Despite the audience’s high expectations, when Stanhope eventually appears on stage, he seems to physically fulfil all that would be expected of the romantic hero. He is ‘tall’ and ‘slimly built’, with ‘attractive features’; though ‘well cut and cared for’ his uniform has clearly seen much service, being ‘old and war-stained’. It does not indicate, therefore, the inexperience that Raleigh’s spotless uniform does. It is also apparent, as Osborne has said, that he has been badly affected by the war; there is ‘a pallor under his skin and dark shadows under his eyes’. His neat uniform and hair indicate he is a man of self-discipline, yet he is evidently not one who is immune to the horrors of war. Throughout the play Sherriff uses Trotter to provide a stark contrast to Stanhope, and this is immediately apparent, as Trotter is ‘red, fat and round’, with a tunic which ‘appears to be bursting at the waist’. His appearance would seem to support claims later made by Stanhope that Trotter is not affected by the war. Stanhope is clearly as fastidious about the trench’s tidiness as he is about his own, complaining outright about the ‘blasted mess those fellows left the trenches in […] it’s perfectly foul.’ However, the fact that his first call is for whisky, ‘damn the soup!’ it is clear that what Hardy said about him is true.
The tension comes to a head during Stanhope and Raleigh’s first; Stanhope is clearly greatly shocked to see Raleigh, as he ‘stares at Raleigh as though dazed’. Raleigh, who ‘takes a step forward, half raises his hand, then lets it drop to his side’ evidently expected a different reception; Stanhope, however, soon retreats back into his persona as Raleigh’s commanding officer, rather than the boy he knew at school. The first time he turns to Raleigh, Stanhope tells him he’d ‘better go on with [Trotter]—to learn.’ Though it has already been implied that Stanhope uses alcohol as a method of coping in the trenches, it would seem that he is anxious to keep his life in England and his life as a Captain separate; however, the reason for this is not explained until a later point. Through the rest of the scene Sherriff clearly establishes Stanhope as a confident and, presumably, talented leader; he is very different from Osborne’s wise and understanding ‘uncle’, threatening Mason with removal (‘I advise you never to leave it to anyone else again—unless you want to join your platoon out there’) over the lack of pepper in the soup. It is somewhat unclear whether this is merely caused by reaction to Raleigh’s presence—the extent to which it has disturbed Stanhope is again shown with the ‘forced gaity’ with which he orders the others to sit down—or is his usual attitude. Hardy’s quick exit at the start of the play, fearing Stanhope’s reaction to the state of the trenches, would indicate that he always has, as Osborne says to Raleigh, ‘a bit of a temper.’
Hibbert’s entrance introduces the audience to the conflict in the play between cowardice and heroism; Stanhope is unsympathetic towards his case of ‘neuralgia’, referring to him as a ‘another little worm trying to wriggle home’; the ‘another’ seems to reference his experience by suggesting that Stanhope has dealt with situations like the one with Hibbert many times before; he also refers to ‘let[ting] Warren get away like that’. Stanhope clearly resents what he sees as cowardice, and that Hibbert wants to get out safely rather than ‘tak[ing] an equal chance’ with the other men. His assumption that Hibbert is faking his illness and the vitriolic way he criticises him for doing so seem to indicate a cynicism and bitterness which is probably a result of his experience of war; this contrasts with Osborne’s more sympathetic comment ‘I wonder if he really is bad. He looks rotten.’ This contrast is again made in the characters’ very different reactions to Raleigh’s ‘hero worship’ of Stanhope—Osborne thinks it is ‘quite natural’, whereas Stanhope sneers at it, seeing it as something for ‘small boys at school’ only. Stanhope does not see himself as a hero, suggesting that the worship will only go on ‘as long as the hero’s a hero’, and implying he believes Raleigh will no longer admire him now he has seen how he has changed. He seems to see some of the cowardice he hates in himself, commenting that if he went out to fight ‘without being doped with whisky—I’d go mad with fright.’ It seems that Stanhope is ashamed of who he has become, and so refuses to go home, where Raleigh’s sister Madge is waiting for him—despite expecting that it ‘may not be much longer now’ before he is killed. Although he is ashamed of his drinking problem—which the audience witness first-hand in this scene, as he drinks through several glasses of whisky and becomes increasingly irrational in the process—he continues to do so because he believes he’d ‘go mad if [he] didn’t break the strain’. However, Stanhope fears that Raleigh is going to betray him by writing to Madge and telling her that he ‘reek[s] of whisky all day’. Towards the end of the scene Sherriff presents Stanhope in a negative light for the first time; he plans to abuse his power by reading Raleigh’s letters: ‘Censorship! I censor his letters—cross out all he says about me.’ His highly distressed state is clear from his frenzied and insistent words: ‘He’s a little prig. Wants to write home and tell Madge all about me. Well he won’t; d’you see, Uncle?’ As the audience learns of Stanhope’s plans to censor Raleigh’s letters to his sister tension is built; Osborne’s winding of his watch towards the end of the scene seems to suggest that the move towards an end is only a matter of time. Yet throughout the scene, the closeness of Stanhope’s relationship with Osborne is shown, both in the intensely personal fears Stanhope reveals to him and the way Osborne helps him into bed at the end of the scene. This prepares the audience for the sympathy they’ll feel for Stanhope upon Osborne’s death; for Stanhope, he is simultaneously a father figure and a confidant.
