though he must conceal his true sexuality because society in the 80’s in the UK was much less accepting of homosexuality, and it was still perceived as wrong to be gay. The 'sexual angst' within this play is told by Eric Grode of The New York Sun, reflected through Posner as he clearly feels as though he cannot be accepted within the society in the 80’s, as well as reflecting the tension and forbidden relationships between other characters like Dakin and Irwin. Additionally, we see how Posner, when in the conversation with Dakin regarding Fiona, we know that he feels at unease as he declares ‘I can’t bear to listen, but I want to hear every word’; this suggests the knows it will upset him to hear about Dakin’s relations with someone who isn’t him, but wants to know still. This again is a lack of control over impulses: he knows he shouldn’t but still does. Sutherland (from The Guardian) argues that ‘Hector gropes genitals. Irwin wants relationships.’. This viewpoint shows how both teachers’ alternative viewpoints towards sex are equally as inappropriate however in Thatcherite Britain, Hector’s sexual actions of ‘groping’ were seen as harmless, whereas the fact Irwin saw Dakin as a genuine potentially love interest appears to be more inappropriate. We also see an alternative sexuality within Hector, as although he does identify as a straight man, this doesn’t stop him from inviting the boys on his motorcycle to ‘touch’ them inappropriately. In A Clockwork Orange, there isn’t so much an exploration of alternative sexuality in the sense of homosexuality, however the abuse of girls by Alex and his Droogs partially mirrors Posner and Hector, purely due to the fact that their sexuality is seen as wrong within its society. Additionally, in both Bennett’s play and Burgess’s novel, society fails to put a stop to both Hector’s actions and Alex’s actions even though they are wrong. Through Alex’s narration we are able to see a retrospective viewpoint from him after he has been rehabilitated and Burgess is arguably doing this to reflect his own views on sex; he sees sex as though men and women should be equal and he is potentially using Alex’s narration to do this, almost as if Burgess wants the reader to reflect back on the negative attitudes to sex he portrays.

Both texts portray controversial ideologies of sex through the character’s attitudes. Similarly, both ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘The History Boys’ both show sex through an alternative viewpoint, that being the way in which Alex believes it is normal for him to choose who he has sex with, in comparison to the less severe ideologies in The History Boys as we see Posner express his homosexual views, which was contextually shunned in Thatcherite Britain, as well as Dakin’s underlying relationship and feelings with Irwin. Despite the similarities, the two texts are exploring sex on two completely different extremities; in A Clockwork Orange, sex can be seen as the exploitation and dehumanisation of women within the dystopian society of which it is set, whereas arguably, the way sex is portrayed in ‘The History Boys’ is merely a ‘school boy’ attitude.

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Bibliography 

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·         Burgess, A., 1978, The Clockwork Testament, Penguin, London 

 

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