To try and make Stanhope feel better Osborne says to Stanhope that it is just a bit of nerve strain at the moment and also Osborne try’s to comfort Stanhope by saying that when people are actually going potty they don’t talk about it, but Osborne is wrong because when people are going potty they sometimes do talk about it.
The second aspect of Stanhope’s character comes when Raleigh wants to send a letter home to his family but Stanhope won’t let him send it directly. Stanhope says that he has to read it first to see if it meets his approval. Obviously Raleigh doesn’t want Stanhope to read it because it is personal but Stanhope says it is an order and he snatches it off Raleigh. Raleigh then walks off. Stanhope is very paranoid about Raleigh’s letter because Stanhope doesn’t want Raleigh to say anything bad about him. This is because Raleigh’s sister and Stanhope almost got engaged before the war and Stanhope doesn’t want Raleigh to say to his sister what a drunken man Stanhope is, because this will probably make Stanhope go even more potty knowing that Raleigh’s sister doesn’t like him anymore.
When Stanhope opens the letter he finds he is too scared to read it so he gets Osborne to read it. The letter says all good things about Stanhope and the trenches and it says what a good and nice man that Stanhope is.
Due to the actions that Stanhope took to read the letter he becomes embarrassed about his own behaviour and he thinks that he hasn’t done his job as he was supposed to do.
The final aspect of Stanhope’s character comes when Hibbert comes to talk to Stanhope. Hibbert comes to tell Stanhope that he has neuralgia and that he wants to go to a hospital to get treatment but Stanhope tells him that he can’t go. After a lot of arguing between the two men, Hibbert strikes Stanhope. Usually Hibbert would be sentenced to death, but Stanhope is more than a man just to let Hibbert go. Stanhope then pulls out his revolver and he says he will shoot him if Hibbert tried to leave the trench. Hibbert new that Stanhope would shoot because he was a man of his word. Stanhope gave Hibbert 30 seconds to decide what he was going to do. After the 30 seconds Hibbert was still there but he broke down and started crying.
Stanhope tells Hibbert that he is in the same condition as him and this morally lifts Hibbert and so Stanhope coaxs’ Hibbert into staying in the trenches with the other men.
One of the things that Stanhope says so Hibbert is that ‘if you go, will you be able to look yourself in the mirror and not see yourself as a coward.’ ‘If you stay you may get shot a die or you may life until the end of the war and then you will be able to go home to your family knowing that you fought like a real man.
Stanhope’s three aspects were that deep down inside of him Stanhope is just as scared as the next man and although Stanhope is a high commander he still makes mistakes and is able to embarrass himself and also Stanhope knows how to make men out of boys.
