Throughout the extract, we discover the realities of war as well as the loss of innocence through the character Stanhope as Hardy and Osborne have a discussion about his drinking.
Firstly, Hardy asks Osborne 'How is the dear young boy? Drinking like a fish, as usual?'. Here, we can see Stanhope's innocence as Hardy refers to him as a 'young boy', showing
Stanhope is younger than himself and therefore he may think of Stanhope as innocent because he hasn't experienced as much as himself in life, so he still has a lot to learn. Hardy also calls Stanhope 'dear' which could show Stanhope to be unstable, though he's under stress for example, and in this situation Hardy is referring to the effect war has had on him, leading him to 'drink like a fish'. However, Osborne is the only character so far in the play to show true understanding for to why Stanhope drinks like he does. The other men, such as Hardy, know why he drinks but without taking notice or caring about the full extent, instead they treat him as entertainment, which is shown when Osborne says 'I suppose it amused everybody; I suppose everybody cheered him on' and referring to Stanhope as a 'freak show exhibit' showing in the reality of war, the men were bored a lot of the time so had to find something entertaining to do, so they 'cheered him on'. It could also show, it was usual for the men to see others become affected by war, such as them having to drink to be able to cope.
Also, Sherriff presents the character of Osborne as wise and considerate. He says to Hardy 'everybody thought it was a big thing to do. [There was a pause.] Didn't they?'. Sherriff uses the dramatic pause here, to present Osborne trying to manipulate Hardy's thoughts, he is trying to show Hardy the real meaning to Stanhope's drinking, to present how everyone else reacted to him drinking wasn't a good thing. He asks 'didn't they' as a rhetorical question, to get Hardy thinking to try and understand how Stanhope was affected by this, as Hardy takes Stanhope's drinking as a joke, but Osborne understands the deeper meaning as he has witnessed the horrors of war on men.
Hardy says '[laughing]; Imagine Stanhope spending his leave in a country vicarage sipping tea! He spent his last leave in Paris, didn't he?', throughout this extract we see Osborne trying to give Hardy understanding towards Stanhope, but still we see him take Stanhope as a joke, as he is 'laughing' as he makes a joke of Stanhope going home on his leave. Sherriff shows Osborne to reply with a short sentence as just 'yes', showing him may be becoming annoyed with Hardy's remarks as he still doesn't understand the point he's trying to make. Also, Osborne responded like this to show to Hardy he isn't impressed by the comment he made because he respects Stanhope and doesn't think it is right to be making such remarks. Sherriff is showing here, not just the pressure of war the men had at this time, but also the pressure they received from home to make their families proud. This is something Stanhope can no longer do, he went to Paris on his leave because he knew he could not go home as he wants to keep his father proud, the last time his father had seen him was when he won an MC award, and now he's resulted to drink to be able to cope with war, something which would put his family in shame. This, therefore is why Osborne does not appreciate Hardy's comment and portrays it as being disrespectful.
Lastly, Hardy cuts in to Osborne when he talks about how hard Stanhope works by saying 'oh, I know; he's a splendid chap', showing he is missing the point of empathy Osborne is trying to make him feel, presenting to the audience Hardy, like most of society at that time doesn't understand the emotional effects war has on people, that they should just have to put up with it to protect their country. Also, Sherriff could be presenting Hardy's loss of innocence as war could have made him loose his empathy for others so now he doesn't understand how other people are feeling, or how it is they have to cope because of the pressures of war.
No comments:
Post a Comment