Notes on a Scandal
Encyclopedia
Notes on a Scandal is a 2003
drama
novel by Zoë Heller
. It is about a female teacher at a London
comprehensive school
who begins an affair with an underage
pupil. The novel was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize
.
A film version
was released in 2006 and stars Judi Dench
and Cate Blanchett
, both of whom were nominated for Academy Awards
for their roles.
written by the unreliable narrator
, Barbara Covett, a lonely, aging history teacher who becomes obsessed with her new colleague Sheba Hart, a beautiful woman in her forties engaged in an illegal, extramarital affair with one of her students. The narrative spans almost two years, and follows Barbara as she becomes obsessed with Sheba, discovers her secret affair, and uses it to trap Sheba into an intense relationship.
nor a disinterested first-person narrator
. A lonely, unmarried woman in her early sixties, she is eager to find a special, close friend. However, she reveals that she has been unable to make a previous friendship last as she was accused of being possessive, domineering and demanding. Her former friend, teacher Jennifer Dodd, even threatened her with an injunction if she tried contacting her again.
When upper middle-class Bathsheba "Sheba" Hart joins the staff of St. George's, Barbara immediately senses that they might become close friends. Sheba invites Barbara for Sunday lunch with her family. Barbara is ecstatic and the lunch date is given enormous significance. ("I wondered if I ought to make some nod to the notion of having to consult my diary. But I thought better of it. I didn't want to risk her glimpsing the white wastelands of my appointmentless weeks.")
Initially unknown to Barbara, at Sheba's very first term at St. George's, she falls in love with a 15-year-old pupil, Steven Connolly, who, like the majority of his peers, is from a deprived background and has literacy problems. Although they frequently have sex right from the start of their relationship, including at school and in the open on Hampstead Heath
, the unlikely couple successfully conceal their affair from colleagues and family. The first time Sheba invites Barbara to her family home for dinner, she tells Barbara a highly expurgated version of what has happened between her and Connolly, claiming only that he has tried to kiss her and that she discouraged his advances. Barbara offers her some advice on how to cool the boy's ardor, and considers the matter closed.
Sheba confesses to Barbara that despite her apparently charmed life, she feels unfulfilled. Sheba has a difficult relationship with her rebellious 17-year-old daughter, Polly, whose youth and beauty only intensify her own feelings of aging and waste. Her husband, Richard, is significantly older than she is and their relationship sometimes has a father-daughter feel to it. Sheba's complaints trouble Barbara, who had idealized Sheba and her family.
When Barbara eventually finds out about the affair on Guy Fawkes Night
after seeing Sheba talking to Connolly on Primrose Hill
, she feels betrayed that Sheba did not confide in her during the early stages of their friendship. She is also angered and hurt by Sheba's obsession with Connolly and her relative neglect of their friendship. The power dynamics in the relationship between Connolly and Sheba are changing, with Connolly's interest in the affair waning as Sheba's grows. Sheba becomes needier and starts to write love letters to Connolly. Connolly behaves insultingly to Sheba during a liaison in his childish bedroom in his parents' council house, yet Sheba does not break off the affair.
Some weeks after Sheba's confession to Barbara, Brian Bangs, a mathematics teacher, asks Barbara to have Saturday lunch with him. During the lunch date, Bangs confesses his infatuation with Sheba, and Barbara realises that he is using her as a means to discover information about Sheba's private life. Overcome by bitterness and jealousy, Barbara alludes to Sheba's secret. ("' Sheba likes younger men, you know. Much younger men.' I paused a moment. ' I mean, you are aware of her unusually close relationship with one of the Year Eleven boys? ' ") Afterwards, she is wracked with guilt but cannot summon up the courage to tell Sheba what she has done. Rather, she hopes Bangs will not report what she has told him.
Sheba's relationship with Polly deteriorates further when the girl's unruly behaviour results in her expulsion from her boarding school. At home, and later at her grandmother's house, she accuses Sheba of having an affair. Sheba is furious about the accusation, believing that she has covered her tracks successfully.
In early January 1998, however, the headmaster
is somehow informed about the illicit affair - it is implied that the culprit is Bangs. Sheba is suspended
from her job and charged with indecent assault
on a pupil. Her husband demands that she leave the family home and prevents her from seeing their children, especially their son Ben, who has Down's syndrome; Polly, meanwhile, refuses to have any contact with her. While Sheba's life is quickly disintegrating, Barbara thrives on the new situation, which she considers her chance to prove her qualities as a friend, even when the headmaster, glad to rid himself of one of his severest critics, forces her into early retirement
. Barbara gives up the lease
on her own small flat and moves with Sheba into temporary accommodation in Sheba's brother's house.
Sheba finds Barbara's manuscript and discovers that she has been writing an account of her relationship with Connolly. She is distraught and furious, not least because Barbara has written about events she did not personally witness, and made judgements about people close to Sheba. The novel ends with Sheba, trapped and demoralised, resigning herself to Barbara's presence in her life.
2003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
novel by Zoë Heller
Zoë Heller
Zoë Kate Hinde Heller is an English journalist and novelist.-Early life:Heller was born in North London as the youngest of four children of German-Jewish immigrant Lukas Heller, who was a successful screenwriter. Her mother was instrumental in keeping up the Labour Party's "Save London Transport...
. It is about a female teacher at a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
who begins an affair with an underage
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
pupil. The novel was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
.
