Sharpe Novels by Bernard Cornwell - Some Random Reading Notes (here be spoilers)
.
I always have lots of thoughts about the books as I'm reading them, but unlike the episodes, where I can just pause the film and make a note, I don't read at the computer and I never think to have a notepad to hand. But from now on I'm going to try to make some notes here when I remember, because I love the books and I want to understand what it is Bernard does over the course of the novels to develop the character of Sharpe emotionally and as an officer. (I think the two are probably the same as regards his professional life; I'm not entirely convinced he ever matures emotionally as regards women. Which is why he's better off with Pat lol. Pat understands that Sharpe needs looking after, and is very willing to do that.)
# # # # #
Sharpe's Tiger - Bernard Cornwell teasing Sharpe/Lawford
Our first introduction to the idea
Sharpe was in the leading rank of the final half-company and Lieutenant Lawford, glancing at him, thought once again what a fine-looking man Sharpe was."
Later in the book
~ ~ ~
Sharpe: "You want to pass me that oil bottle?"
Lawford obliged, then settled back against the stone water trough in which Shape had washed the tunics. He felt strangely content, despite the apparent failure of his mission. There was a pleasure in sharing this intimacy with Sharpe, indeed it felt oddly like a privilege.
~ ~ ~
Ah, the old "mention an oil bottle, that'll get'em imagining things, especially if you get the word 'intimacy' in there as well" trope.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Rifles - Bernard Cornwell literally wrote Sharpe/Harper, submission #3841.
At the end of the scene where Harper finally accepts the Sergeant's stripes from Sharpe, Cornwell writes this:
“Like strange dogs meeting they had growled at each other, made a rough peace, and now kept a cautious distance.”
But what else do strange dogs do when they meet each other? They sniff each other's arses, that's what. And in case you think that’s too subtle to be a plausible reading, take a look at the notes below on horse colours in Sharpe's Waterloo. This man does imagery, big-time.
Then later, after Louise Parker turns down Sharpe’s offer of marriage, Harper says this:
~ ~ ~
"He'll fall in love with anything in a petticoat. I've seen his type before. Got the sense of a half-witted sheep when it comes to women. It's a good job he's got me to look after him now.
‘You!’ says Hagman.
‘I can handle him,’ says Harper.”
~ ~ ~
(I do wish they’d filmed this scene. I’d love to have seen Harper’s gentle blush and shy smile of acknowledgement at this point.)
And once these two have committed to each other, they're really committed:
“As the bayonets were drawn, Sharpe looked around for Harper, but the Irishman was still nowhere to be seen.”
Bear in mind for a moment that over the past several chapters, various random unnamed riflemen under Sharpe’s command have died without Sharpe apparently taking any notice. But when he sees Harper still alive and well, this is what we’re told:
“ ‘Jesus Christ! I thought I'd lost you!’ Sharpe's relief at Harper's survival was heartfelt.”
# # # # #
Sharpe's Battle - I noticed a couple of examples of clever writing - foreshadowing, paying off, whatever:
Runciman talks about having a purpose in the army but he hasn't found it yet. Hogan says Runciman was born for this moment and this purpose (losing his career and reputation to keep Lisbon and Cadiz happy).
Sharpe says he "can't stand bloody children crying" (admittedly he's under a lot of pressure at the time), and then at the end of the book when the surgeon is taking a bullet out of his shoulder the surgeon says "Stop whining like a damned child, for Christ's sake. I never could stand whining bloody children."
Transcript fics from the books are difficult because Cornwell doesn't tell the reader everything that Sharpe knows. For example in Battle Sharpe knows from the moment Wellington allows Runciman to take the Real Compañía Irlandesa into battle that he's off the hook for the court of inquiry, but the reader doesn't learn that until Runciman tells Sharpe later.
