Setting - The Browning Version is set in a boys' public school,

Plot

Andrew Crocker-Harris is a classics teacher at an English boys' school. After eighteen years
of teaching there, today is his last day before moving on to a position at another school, a less
stressed job at Dorset. The students speculate on why he is leaving, but do not care much since
despite being academically brilliant, he is generally despised (not liked) as being strict, stern
and humorless. They have nicknamed him "The Crock". Even the school administrators treat
him poorly regardless of his long tenure.(there is a reference that he is being asked to vacate his
apartment and that he will not be given any pension in spite of working for 18 years in the
school). Millie Crocker-Harris, his wife, is younger and vivacious (lively, full of energy) and
quite different from her husband. She no longer loves him but rather loves Frank Hunter,
another teacher, yet despite having an affair with him she knows he is not in love with her. On
this last day, one student named Taplow, who does not hate Crocker-Harris but feels sorry for
him, gives him a small going-away gift – a copy of the translation by Robert
Browning of Aeschylus's ancient play Agamemnon. (at first he comes to learn Agamemnon, i.e.
to translate the play, from his teacher; when the teacher discusses about the availability of easy
version of Agamemnon, the little boy immediately goes out and brings a gift for his teacher
which further leaves Crocker Harris in tears, affects him emotionally and he discusses about the
same with Frank Hunter as well as his wife). The gift brings about a series of actions which
make Crocker-Harris reflect on his past, contemplate his future, and evaluate how he is going to
finish his tenure at the school.
THEMES
Success and Failure

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 STYLE

Three Classical Unities

In The Browning Version, Rattigan utilizes the unities for drama, as outlined by Aristotle
in Poetics. The first unity is setting. The story is confined to one setting, the front room of the
Crocker-Harris flat in 1948 at a public school in the southern part of England. The setting of
the room is done in such a manner that it adds to the revelation of many facts related to the
characters. (Crocker Harris as an unpopular teacher despite being a good educationist; Millie
Harris with a doubted character traits; Frank as a teacher with unprofessional ethics encouraging
the youth to speak for the other teachers; adopting unfair means to gain popularity). By
restricting the actions and intense emotions to this room, the confined nature of Andrew’s
repressed emotions and feelings and his damaged marriage are highlighted.

The second and third unities are time and action. The whole of The Browning Version takes
place in less than one day. Indeed here, the story’s timeline is only a few hours, emphasizing
the story’s intensity and the swiftness of change. The action is linear (straight forward)—there
is only one and a much focused plot line. It concerns Andrew’s imminent retirement, the truths
revealed by it, and how these truths change him. (these all have direct or indirect relation to a
young boy named Taplow)

Symbolism

The course of The Browning Version is changed by two key symbolic acts, both of which
involved the young student, Taplow. In the beginning of the play, he arrives for his tutoring
session, only to find that Andrew is late. To get rid of the boy temporarily, Millie sends him to
the pharmacists to pick up Andrew’s heart medicine. He completes this task, which foreshadows
his role as catalyst (means, way, method) for Andrew’s rebirth.

When Taplow brings Andrew a small gift, a verse translation of Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, it

Andrew Crocker-Harris

Andrew is a gifted classical scholar and unpopular schoolmaster. He has worked at the same
school for eighteen years and is leaving for a different, less stressful job in Dorset. It seems that a
heart condition is forcing the move. In his eighteen years, Andrew has tried to reach his students
by becoming something of a character, which has only increased most students and faculty
dislike of him. He also has a reputation for being a strict disciplinarian.

On this, the last day of school, Andrew suffers several indignities. His wife has been having an
affair with colleague, Frank Hunter, and Andrew has known about it from the beginning. He has
been denied a pension by the school because he has not been there long enough. He has been
asked by the headmaster to speak first at a prize-winning ceremony, when he should speak last
because of his seniority.

Yet, he is moved by the gift of his pupil, John Taplow. After mentioning to the boy that he wrote
his own translation of the play they are working on in Taplow’s tutoring session, Taplow buys a
similar version of the book and presents it to Andrew as a gift. This affects Andrew deeply until
his wife, Millie, undermines his happiness over the gift.

Throughout The Browning Version Andrew has taken abuse from his wife without much
comment. But, urged on by Frank, he reclaims some of his dignity by insisting on speaking
second at the ceremony and deciding to stay there for the summer, no matter what his wife
decides to do. As the play ends, Andrew is a stronger man than he was at the beginning.

Millie Crocker-Harris

Millie is the long-suffering wife of Andrew. She dislikes her husband immensely and has been
having an affair with Frank Hunter. Although she does many of the household chores and social
duties expected of her, she resents her husband’s lack of success as a schoolmaster.
Millie knows her husband is unpopular, and she does not like it. His professional failings have
meant that she has to do many of things a maid would take care of, like cook. Since she is a
woman of some means, including a yearly income from her father, being associated with Andrew
is a disappointment.

Millie expresses her resentment by undercutting anything Andrew says or does with a mean
comment. She errs, however, when she destroys a happy moment for her husband in front of
Frank. Millie’s cruel attitude compels Frank to end their relationship and take Andrew’s side. By
the end of the play, Millie has informed Andrew that she will not go with him to his new job. He
is indifferent to her decision.

Frank Hunter

Frank Hunter is a young schoolmaster who teaches science at the same school as Andrew. Unlike
Andrew, he is quite popular with his students. Frank has been having an affair with Andrew’s
wife, Millie, for several months.

Although Frank does not seem to like Andrew, he does feel sorry for him and is always polite to
him, unlike Millie. After Taplow gives Andrew the book and Millie tries to ruin her husband’s
happiness over the gift, Frank sympathizes with Andrew. He breaks off the affair with Millie and
tries everything he can think of to protect and help Andrew.

John Taplow

John Taplow is one of Andrew’s students. Andrew is tutoring Taplow in classical Greek, and
they are translating the play Agamemnon. Taplow would rather play golf than be doing extra
work on the last day of school and expresses his frustrations to Frank Hunter.

Despite the advice of Millie and Frank, Taplow insists on staying for his session. In a sense, he
fears Andrew, because he realizes his future is in Andrew’s hands. Yet Taplow also likes
Andrew, which he proves when he brings Andrew a verse version of the play they have been
working on with a meaningful inscription. Taplow’s kindness touches Andrew until Millie ruins
it for him.