The Lesson Summary

This play is subtitled "a comic drama", and is set in the cluttered office of an elderly Professor. A maid lets in the Pupil, an attractive young woman, who sits to wait. Lengthy stage directions describe her appearance, and the transformation she undergoes through the course of the play - from confidence and strength to fearfulness and weakness. The Professor then enters, and equally lengthy stage directions also describe his appearance and his transformation - from weakness and frailty to strength, confidence and bullying.

After formal greetings, conversation between the Professor and the Pupil reveals that the Pupil is hoping to learn enough to pass the doctoral exams she plans to write in three weeks. Before conversation can go any further, the Maid comes in, warning the Professor to behave himself. After she's gone, the Professor discovers that the Pupil cannot...