Sequamur: Themes

Sequamur has three major themes:

• war (in this case, World War One, but also the horror and futility of war more generally)
• the act of remembrance and memory
• history

The play allows the audience to explore these themes along with the central character, with the benefit of hindsight, as the action develops through flashbacks.

Looking for some quick revision? Try an interactive quiz for Higher English.

World War One (also referred to as the First World War, or The Great War) began in 1914.

On 28th June, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was shot and killed in Bosnia by a Serbian man, Gavrilo Princip. Like other Serbs, Princip thought Serbia should control Bosnia instead of Austria-Hungary.

In response, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. As a result of national alliances, other European countries became involved, including Russia, Germany, Italy and France.

When Germany invaded neutral Belgium, as a path to invading France, Britain, which had an agreement to protect both France and Belgium, declared war on Germany on 4th August, 1914.

Around 8.5 million soldiers are thought to have been killed in the war. The exact number of Scots killed in action is still a matter of debate and probably will never be agreed upon, however, 150,000 is a figure that includes Scots from around the world 'killed in the service of the crown’. 148 pupils from the Nicolson Institute were among them.

The war ended on 11th November, 1918 at 11am. This became known as Armistice Day - the day Germany signed an armistice (an agreement for peace) which caused the fighting to stop.

You can learn more about World War One, and the impact on Scottish soldiers and domestic life in these articles.

The First World War looms large over this play. The play opens after the war, when the memorial to the fallen boys and men from the school is being unveiled.

As the story unfolds through flashbacks and we learn more of what happened before and during wartime, it is clear that the audience will learn about the war along with the central character.

Initially, Gibson sees the war as an opportunity for these young men to go and better themselves, see a bit of the world, and come back with expanded horizons and new ideas. More than that, he genuinely believes it will be good for British society that this generation will have their minds nourished in this way, and does not foresee the danger and horror of the war coming:

GIBSON: "Well, you can tell your father that there's no comparison between this war and the Boer. It is a way for the poor to prise power away from princes and politicians. If young men like you go out and fight in this war, there is no way they can refuse to make the changes that are necessary to transform our society, to allow the chance for people like us - the son of a famer's labourer in my case, the sons of crofters, weavers, fishermen." (Scene 3).

As Gibson appears to be a charismatic leader and teacher, they listen to him and sign up, but the dangers and consequences of this decision then play out. The young men write to him to tell him the truth of what they're experiencing. When Gibson is struggling with writing his speech for the memorial he re-reads Roddy Morrison's letter, and the young men appear in his memory, sharing the reading of the letter and enacting its contents:

SOLDIER 1: "Then we were rushing, over two hundred yards, in the open to the front line. Maxim fire from flank and front."

SOLDIER 2: "It was a terrible moment and there we lost most, falling down before our feet, screaming in agony.

MORRISON: "Oh God, oh God, oh God… Have mercy on us." (Scene 5)

The speech at the memorial is something Gibson is struggling with because of the guilt that he is carrying. His initial enthusiasm for the boys enlisting has been replaced with the realisation of what they have suffered, and in so many cases lives lost. The responsibility he feels for that is clear:

"…Some of the accounts are horrifying, harrowing. Each proving to me how little knowledge I have. Why did I ever open my mouth about the benefits of war?" (Scene 6)

Mary, his wife, tries to tell him that he wasn't alone, that he "came out with the same script as just about every other minister and teacher in this town, prodding the boys to war." However, Gibson encounters Jessie Finlayson, whose husband Donald did return but is traumatised so deeply that he is abusive to her, believing himself to still be in the war. Jessie tells him unequivocally:

"It's the fault of those people who encouraged him. As if it was an adventure. As if it was a way of seeing the world. They're the ones to blame." (Scene 8)

The act of remembrance is crucial to this play and how it is told. The play opens with the characters discussing the memorial to the dead. The initial confidence the audience sees in Gibson comes from his assertion that he remembers every single one of the young men lost:

BEATON: You knew them all then?GIBSON: Every single one of them. All ticked off and present in the register. (Scene 1)

He goes through a few examples of former pupils, and realises he can't find Alex MacIver's name. Mrs Finlayson then interjects: "I can't find Duncan either." As it becomes clear that not only is her son's name not on the memorial, but that Gibson does not remember him, she becomes very distressed. Gibson goes on to discuss this memory lapse with his wife in the next scene:

GIBSON: Oh, I don't know what the point and purpose of all this memorial business is. If me, MacRae, the school are already forgetting who these young people are, what's the chances of anyone recalling in forty or fifty years' time?