And in Regiment Sharpe sleeps with Lucille for the first time during a thunderstorm but the reader isn't given any clue to that until xx months afterwards [details]
Also this book has surprising amounts of possible Sharpe/Arthur - so much so that I was prompted to write a story around it (A Conflict Of Interests)
ETA: A bit of Sharpe/Harper: I recently wrote (in Reflections) that some of the things Sergeant Harper did for Sharpe while they were in the army (put up his tent, bring his food or his tea, organise his laundry) came pretty close to functioning as the servant that Sharpe couldn’t afford and wouldn’t feel comfortable with, and I wrote in Watching, Waiting, Wanting that the men were used to Harper disappearing at odd moments to go and check that Sharpe was all right so I was amused to see both of these when I read the end of Battle last night:
~ ~ ~
“Harper had just appeared at the church doorway and was holding up a bottle to show that there was some consolation waiting when Sharpe's bullet was extracted.
Sharpe ... joined Harper outside the church ... They wandered through an encampment smeared with the smoke of cooking fires ... Sharpe and Harper walked further from the village.”
~ ~ ~
Cornwell says (in Company, I think) that Sharpe and Harper don’t socialise off duty, the difference in rank making that impossible, but what else are they doing here? These two are simply ascloseasthis, and while Cornwell doesn’t make a big deal of it, he shows it quite often. And I’m here for it.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Company - Several examples of how it really doesn't take a lot of squinting through slash-goggles to work out that Harper is a lot more to Sharpe than just his Sergeant. (Warning - explicit blood and violence)
When Sharpe and Harper go through the breach and are almost the first men into Badajoz:
"Harper leaped the wall built behind the breaches. A man cowered here, pleading, but the axe dropped and Harper's lips were drawn back around his teeth and he was sobbing an anger at the city. There were more men ahead, blue-uniformed, and he ran at them, the axe circling, and Sharpe was there, and they killed because so many were dead, so much blood, an army had nearly died, and these were the bastards who had jeered at it. Blood and more blood. An account to be balanced with a ditch full of blood. Badajoz."
A whole paragraph of emotion and violence from Pat's point of view and suddenly, right in the middle of it, "and Sharpe was there". That's all, and Cornwell presents it as being as significant as everything else that was going on.
...
~ ~ ~
"Sharpe sobbed in rage as he ripped again and again, thrusting down at the gunner, ripping him, mutilating the bastard, and then the giant hands gripped him. 'Sir!' Harper shook him. 'Sir!'.
'Christ!'
'Sir!' The hands pulled on Sharpe's shoulders, turning him.
'Christ.'
'Sir!' Harper slapped him. 'Sir.'
...
Harper had recovered first, the axe shattered in a killing strike, and he had watched in awe as Sharpe had killed. Now he quieted Sharpe, soothed him, and watched the sense come back even as the madness climbed up the city streets."
~ ~ ~
Does a normal Sergeant shake, and even slap, his officer? Not unless he wants to be shot for striking an officer, he doesn't.
Does a Sergeant normally "quiet and soothe" his officer? I think not. Tbh I'm finding it difficult to imagine anything that might qualify as quieting and soothing that doesn't also involve holding and stroking.
Earlier in the book, Harper is to be flogged in the morning and Sharpe sits up all night drinking with him, "...sharing a friendship that rarely had a chance to be expressed or defined." (And I can't see that sentence without reading it as a paraphrase of "the love that dare not speak its name".)
Harper calls him Sir only once in several pages of dialogue, and also tells him affectionately "You're just a foot soldier like the rest of us."
Harper says he wants to volunteer for the Forlorn Hope and Sharpe refuses to put his name forward.
" 'You keeping it for yourself?' The words were spoken harshly. Sharpe turned and looked at the big man. There was no point in denial.
'How did you know?'
Harper laughed. 'How long have I been with you? Mary, Mother of God, do you think I'm a fool? You lose your Captaincy and what will you do? You'll go screaming up some bloody breach with your sword waving because you'd rather be dead than lose your bloody pride.'
Sharpe knew it was true."
'How long have I been with you?' Not 'How long have we worked together?' or 'How long have I been your Sergeant?' Very, very personal.
One more from Company, again from the night before Harper's flogging, again showing Harper's determination to be close to Sharpe - Harper asks questions until Sharpe admits he's thinking of applying to return to the 95th, and Harper says, "By God, I'll not stay on here without you. I'll go back to the Rifles with you. You need someone sensible near you." So sweet.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Honour - Lots of emotion between the two of them when Sharpe finally turns up in the middle of a battle. Bring in the actual quotes.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Siege - One of the things that really stands out for me in this book is the way Sharpe is always the last to safety. He's the last out of the fort, the last across the beach, the last into the water. He never even gets in the boat, just hangs on behind, and he's the last of the rescued men to board Killick's ship.
