Although Osborne and Hardy are seen arguing, their encounter begins and ends with light discussion and humour. They discuss matters such as the strength of the water, wet socks and other disadvantages due to the war that they will have the same opinion on and can unite against. They do this because both men know that being in this position there is no room for fights or making enemies between allies. Even though Hardy and Osborne disagree on many subjects Hardy still recognises his qualities.
‘you ought to be commanding this company…what a dear level-headed old thing you are’.
The other officers and the way they communicate with him continuously reinforce the opinion that Osborne is a genuine friend. They often refer to him as ‘Uncle’ and only as ‘Sir’ in front of the men, which shows him to be quite relaxed about his position. His close relationship with Stanhope is quickly recognised by the audience, but then he takes young Raleigh under his wing as a newcomer and really displays his kindness and qualities as a friend.
Like most upper-class men at that time Osborne still had some sense of feeling superior over the working class like Trotter and Mason. Trotter, after being inspired by a patch of sunlight, describes to Osborne his garden in the summer time and ‘the ‘ite of the ‘olly’ock’ that grew there one year. Osborne is then found with Stanhope discussing how Trotter, being from the working class, has ‘no imagination’ and how he must feel how they do when they are ‘drowsily drunk’. Although these opinions would lower the audiences’ opinion of him nowadays it was an acceptable and reasonable thought to have had then. As long as he was seen as still being good-natured and pleasant towards these men then he was still popular in the audiences’ eyes.
Whilst Osborne continues to show his compassionate features, when trying to settle Raleigh into the trenches and reminiscing with Trotter, it is revealed that he was a schoolmaster before the war. It is also found that Osborne was refereeing ‘rugger’ at his school, playing for the Harlequins and had once played for England.
Osborne discuss’ his family with Stanhope, playing tin-soldiers with his two young sons and spending time with his wife in the garden. Having displayed these aspects of his life he is seen also as a sportsman, an intellect and a husband and father, as well as a friend to the men around him.
One more point to be noted is that Osborne is in his early forties. Hardy comments that Stanhope is nearly twenty-one and that Osborne is ‘twice his age’. This means that being older than forty-one he had enlisted by choice. Not only is Osborne portrayed as a man who would be an asset to any community, but he also was selfless enough to voluntarily give up the life he worked so hard for.
After exposing the audience to this valuable man Sherriff could utilise the closeness that the audience develops with him to show his views on the waste of life during the First World War. Having given Osborne so many admirable qualities his death is not just titled ‘Soldier of the Great War’ but it is treated as a real and close tragedy. Sherriff could finally show the ignorant public at home his beliefs and what their loved ones had really died for, and they were horrified.
