Who are 2 corporals what is special about them
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In ‘The Two Corporals’, the curtain rises on Napoleon’s Tomb at Les Invalides. It was in the evening of a day in the first week of June 1940 - Flags of the Grand Army. It has the two tyrants belonging to different periods of history. It is assumed that they both meet and talk about their goals in life. It gives us a picture of two different dictators with different traits in their characters. Napoleon Bonaparte has learnt the bitter truth of reality while Adolf Hitler has to learn his lesson. Val Henry Gielgud (1900–1981) was an English actor, writer, director and broadcaster. He was a pioneer of radio drama for the BBC. The dialogue between Hitler and Napoleon reveals the character of both the dictators. Hitler has great pride and is arrogant. Napoleon who is also proud has the magnanimity to understand that he owes a lot to his soldiers and generals. It is the words that come as dialogue that reveals to us the nature and character of these giants of history. The play opens with the German dictator Adolf Hitler visiting the tomb of Napoleon in June 1940. He asks his assistant to leave him in the site for some time. Hitler describes Napoleon as the greatest of captains, of lawgivers, of conquerors. Once Hitler’s assistant leaves the site, Napoleon is seen standing near the tomb. He addresses Hitler as a house painter and corporal in the German Arm. Hitler replies that he is the Chancellor of the Third Great German Reich - Conqueror of Europe. Hitler goes on to talk about his great exploits like ‘Paris is under my heel’, ‘I smashed Poland in three weeks’, ‘Italy is my ally’ and he says that he will conquer England in a matter of weeks. Both the dictators discuss the military campaigns they conducted in Spain and Russia. Napoleon has failed in all these exploits, but Hitler is confident that he will win. Hitler says that he worshipped Napoleon. He says, ‘your career was my inspiration’. When Napoleon asks Hitler to show him his children, he replies that all the children of Europe are mine. Suddenly we see six children seated on the steps of the tomb. The first boy says: ‘I sold newspapers in Warsaw. Your bombers killed me’ One girl says that she was tortured by Hitler’s soldiers. Another girl says that she lived in Athens and she starved to death. Napoleon leaves the scene with a warning to Hitler “No man is so big that he cannot become too big for his boots. He will destroy himself. I have warned you, Adolf Hitler. Hitler is no mood to listen to this advice from a former dictator. He leaves the tomb with these words; He shall see that I will succeed where he failed. The play ends with Napoleon seated on his tomb taking a pinch of snuff and saying these words - ‘An unpleasant, common little man, I am glad I shall not see him again’