Refund (Play) by Fritz Karinthy - Characters, Summary, Analysis- Grade 11

Setting/Scene in Refund

The setting of the play "Refund" is the principal's office in a high school. 

Characters

WASSERKOPF

WASSERKOPF is the protagonist of the play Refund, who goes back to the school where he studied 18 years ago. His intention of visiting the school was to get a refund which he had paid as tuition fees for 6 years at the school. He uses abusive language to the principal and other teachers who taught him (numskull, cannibal, hypocrite, nitwit, ass, old-stick-in-the-mud). He becomes ready to sit for the oral test, who intended to give wrong answers and get his refund. At last, he fails to prove that he did not learn anything from the school with the tricks of the masters of the school and get out from the school. 

THE PRINCIPAL

The Principal is one of the major characters in the play, who is stunned by the presence of Wasserkopf, a former student of the school. He demanded a refund with the principal, so the principal discusses the matter with other teachers (masters). He writes reports "very good", "excellent" and so on when the teachers report about Wasserkopf's test. Once he declares the distinction result, he asks his servant to remove the object (Wasserkopf).   

THE MATHEMATICS MASTER

He is a tricky master, who carefully wins the awkward situation of demanding a refund from the ex-student of the school. He asks two questions to Wasserkopf, one is easy and the other difficult. Wasserkopf answers wrong to the first question. So the math teacher asks how much money should be refunded. Wasserkopf calculates the amount of money he paid in the school and takes out the sum of the amount, which the math teacher says it was his second question. Even this time, Wasserkopf fails in his mission and the teacher concludes the situation with a proper solution.    

THE SERVANT

He helps the principal in reporting Wasserkomp and also while taking out him from the principal's office. He has got a minor role in the play. 

THE PHYSICS MASTER

THE STAFF

THE GEOGRAPHY MASTER

THE HISTORY MASTER

Summary

Wasserkopf is about forty years old man, who could not get any job, and wherever he goes people tell him that he is fit for nothing. After getting fired from his job, he meets one of his friends, Leaderer, and asks him about his business. When Leaderer tells him about foreign exchange and Hungarian money, he could not able to understand anything and starts asking questions about foreign exchange. Leaderer says when Wasserkopf does not know the silly thing then what had he studied? He better can go to school and get his tuition fees back. Wasserkopf is jobless and does not have any financial thought of this idea as something beneficial. So he went to the school where he studied once.

 

Wasserkopf wanted the refund of his tuition fees which were paid eighteen years ago because he was taught badly. When he asks for it, the principal is shocked. The principal is in a peculiar situation now and he calls for an urgent meeting with all other staff members. The masters realized that Wasserkopf’s real intention was to fail the exam and claim the refund. Therefore, they decided to outsmart the old student by proving all his answers right. The Mathematics Master said that they had to be united and ought to help each other in implementing their plan. The exam was an oral one as Wasserkopf’s refusal to write. They decide that whatever answers he gives whether it is right or wrong they will prove him right.

 

The first question was from the History Master. The Master asked him how many years the ‘Thirty Years’ war lasted. The answer was in the question itself. But Wasserkopf, who was keen on giving wrong answers, said that the ‘Thirty Years war’, lasted seven meters. The History Master did not know how to prove this answer right. Fortunately for him, the Mathematics master aided him by proving that the answer was right on the basis of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. The Master argued that time and space are relative terms and therefore years can be represented in terms of meter. The war took place for half of each day, three hours a day to eat, hours gave up to noonday, so totally seven years.  The actual time spent in fighting was seven years and it has been by Einstein’s equivalence of seven meters. Wasserkopf called the History Master a numskull.

 The Physics Master asked Wasserkopf whether clocks in the church become smaller if one walks away from it or is it because of optical illusion.  He called The Physics master an ass.  The master says that the answer is correct because ass does not have an illusion of vision. Therefore, Wasserkopf has given a metaphorical explanation. Wasserkopf called him a cannibal.

 

The Geography Master asks Wasserkopf for the name of a city that has the same name as the capital of German Providence of Brunswick.  He replied as ‘Same’.  Master said it as the correct answer.  There was a legend that once as the emperor Barbarossa was riding in the city, he met a young peasant (farmer) girl, who was munching a bun mouthful.  He called out her God Bless you and asked her the name of the city, she answered same to you, sir, for his wishes, and Emperor mistook the city name as ‘Same’.

 

One by one each teacher justified his wrong answer to be the correct one and they mark him excellent. Though Wasserkopf gives wrong answers and uses abusive words to each teacher, they don't show their anger because they have to prove him as an excellent student.

 

At last, the mathematics master asks him a difficult question and an easy question. For the easy question, he gives the wrong answer and the master gets angry and says that he has failed in his examination so he should be given his tuition fees back. The master says that they have decided to give him his tuition fees back and asks for the exact amount which he has to get. Wasserkopf without knowing that he is going to fall into their trap gives them the list of the exact amounts. 

The mathematics master says that was his difficult question and he gave the right answer. Now he is proved excellent in the entire subject and they throw him out without allowing him to say anything further. It shows the ability of the teachers to manage the situation and how they tackle Wasserkopf without spoiling the reputation of their school.

Analysis

“Refund” is a one-act play written by Fritz Karinthy, who is a well-known short story writer. It revolves around a former student Wasserkopf, who seeks a refund of his tuition fees that he had paid in his school days and claims that he could not use that knowledge practically after all. His effort goes in vain as he tries to be a failure in education, but the situation is altered by the tricky mathematics master. Refund brings out the extraordinary sense of parody, which is full of humor which deals with an extraordinarily absurd situation.