A film version
Notes on a Scandal (film)
Notes on a Scandal is a 2006 British psychological thriller film, adapted from the 2003 novel of the same name by Zoë Heller. The screenplay was written by Patrick Marber and the film was directed by Richard Eyre. Many parts of the film were shot in Islington Arts and Media School...
was released in 2006 and stars Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
and Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
, both of whom were nominated for Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for their roles.
Synopsis
The story is told in the style of a manuscriptManuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
written by the unreliable narrator
Unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
, Barbara Covett, a lonely, aging history teacher who becomes obsessed with her new colleague Sheba Hart, a beautiful woman in her forties engaged in an illegal, extramarital affair with one of her students. The narrative spans almost two years, and follows Barbara as she becomes obsessed with Sheba, discovers her secret affair, and uses it to trap Sheba into an intense relationship.
Plot summary
Barbara is neither a reliableUnreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
nor a disinterested first-person narrator
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
. A lonely, unmarried woman in her early sixties, she is eager to find a special, close friend. However, she reveals that she has been unable to make a previous friendship last as she was accused of being possessive, domineering and demanding. Her former friend, teacher Jennifer Dodd, even threatened her with an injunction if she tried contacting her again.
When upper middle-class Bathsheba "Sheba" Hart joins the staff of St. George's, Barbara immediately senses that they might become close friends. Sheba invites Barbara for Sunday lunch with her family. Barbara is ecstatic and the lunch date is given enormous significance. ("I wondered if I ought to make some nod to the notion of having to consult my diary. But I thought better of it. I didn't want to risk her glimpsing the white wastelands of my appointmentless weeks.")
Initially unknown to Barbara, at Sheba's very first term at St. George's, she falls in love with a 15-year-old pupil, Steven Connolly, who, like the majority of his peers, is from a deprived background and has literacy problems. Although they frequently have sex right from the start of their relationship, including at school and in the open on Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath is a large, ancient London park, covering . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London clay...
, the unlikely couple successfully conceal their affair from colleagues and family. The first time Sheba invites Barbara to her family home for dinner, she tells Barbara a highly expurgated version of what has happened between her and Connolly, claiming only that he has tried to kiss her and that she discouraged his advances. Barbara offers her some advice on how to cool the boy's ardor, and considers the matter closed.
Sheba confesses to Barbara that despite her apparently charmed life, she feels unfulfilled. Sheba has a difficult relationship with her rebellious 17-year-old daughter, Polly, whose youth and beauty only intensify her own feelings of aging and waste. Her husband, Richard, is significantly older than she is and their relationship sometimes has a father-daughter feel to it. Sheba's complaints trouble Barbara, who had idealized Sheba and her family.
When Barbara eventually finds out about the affair on Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in England. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding...
after seeing Sheba talking to Connolly on Primrose Hill
Primrose Hill
Primrose Hill is a hill of located on the north side of Regent's Park in London, England, and also the name for the surrounding district. The hill has a clear view of central London to the south-east, as well as Belsize Park and Hampstead to the north...
, she feels betrayed that Sheba did not confide in her during the early stages of their friendship. She is also angered and hurt by Sheba's obsession with Connolly and her relative neglect of their friendship. The power dynamics in the relationship between Connolly and Sheba are changing, with Connolly's interest in the affair waning as Sheba's grows. Sheba becomes needier and starts to write love letters to Connolly. Connolly behaves insultingly to Sheba during a liaison in his childish bedroom in his parents' council house, yet Sheba does not break off the affair.
Some weeks after Sheba's confession to Barbara, Brian Bangs, a mathematics teacher, asks Barbara to have Saturday lunch with him. During the lunch date, Bangs confesses his infatuation with Sheba, and Barbara realises that he is using her as a means to discover information about Sheba's private life. Overcome by bitterness and jealousy, Barbara alludes to Sheba's secret. ("
Sheba's relationship with Polly deteriorates further when the girl's unruly behaviour results in her expulsion from her boarding school. At home, and later at her grandmother's house, she accuses Sheba of having an affair. Sheba is furious about the accusation, believing that she has covered her tracks successfully.
In early January 1998, however, the headmaster
Head teacher
A head teacher or school principal is the most senior teacher, leader and manager of a school....
is somehow informed about the illicit affair - it is implied that the culprit is Bangs. Sheba is suspended
Suspension (punishment)
Suspension is a form of punishment that people receive for violating rules and regulations.- Workplace :Suspension is a common practice in the workplace for being in violation of an organization's policy...
from her job and charged with indecent assault
Indecent assault
Indecent assault is an offence of aggravated assault in many jurisdictions. It is characterised as a sex crime.Indecent assault was an offence in England and Wales under sections 14 and 15 the Sexual Offences Act 1956...
on a pupil. Her husband demands that she leave the family home and prevents her from seeing their children, especially their son Ben, who has Down's syndrome; Polly, meanwhile, refuses to have any contact with her. While Sheba's life is quickly disintegrating, Barbara thrives on the new situation, which she considers her chance to prove her qualities as a friend, even when the headmaster, glad to rid himself of one of his severest critics, forces her into early retirement
Retirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
. Barbara gives up the lease
Lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...
on her own small flat and moves with Sheba into temporary accommodation in Sheba's brother's house.
Sheba finds Barbara's manuscript and discovers that she has been writing an account of her relationship with Connolly. She is distraught and furious, not least because Barbara has written about events she did not personally witness, and made judgements about people close to Sheba. The novel ends with Sheba, trapped and demoralised, resigning herself to Barbara's presence in her life.