The chapter is prescribed in the book Hornbill NCERT course (English) for grade 11th

1. The Browning Version
Terence Rattigan

2. Introduction
This chapter is a short extract from the play ‘The Browning Version’ written by
Terence Rattigan. It is a one-act play set in a school, there are three characters in
the play – Taplow, Frank, and Mr. Crocker – Harris. Taplow is sixteen years old
student, Frank is a young teacher and Mr. Crocker-Harris is a middle-aged
schoolmaster. Taplow has arrived in the school to do extra work for Mr. Crocker
Harris. He meets Frank and they both engage in a conversation while Taplow waits
for Mr. Harris. Later, enters Millie, Mrs.Crocker-Harris who talks to Taplow.

3. Theme of the chapter
Theme - 1
This chapter deals with a story about a student and his conversation with a
teacher. This is a one act play. It is in the form of a dialogue between a student and
a teacher. The conversation presented in the story is light-hearted and describes
the perception of the student about teachers and how he expresses this to another
teacher. This story brings out flavours of friendship, bonding and another side of
schooling like punishments, teachers being a sadist. It is focused on a particular
teacher named Mr Crocker-Harris, who is very strict and upright in his work.

4. Theme of the Chapter
Theme - 2
Throughout The Browning Version, the ideas of success and failure are used to define
characters. Andrew Crocker-Harris is considered a failure by everyone, including
himself. Andrew's intelligence as a classics scholar is never questioned. Yet because he
is unpopular, and perceived as a strict schoolmaster and a bad jokester, he is regarded
as a failure.
In The Browning Version, success is equated with popularity and sports. Frank Hunter is
a successful schoolmaster because he relates better to the boys and teaches a less
demanding subject than the classics. He lets John Taplow mock Andrew without
penalty. Hunter also gives Taplow golf tips.

5. What is a one act play?
As the name suggests, one act play means a play completing in one act, however
can consist of several scenes.
One-Act plays were written & staged throughout the 18th & 19th centuries as “The
Curtain Raisers” or “The After Pieces”.
They were chiefly farcical & served to amuse the audience before the
commencement of the actual drama or were staged for their amusement just after
it had come to an end.
The famous one-act play “Monkey’s Paw” was first staged as a ‘Curtain Raiser’
& it proved to be more entertaining than the main drama. It may be said to mark
the beginning of the modern one-act play.

6. One - act play - Continuation
It was great Norwegian dramatist Ibsen, who, for the first time, introduced the
minute stage-directions into the one-act play. Before him, one-act plays were
written in poetry, but he made prose the medium of his one-act plays. In short, he
made the drama, simple & real , & brought it nearer to everyday life. He made the
modern one-act play what it is & his example has been widely followed. George
Bernard Shaw & John Galsworthy are two of his greatest followers.
---> Can you remember a famous one act play back from your class 10th book?
Think and tell

7. About the Author
Sir Terence Rattigan, in full Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan, (born June 10, 1911,
London, Eng.—died Nov. 30, 1977, Hamilton, Bermuda), English playwright, a
master of the well-made play.
Educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Oxford, Rattigan had early success with
two farces, French Without Tears (performed 1936) and While the Sun Shines
(performed 1943). The Winslow Boy (performed 1946), a drama based on a real-life
case in which a young boy at the Royal Naval College was unjustly accused of
theft, won a New York Critics award. Separate Tables (performed 1945), perhaps
his best known work, took as its theme the isolation and frustration that result from
rigidly imposed social conventions.

8. About the Author
Ross (performed 1960) explored the life of T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) and was less
traditional in its structure. A Bequest to the Nation (performed 1970) reviewed the
intimate, personal aspects of Lord Nelson’s life. The radio play Cause Célèbre was his
final work; first broadcast in 1975, it was performed onstage in 1977.
Rattigan’s works were treated coldly by some critics who saw them as
unadventurous and catering to undemanding, middle-class taste. Several of his
plays do seriously explore social or psychological themes, however, and his plays
consistently demonstrate solid craftsmanship. Rattigan was knighted in 1971 for his
services to the theatre. He had many screenplays to his credit, including film
versions of The Winslow Boy (1948) and Separate Tables (1958), among others,
and The Yellow Rolls Royce (1965) and Goodbye Mr. Chips (1968)

9. Characters in the story
● Frank – A young teacher. He is a young teacher and has an openness to
accept the perception of students. In the conversation, he is seen to be
liberal with the student and tries to understand the mindset of the student.
● Taplow – A 16-year-old boy. He is a student and feels he has got his
‘remove’ by the teacher. Taplow is a young boy with dozens of thoughts
revolving in his mind about teachers, education system and science. He
sincerely waits for the teacher to do extra work so that he is promoted to
the next term.

10. Characters in the story
● Mr Cocker-Harris – A middle-aged teacher. He is a very strict teacher with no room
for any mistakes. Mr Harris does not let the students take his subject easily. He makes
them do the work without any excuse and has all the good qualities which are to the
extreme as he does not compromise on anything.
● Millie Crocker-Harris – Wife of Mr Crocker-Harris. She seems to be polite and
suggests Taplow that he should take a break and return back to her home in some
time so that he can meet her husband who expectedly will come back home late.

11. Difficult words and meanings
Page 50-51

12. Difficult words and meanings
Pg. 52-53

13. Difficult words and its meanings
Pg. 54-55

14. Summary of the Story
The scene is set in a school where Taplow arrives to do extra work on the last day
for Mr. Crocker-Harris as he missed a day before. He finds Frank, a science teacher
in the school. Frank asked him his name and the reason he is there that day.
Taplow studies in the lower fifth standard and is about to get his result from his
teacher Mr. Harris. Mr. Crocker-Harris usually reveals the result on the last day of
school and unlike every other teacher, he follows the rules and regulations strictly.
They both started having a conversation where Frank asked him several questions.
We don’t see Mr. Crocker-Harris in the whole chapter but we get to know a lot
about him.

15. Summary of the story
Taplow wants to take science as a remove because he finds the subject extremely
interesting. Frank, on the other hand, doesn’t like what he teaches in the school. Mr.
Croker-Harris is ‘hardly human’ as he never shrivels up. He told Taplow that he will
get what he deserves. Nothing less and nothing more and this makes him tensed.
Taplow further imitates Mr. Harris twice in front of Frank.
Franks admits that he envies Mr. Crocker-Harris because of the effect he has on
them. Taplow told him that he never shows his emotions like other teachers and
never beats them up like other masters.

16. Summary of the chapter
He is not a sadist.
As they were deeply engaged in a conversation, Millie enters and comes with a
shopping bag. She asked Taplow to go out and come back in a quarter of an hour
as Mr. Crocker-Harris will be late. If her husband arrives earlier, she will take the
blame. She further gives him a prescription and instructs him to purchase
medicines for her from the chemist. Taplow follows and goes away to do the job.