And what's so powerful about this is that we don't see him thinking about it. There's no standing there nobly deciding it's his duty to go last, no wistfully watching everyone else scrambling to safety(*) while he's still in danger. It's simply presented as fact. This is who he is.
And half the time it's clear that Harper, who he's just sent away for his own safety, is waiting specifically for him, to help him to safety if he needs it. And half the time it's as if Harper doesn't exist - he simply doesn't get mentioned for pages.
~ ~ ~
" 'Back! Back! Back!' Sharpe pushed his men away."
"Sharpe waited, standing in one of the embrasures with his sword drawn. Harper came to his side but Sharpe snarled at him to go. The French charged [but found only] the one officer, sword drawn, whose face was like death. That face checked them for a few seconds, enough to let Sharpe's men scramble towards the sea's edge. Then Sharpe turned and jumped."
" 'Break ranks!' Sharpe shouted it. 'Go!' He stayed as rearguard."
~ ~ ~
(*) It feels ridiculous to even mention this as a possibility. It just isn't.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Revenge - I've just finished re-reading Sharpe's Revenge for the first time in years - certainly the first time since watching the series - and I am literally sobbing at the parting of Sharpe and Harper on the quay at Calais. Literally. Sobbing.
I knew they'd be parting, of course, but if I've ever read that scene before then I have to admit that the huge emotions in it completely passed me by.
I've picked out some of the key lines below. They're standing on the quay at Calais, and Harper is about to take ship for Spain to collect Isabella (called Ramona in the tv series) while Sharpe will ride back to Normandy and Lucille.
~ ~ ~
"I don't know what to say, Patrick."
"Nor me, sir," Harper spoke softly, "but we've had some good times, sir, so we have."
They fell silent. "If you're ever in Normandy?" Sharpe suggested.
"Of course, sir. And if you ever take yourself to Donegal..."
"Of course I'll come. You know I'll come."
...it was time for Harper to leave. He looked at Sharpe and neither man could find anything to say. They had marched all the soldiers' miles together, and now their ways parted.
Sharpe tried to say what he felt, but it would not come, so he gave his friend an embrace instead. "Look after yourself, Patrick."
...the last passengers broke from their farewell embraces and hurried towards the gangplank. Sharpe gripped Harper's hands. "I'll miss you, Patrick. You were an awkward bugger, but by God I'll miss you."
"Aye." Harper could not find the proper words either, so he just shrugged. "God bless you, sir. I'll come and find you, sir, if you don't come and find me."
Harper turned and walked away...he waved once, but then Sharpe turned away so that the parting would not be prolonged.
~ ~ ~
I've written previously that in the context of these two, skin to skin is practically a metaphor for soul to soul and infinite love. And that holding hands, in Western culture at least, is one of the first steps to publicly displaying intimacy. And I think having done that analysis of their relationship, based on a scene in Peril, made this scene have even more impact on me.
I also like the way this scene is written so firmly in Sharpe's viewpoint. If you didn't know Waterloo was coming, this scene, and the description of Sharpe's thoughts as he gets ready to ride to Normandy, totally read like the end of the series. Because he thinks it is.
~ ~ ~
Another small Sharpe/Harper snippet, this one more by omission than commission: there's a scene where it's just Sharpe and Frederickson, talking about life and love, and Frederickson describes paying his money at a fair to see a remarkably ugly woman. He ends up by saying "It would be like going to bed with Sergeant Harper." And then Bernard writes this:
"Frederickson grimaced. Sharpe smiled."
Frederickson has an automatic shudder of revulsion. Sharpe explicitly does not, lol.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Waterloo: - Masterful use of imagery here. Description of Napoleon's horse, leading to the Book of Revelation.
We see the newly-returned Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte outside an inn as his troops march past on their way to re-take the northern lands. His horse is tied up nearby.
The first reference is to his "white saddle horse" : "And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." [Revelation 6:2]. Perhaps by the fact that Napoleon is explicitly shown to be not seated on his horse at that moment, Cornwell is undermining the rest of the line as well, showing that although he has certainly gone forth conquering, he will not conquer. But it comes damn close, just the same as he is sitting close to his horse.
