Stanhope: Character analysis

Stanhope is an exceptional soldier, "I love that fellow. I'd

go to hell with him." This encourages us to sympathise
with Stanhope despite him having bad aspects such as
him "drinking like a fish". However we later learn that the
only reason he drinks is to stop thinking about the war and
for him to be "the best company commander " everyone
expects him to be.
Stanhope has varying emotions and behaviour when
around different men in the company ,for instance, he is
on edge when around Raleigh being company
commander yet at the same time trying to fool him into a
false sense of security about his demeanour. Although he
has been subjected to a role with numerous
responsibilities he still acts youthful around Osborne
referring to him as "uncle" even though Stanhope is his
superior .The way in which he acts between these to
characters completely contradict even though Osborne
and Raleigh ,military wise , hold the same stature and
deserve the same amount of respect. This emphases his
instability and highlights how broken and war hardened he
is .
In conclusion Stanhope is a well working and reliable
solider even with his alcoholism and differentiating respect
for numerous different men throughout the company,
treating some like friends and others like foe.
by Jake Haines 10J