MARY: It's all we can do though. (Scene 2)

The act of memorialising the dead is meant to be about remembering them and their sacrifice, but as Mary points out, there is a futility in it, as it is all we can do in the face of such loss.

Gibson's memory of how he encouraged the young men to enlist weighs heavily on him, he has no problem remembering that clearly:

MARY: You don't doubt what you told them back then?GIBSON: No. (Scene 6)

The historical and literary quotations that Gibson uses to communicate, and expects his pupils to remember also play on the theme of memory - Gibson was a Classics teacher at a time when being able to remember pieces of text was considered a sign of good education. Gibson is therefore embarrassed when he can't remember Finlayson, and overjoyed when he eventually does: ("I've found him! I've found him! I can remember him now!" - Scene 2).

The flashbacks in the play and the appearance of the former pupils as appartions, or ghosts also highlight the importance of memory and remembering. When Gibson remembers the classroom scene where Finlayson tells him he's signing up, they have an exchange about memory:

GIBSON: "Hell to shops, hell to men, hell to cities." Who wrote that? Paterson?
PATERSON: Aeschylus.GIBSON: And who was speaking, Duncan Finlayson? And about whom?FINLAYSON: I can't remember, sir.
GIBSON: I can't remember? You must have left your brains behind you, clipped form your head like your father's wool. (Scene 3)

This is echoed in the later exchange Gibson has with the 'ghost' of Finlayson in Scene 9.

FINLAYSON: "The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the minds of the living." Who said that?
GIBSON: I can't remember.FINLAYSON: You must have left your brains behind you in your father's garden this morning, clipped from your head like the dead head of a rose. (Scene 9)

The apparition of Finlayson also makes a dig at Gibson forgetting his name, when he very first appears in Scene 7. ("It was calm when we left Lemnos. You remember that name, Mr Gibson? Lemnos…" - Scene 7).

In the final scene of the play, the memorial is unveiled and Gibson gets to deliver his speech.

The public record of the events of the war is now a part of history. It is in hindsight that we know Gibson's initial opinions of the war were wrong, as the consequences are now a matter of historical record.

Gibson's classical education is emphasised throughout - the references to classical literature show how historical stories are told and passed on over time, just as the stories the young men told Gibson in their letters must be preserved and remembered. The link between the heroic tales of brave explorers and warriors from Ancient Greece, whose names the young men struggle to recall in class, and the names forgotten from the memorial that is yet to be unveiled are clear. In war, and in history, not every name and story will be remembered and Gibson realises the tragedy of this:

"When I looked at that plague, all these young people's names, all that came into my head was how they just looked like leaves lying there. Autumn leaves. Not even former pupils of mine. Not even fellow human beings." (Scene 11)

By comparing the names on the plaque to leaves, Gibson acknowledges that they can be swept away just as the seasons change, that keeping their memory alive is a huge task. The leaves call to mind the description of a school in scene three, where Gibson quotes Homer's Iliad:

"Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away."

The setting of the play in a real school, in a small island community gives the action some credibility and realism. However, it also serves to show the audience how devastating the effects of war are on a community of this size. They are far removed from the places mentioned in the letters from the front line, as well as the places the boys learn about from their reading of Homer.

It is up to the local people to remember these men, as they will not be immortalised like the warriors in Gibson's classical texts. The unveiling of the memorial as the climax of the play highlights the importance of this to the community and how they have chosen to remember their dead.

The final words of the play are "their self-sacrifice will be held by their school", placing the school as where their loss will be most keenly felt and understood.