Discuss how Irwin and Posner's relationship is presented in this exchange

Discuss how Irwin and Posner’s relationship is presented in this exchange

Throughout this discourse, we see how Irwin has impacted on Posner’s life and how his teaching has affected his future. The audience sees Irwin as a successful historian presenting on the BBC using lots of elevated lexis (‘venerate supine antiquity’)to show his high intelligence contrasted with Posner’s failure in life after leaving Cambridge unable to cope and being stuck with a lot of regret and cynicism, arguably as a result of Irwin’s attitude to the boys’ learning.

Bennett uses the interrogative to express Irwin’s curiosity and disbelief in Posner, saying ‘what happened in Oxford? …And did you write it yourself?” to highlight Irwin’s intrigue into what has become Posner’s life. This could come across as being quite genuine, but at the beginning of the scene Irwin has already stated that ‘disability brings with it an assumption of sincerity’ which suggests that his relationship with Posner is quite strained and not as it seems from the very beginning. This is also supported by Bennett having both characters use ellipses to show that the characters are treading carefully in their dialogue and are suspicious of each other, which Irwin is proved right to be as the audience finds out later in the scene. It is revealed in his sudden urgency (‘tell me, sir. I need to know’) that Posner is recording their conversation in order to catch Irwin out and sell the story of him and Dakin’s presumed inappropriate relationship for money.

The use of the declarative and simple sentences also makes the atmosphere between Irwin and Posner feel tense and uncomfortable. Posner says things in a very short, clipped manner such as ‘I have a counsellor... It didn’t work out…you’re a celebrity’ which gives the impression that there is a lot of subtext: things aren’t being said and there is no room for argument. Compared to the Posner we see in earlier scenes: shy, eager to please, sensitive…it makes him come across as having this cynical confidence which is emotionally distressing for the audience to see. Along with this, Irwin’s use of asyndetic listing (‘Saner, wiser, more rational…’) puts across that he doesn’t have time for Posner, that he is trying to rush their discourse and that full explanation of what Posner is asking isn’t worth his time, which is an entirely different story to the one we saw when Posner admitted to Irwin that he thought he might be homosexual and Irwin was a lot more understanding.

In addition, Posner seems to feel more equal to Irwin now he is 5 years older, although he does still resort to using the vocative ‘Sir’ to signify that he’s not all grown up yet. Their relationship is still teacher-student in Posner’s eyes and this is supported by Irwin refusing to sign his book to David, which is Posner’s first name. As Irwin only called Posner by his last name, it shows that Irwin doesn’t really respect him as an older adult now and still sees him as the struggling, sensitive teenage boy he taught years ago. As well as this, Irwin uses taboo language (‘I wasn’t like Hector. Now fuck off’) towards Posner which also shows that he doesn’t have a lot of respect for him. Their relationship is clearly a complicated one, tainted with blame and a history that has already damaged Posner and could damage Irwin in the future.