The Lesson

Once Marie exits, the professor continues. He directs the student to pay attention as he delivers a lecture on “the linguistic and comparative philology of the neo-Spanish languages” (60). When the student claps and expresses excitement, the professor quiets her sternly, and she folds her hands in careful contrition. The student watches as the professor launches into a nonsensical oration about languages, pausing to give her permission to take notes. She interjects occasionally to respond affirmatively, with varying levels of enthusiasm, sometimes repeating his previous lines. He emphasizes the significance of what she is learning, which she must not forget “until the hour of [her] death” (62). When she offers a word from her prior education, he scolds, “Don’t parade your knowledge. You’d do better to listen” (62). He waxes poetic about the necessary physicality of speaking properly, chastising the student whenever she speaks.

Suddenly, the student seems to be ill. The professor questions her, and she explains that she has a toothache. The professor dismisses her pain as trivial and not worth disrupting his lecture. He goes on, and this time she occasionally interjects, “I’ve got a toothache” (63), which he ignores, continuing to pontificate absurdly on the anatomy involved in speech. Growing more and more illogical, he asks her to translate senseless statements into various languages. She attempts to respond, repeatedly interjecting with ignored complaints about her toothache. He berates her for wrong answers, finally threatening to pull out all her teeth. When she complains again, he exclaims, “Silence! Or I’ll bash in your skull!” (70) The student responds, “Just try to! Skulldugger!” (70), and he grabs and twists her wrist painfully. As he continues, she manages to repeat what he says and give a correct response. He orders her to pay closer attention, reminding her that she came to him for help in studying, and that he already has his doctorate. He calls her “ill-mannered” (72) and asserts that he cannot continue this way.

The professor announces that he will teach the student “all the translations of the word ‘knife’” (72), calling for Marie. He goes off to find her and the student, left alone onstage for several minutes, stares dazedly. As he enters with Marie, he scolds her for failing to answer his calls. He complains to Marie that the student is unintelligent and cannot comprehend anything. Marie worries that the professor is working himself up, warning him that he will “go too far” (72). Dismissively, he says he will stop himself, but Marie replies, “That’s what you always say” (72). The girl says that she has a toothache, and Marie exclaims that it is “the final symptom” (72). The professor and student do not understand what she means, and the professor exclaims that he called Marie to help him. Marie, fiercely, says, “Don’t ask me” (72) and exits. The professor remembers something and finds a large knife in a drawer, which Ionesco states can be an actual prop or imaginary depending on the director’s choice. Pleased, he announces to the student that there is only one knife, but they would “try to make it serve for all the languages” (73).

He waves the knife and tries to force her to identify it in various languages. She cannot, and she starts to complain about the rest of her body aching as well as her tooth. His voice is starting to hurt her ears, and he replies, “I’m going to tear them off, your ears, that’s what I’m going to do to you, and then they won’t hurt you anymore, my pet” (73). Crying and cowering in pain and exhaustion, she tries to answer his questions. He repeats the word “knife” (74) over and over. He does an odd dance with the knife and then continues to repeat the word for the student to repeat. As she named the toothache, she names and touches each part of her body that now aches as she tries to give the right answers. Finally, she says weakly, “Yes, yes…the knife kills?” (75) and he stabs her, shouting, “Aaah! That’ll teach you!” (75). He stabs and slashes her, and she dies graphically. Breathing hard, exhausted, he mumbles, “Bitch…Oh, that’s good, that does me good” (75).

Then, as though he is regaining consciousness, he sees what he has done. He tries to rouse the student, but she is dead. Panicked, he shouts for Marie, crying, “I made a mistake” (75) and telling Marie to go away, he does not need her. Marie enters anyways; she is angry and unsympathetic, and she chastises the professor. He tries to hide the knife and claim that he could not get the girl to leave. Then, he claims weakly that he did not do it. Marie reprimands him, exclaiming that this is the 40th student he has killed. The professor tries to creep up on Marie with the knife, but she grabs and twists his wrist painfully until he drops the knife. Then, she slaps him twice, berates him, and tells him to put the knife away, reminding him that she told him what would happen. He tells her pleadingly that it was an accident. Finally, she asks if he is sorry, and he promises that he is. Marie softens, calling him “a good boy in spite of everything” (77), worrying that he might have a heart attack next time.

Marie says that she will contact undertakers and Father August, who is her lover, to bury the girl with the 39 other caskets. The professor tells Marie not to waste too much money on flowers, since the girl did not even pay for the lesson. At Marie’s direction, the professor covers the body. The professor notes that with 40 coffins, they could get caught. Marie reassures him that they will just claim the coffins are empty, as no one ever asks questions. The professor is still worried, so Marie gives him an “armband with an insignia, perhaps the Nazi swastika” (77-78). If he wears it, she promises, he does not have to worry at all as “that’s good politics” (78). The professor praises Marie warmly, calling her “a good girl, […] very loyal” (78). Marie and the professor carry the student’s body out. The professor says, “Be careful. We don’t want to hurt her” (78). Then, the doorbell rings and after a moment, Marie rushes in to answer it. She greets the new student and invites her in.