Stanhopes problems

Sherriff creates sympathy for Stanhope, he allows us to understand what the war is doing for him and how he reacts; he makes the audience feel pity for him and allows us to realize how bad this war really is, even for one of the highest regarded men. Between pages 31 and 33 Stanhope talks to Osbourne about his drinking problems and the effects of having Raleigh there has on him and the responsibility that comes with it. He talks about home, and the image he has at home, captain of the teams at school and now commander of a company, known as a really decent man. He talks about how he is ashamed with himself about how he feels that he has changed because of the drinking 

Stanhope is known in the company as a drinker. Sherriff shows us that this is true from the moment we meet him, he drinks constantly. He says he does it to take the strain away, 'She doesn't know that if I went up those steps into the front line - without being doped in whisky - I'd go mad with fright.' We learn that the reason he drinks is because he’s afraid, however he doesn’t want to show he is afraid, therefore he drinks. You could say he sees it as some sort of refuge, taking away from reality. 'I knew I'd go mad if I couldn't break the strain, I couldn't bare being fully conscious all the time.' His heavy drinking is also a key dramatic devise which creates sympathy. 

You could almost say that he’s a clever actor, disguising his emotions, bottling it all up, literally. Being sober, to him, means facing reality, facing the fact that every single man he came out with is now dead, the fact that he can’t go home because he is too embarrassed to be seen by Madge as he is, the fact that he has a huge responsibility for Raleigh, a boy who looked up to him from a young age. Reality for him is painful; therefore he needs something to take all that away, even if it’s just for an hour.

Another key point in the play is time. The constant countdown. At the beginning its about counting down till they can go home, Trotter says that he is going to draw 144 circles representing the hours that they are out there for, and circle in every hour to make the time go faster. They wait, they watch and when something happens its over so quickly, they want to avoid something happening during their 6 days so they wait it out. They constantly refer to time, time to go relieve the officer from his duty, time to have supper, time to leave. Furthermore once they find out that the supposed attack is coming while they are there, the morale completely changes, they all start to drink even more. 

‘He says the German prisoner gave the day of attack as the twenty-first. ‘

‘That’s Thursday’

‘Yes and today is Tuesday’

‘Then I’ll come while we’re here.’

‘Yes. It’ll come while we’re here. And we shall be in the front row of the stalls.’

This is when we know that the attack is really coming, and the direction of the play changes. The inevitability, and the count down begins,

‘That means the day after tomorrow.

‘The second dawn from now.’

Stanhope becomes worried, he doesn't want to show it therefore he tries to stay positive but you can tell he's affected by it. 

Stanhope also feels that he has a sense of duty, not only to himself but to his men and his country, he can’t set a bad example. Everyone knows he needs a break, yet he doesn’t believe it, he doesn’t want to seem like he’s skiving, he has a sense of purpose and responsibility, he says to Osbourne about one of his company ‘You suggest that I go sick, like that little worm in there – with neuralgia in the eye?’ he looks down on that man, whether he is ill or not that’s not the problem, Stanhope feels that he’s just trying to run away from what is coming. He doesn’t want people to think of him like that, he wants to stick to his values, maybe because that’s the only thing he can have control on anymore. Everyone recognizes what an amazing leader he is, yet he has no self-awareness, he doesn’t realize that everyone notices he needs a break because he works too hard and never goes home, Osbourne tells him ‘The colonel would have sent you down long ago, only-‘.

‘He thinks I’m in such a state I want a rest, is that it?’

‘No. He thinks its due to you.’

He totally believes that he doesn’t do enough, perhaps that makes him unaware of his ability and allows him to undermined himself greatly, perhaps he feels this because of the drinking.

He also feels that having Raleigh there will allow him to see what he is really like, a drunkard who ‘reeks of whisky’ and is angry and stressed all the time. He doesn’t want word to get back to Madge what he truly is out there, the fact that war changes people; she wouldn’t understand therefore he feels she would run away from him. He hates the fact that Raleigh still ‘worships him’ in a prep-school kind of way, he doesn’t want that during a war, he doesn’t like the fact that he now has responsibility for a boy who he has a personal connection with to see him like this.

He also feels bad for this innocent young boy to see the dramatic change in him, how he isn’t really a school hero anymore, ‘poor little devil’ he tells Osbourne. Young eyes, perhaps he feels, seeing and experiencing things he shouldn’t see and as a result doesn’t understand. War is a serious thing, a big boys thing, there is no room for first names or school hero’s out there, as he tells Raleigh ‘‘Don’t Dennis me! Stanhope’s my name! You’re not at school any more.‘

Stanhope feels that he has changed so much since he’s been in the war, he doesn’t want a boy who saw what he was like before to see him now. To learn what has happened to him and to start to realize what is going on. That scares Stanhope, as a result he is cold and harsh towards Raleigh. Keeping him away for his benefit, to try to still see him as one of his men and nothing more, because if Raleigh died how would he cope.