During Stanhope’s next appearance, in Act II, his abilities as a strategist and a leader are seen as he discusses the company’s ‘strong position’ and need to protect themselves against an imminent German attack. Sherriff presents the extent to which Stanhope is affected by the war; after seeing Trotter’s plan for counting off days, he comments that Trotter has ‘no imagination’. However, Stanhope clearly thinks having no imagination would be preferable to suffering as he does, as he says it must be ‘rather nice’. Although we have seen that Trotter is far more buoyant, and apparently unaffected by the horrors of war—having developed coping mechanisms, such as eating to excess and counting off the days on his plan—than Stanhope, Sherriff seems to suggest that this does not indicate any greater bravery on Trotter’s part, rather, that he is too unintelligent to suffer at all, as Stanhope does; he is always feels as Osborne and Stanhope do when they’re ‘drowsily drunk’. The conversation that follows, in which Stanhope discusses worms (as a metaphor for those ‘unburdened’ with imagination) and mentions ‘whenever I see anything nowadays’ seems to indicate Stanhope’s increased frailty of mind; it also seems likely that he sees the end coming. He is clearly affected by the tortuous passing of time, a theme brought up throughout the play by Sherriff, as he reflects on the ‘thousands of Germans, waiting and thinking.’ This observation could also be interpreted as presenting Stanhope as aware of the futility of war; he realises that the Germans, just a few yards forward, are behaving in a similar manner to themselves—it is possible he can see this strange behaviour as empty and meaningless. His comment to Osborne ‘did you see the sunrise? Wasn’t it gorgeous?’ juxtaposed against the image of the Germans could variously be interpreted as indicating that Stanhope can still appreciate the beauty of nature, or as a comment on the banality of their discussions about the weather—the beautiful sunrise does not foreshadow anything changing for the better. However, it is more obviously indicative of his mental decay—it leads both Osborne and the audience to believe he may be ‘going potty’, as Stanhope himself points out. This leads into the Sherriff showing the audience that his paranoia regarding Raleigh was not merely an effect of the whisky—Stanhope is adamant that he will censor the letters, and is convinced that Raleigh ‘looked at [him] as though [he] had hit him between the eyes.’
These comments build tension before the end of the scene, when the letter is finally revealed; the audience’s sympathy lies with Raleigh at this point, as he is clearly embarrassed and nervous, stammering protest against Stanhope’s insistence on reading his letter. Stanhope, meanwhile, is clearly presented as abusing his power at this point, bullying Raleigh and finally bringing rank to bear whilst shouting ‘Don’t ‘Dennis’ me! Stanhope’s my name! You’re not at school! Go and inspect your rifles!’ Although Stanhope’s suspicions and the build of tension would lead an audience to believe Raleigh discusses Stanhope’s alcoholism in the letter to his sister, it is clear to Raleigh after only a few days in Stanhope’s company that despite his this flaw, he is ‘the finest officer in the battalion, and the men simply love him’; others clearly do not see Stanhope as the broken man he sees himself. Knowing this, the audience becomes yet more sympathetic towards Raleigh and gain a more negative impression of Stanhope in retrospect. However, towards the end of the scene this fact only increases the tragedy; despite all his strong qualities, Stanhope has become mentally unstable because of life in the trenches; it would seem he himself realises how wrong he has been as he ‘sits with lowered head’ and does not move as Osborne reads out the letter to him.
However, Sherriff creates sympathy for Stanhope during his scene with the colonel, in which they discuss who should be sent on a raid which is almost certainly a suicide mission. We see Stanhope’s bravery, as he volunteers to be sent himself, asking ‘You want me to go with them, sir?’ The colonel is adamant that Raleigh and Osborne should be sent, and despite Stanhope’s protests—‘It’s rotten to send a fellow who’s only just arrived’—he is eventually resigned to the fact that he must follow orders and send his closest friend and his old school friend, whom he still seems to feel responsible for. Sherriff may have intended this to prevent an audience viewing Stanhope unsympathetically during the events which follow, as he threatens to ‘have [Hibbert] shot for deserting’ with characteristic harshness when he attempts to leave. However, Stanhope somewhat redeems himself during the rest of the scene, showing his leadership qualities—presumably as a result of seeing that Hibbert would rather be shot then and there then go up to the fight again. We see again the extent to which he is affected by the war as he tells Hibbert ‘I hate and loathe it all’. It seems that the reason Stanhope keeps on ‘sticking it’ is out of a sense of loyalty towards the members of his company, as he tells Hibbert ‘Don’t you know it’s worth standing in with men like that?’ It is clear that as well as because of his distaste for cowardice, the reason Stanhope has held on for so long is for his men; and though he must tell Osborne that he and Raleigh have to make the raid, the scene ends with him accompanying a terrified Hibbert up the steps, encouraging him ‘come on, my lad.’
Through Stanhope, Sherriff presents a character who is a real hero of war. Though Stanhope is undoubtedly flawed by alcoholism and mental decay, it is suggested throughout that the real hero is appreciates the horror of war yet does all he can for his fellow man; not the naive, eager Raleigh, or the oblivious Trotter. Yet in a play which is, overall, anti-war, even the hero cannot beat the odds; and, only two-thirds through the play, Sherriff has already made clear that, somehow, he will lose, as all those involved must.