Essay 5—Alan Turing and Breaking the Code

Purpose

Background

Hugh Whitemore’s play Breaking the Code explores the last years of Alan Turing’s life, and the pivotal influences earlier in his life that made him who he was in those final years. All of these things add up to convey a specific sense of why Turing finally killed himself, although without any character ever stating the reasons explicitly. A key step in interpreting and understanding the play is thus to answer the question “why does Turing kill himself?”

Although Breaking the Code is based on a well-researched biography of Turing, it is nonetheless a work of fiction. In particular, the reasons Whitemore conveys for Turing’s suicide may or may not be ones that drove Turing in real life. A second piece of interpretation and understanding of the play is therefore to consider how realistic its portrayal of Turing’s motivations is.

Exercise

Write an essay of 1200 to 1800 words (four to six pages) in which you identify the reasons why Whitemore’s Turing kills himself, and compare them to what you believe drove the real Turing to suicide. You should reach some conclusion regarding how plausible you find Whitemore’s reasons.

Beware that Whitemore’s Turing is a complex character—presumably Whitemore felt that adequately showing what made Turing the person who finally killed himself and the events leading to that action take all 17 of the scenes he put in the play. Whitemore’s reasons for Turing’s death are not just the stock “British society medically and psychologically abused Turing because he was a homosexual and eventually drove him to suicide.” I therefore expect you to (re)read the play closely, and to draw on all the evidence it offers about Turing’s personality, desires, and the pressures on him in identifying why Whitemore’s Turing kills himself.

You have already read a brief online biography of Turing, and should draw on it in deciding how plausible you find Whitemore’s portrayal. You may also consult other sources, but do not need to. Any sources you use beside Breaking the Code itself and the biography used in class must be cited, of course.

Follow-Up

You will do peer critiques of each other’s essays on the “Peer Critiques” date above. Please bring 3 printed copies of draft essays to class on that day.

Turn in your essay by emailing it to me. You can write your essay with any common word processor, and send it to me as an email attachment. Your email should be time-stamped no later than 11:59 on the “Papers due” date above.

Because this essay is due at the very end of the semester, I will not require you to meet with me to discuss my reactions to it. However, if you want to talk with me about it, I am happy to do so. You can make appointments either through Google calendar or my paper schedule, as usual.