Osborne

1. Osborne

2. Lieutenant Osborne. Osborne's relationships with his fellow officers: • He has a very strong relationship with Stanhope, Osborne is used to show Stanhope's reverse (softer) side. Come across as some sort of father figure to keep him in the straight and narrow. • Throughout the play he tries to make Raleigh realise that it is not a heroic gesture to sign up for the war and to die in such a tragic way. • To the other men he is a father figure as he is the oldest in the company and they also address him as ‘uncle’

3. Relationship with Stanhope. He is second in command to Stanhope, he may be a little more intelligent than him since he was a teacher, but he has little to non-experience compared to Stanhope and believes that wholeheartedly. Osborne is also portrayed as a trust worthy and level-headed. Osborne acts as a mentor helping him to cope with the strain of the war. Osborne expresses his feelings towards Stanhope. He seems to think that Stanhope is an exceptional soldier and no one would be better at the job than him.

4. Relationship with Raleigh. In some aspects Osborne also mentors Raleigh, as when he first enters the war he seems to think it is heroic and brave to be sent to war. This makes us see how naïve that Raleigh is and Osborne is used to help Raleigh to understand the true horrors of war. They have a close relationship in the short time they’re together, after talking about home life they figure they live rather close to each other and have similar interests. Osborne also dies fighting alongside with Raleigh which finally makes him realise the horrors of war.

5. Osborne at the age of 45 wouldn’t have been recruited but would have volunteered off his own back, this increases the audiences respect for him. As most men would have avoided going if they was not already forced. The stage directions also imply that Osborne is "physically as hard as nails” this may be because he once played rugby for England. Osborne is contrasted with Hardy, his humour is less rude, for example, so we come to like and trust him immediately.

6. Home life. Osborne talks a lot about his home life and his family, he does this to distract himself and relate to something he loves and enjoys. He reads a book in the play called ‘Alice's adventures in wonderland’ this illustrates that he is distracting himself from the horrors of the war with a childhood book, which comforts him.

7. The raid. In the play Osborne and Raleigh are preparing for the raid; to collect a German soldier, to gather information. As they are sat round the table Raleigh is very keen and exited to be personally picked to take part in the raid, whereas Osborne is not as confident as he has seen the consequences first hand. He tries to distract Raleigh from talking about the raid by talking about life at home and such. As they leave for the raid Osborne leaves behind his wedding ring and a letter for his wife. This is because he has the worst intentions for the outcome of the raid.

8. "You'll find the other officers call me uncle" Shows how kind and dependable Osborne can be. “Think of it all as – as romantic. It helps.” "You keen on gardening" Trying to talk about something else rather than war is common throughout the play. "Dear old Uncle, tuck me up" Says Stanhope to Osborne - their relationship is almost father to son at times. "You know you mustn't expect to find him quite the same" Osborne kindly warns Raleigh so he doesn't get a shock when he meets Stanhope. "You don't think I'm going potty?" Asks Stanhope to Osborne which again shows how much Stanhope trusts Osborne. “I remember up at Wipers … our fellows stood up and carried the man back and the German officer fired some lights for them to see by … Next day we blew each other’s trenches to blazes.” Shows the contrast of war. You don’t know him as I do; I love that fellow. Id go to hell with him.