The second reference is to "the Emperor's pale horse" : "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." [Revelation 6:8]. We could well say that Death is, metaphorically, sat on the horse, and certainly death and hell follow with him. He brings them again to a world only recently brought to peace.
So many images called up with clever use of words.
~ ~ ~
He's a Lt-Colonel, a senior staff officer personally chosen by Slender Billy yet he doesn't have a proper billet - he's sleeping out in the stable with Harper. [after Rebecque offers him uniforms from a trunk in his bedroom - check the date]
Author's Choices: It seems to me that Bernard Cornwell chose to write the Battle of Waterloo, occasionally featuring Sharpe, rather than Sharpe at the Battle of Waterloo. To get enough Sharpe content in the book - and actually I don't think there is quite enough Sharpe content - he had to give Sharpe the freedom to be anywhere at all during the entire period of the campaign, from Napoleon's troops first crossing the border into Belgium to the very end where Wellington's troops pursue the French army off the field.
It would have been very plausible for Sharpe to have rejoined the South Essex in his previous position - senior Major. He couldn't be Colonel, because that would involve paying for the position. But if he had done that, he would have been fixed in place with the Regiment for the entire period. So Sharpe can't rejoin the South Essex, and to cement that, Cornwell gave the South Essex an inexperienced and insecure Colonel who brought with him his own Majors and would not be comfortable with the renowned and notorious Major Sharpe breathing down his neck.
By giving Sharpe to the Prince of Orange, Cornwell allows him to be present at various high-level meetings, to give us the overview of the battle and the army deployments. The nature of Sharpe compared to the Prince of Orange gives Sharpe the freedom to ride the countryside widely and describe for us the build-up from the first crossing of the border, all the way through the stand-off at Quatre Bras, the Duchess of Richmond's Ball, the defence of Quatre Bras and the retreat to Waterloo. Then finally the battle itself, where again Sharpe has complete freedom to move about the battlefield, be involved at Hougoumont and La Haye Saint and finally - when it's all down to fighting off the Old Guard - Cornwell allows him to pick up his old Regiment and to the job he's been growing into for years, and do it excellently. To lead the South Essex against the Old Guard, to overcome and triumph.
Just before Sharpe almost literally picks up the South Essex, we see him and Harper talking to Lt Doggett.
Waterloo - when Sharpe's talking to Doggett about fighting with them. We see Sharpe thinking about tactics etc and Harper is all "just kill as many as you can". He has no thoughts at all of actually influencing events whereas Sharpe does. Sharpe sees the South Essex about to break and then we move outside his thoughts to omniscient and effectively see things from the point of view of the soldiers of the battalion.
# # # # #
I always have lots of thoughts about the books as I'm reading them, but unlike the episodes, where I can just pause the film and make a note, I don't read at the computer and I never think to have a notepad to hand. But from now on I'm going to try to make some notes here when I remember, because I love the books and I want to understand what it is Bernard does over the course of the novels to develop the character of Sharpe emotionally and as an officer. (I think the two are probably the same as regards his professional life; I'm not entirely convinced he ever matures emotionally as regards women. Which is why he's better off with Pat lol. Pat understands that Sharpe needs looking after, and is very willing to do that.)
# # # # #
Sharpe's Tiger - Bernard Cornwell teasing Sharpe/Lawford
Our first introduction to the idea
Sharpe was in the leading rank of the final half-company and Lieutenant Lawford, glancing at him, thought once again what a fine-looking man Sharpe was."
Later in the book
~ ~ ~
Sharpe: "You want to pass me that oil bottle?"
Lawford obliged, then settled back against the stone water trough in which Shape had washed the tunics. He felt strangely content, despite the apparent failure of his mission. There was a pleasure in sharing this intimacy with Sharpe, indeed it felt oddly like a privilege.
~ ~ ~
Ah, the old "mention an oil bottle, that'll get'em imagining things, especially if you get the word 'intimacy' in there as well" trope.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Rifles - Bernard Cornwell literally wrote Sharpe/Harper, submission #3841.
At the end of the scene where Harper finally accepts the Sergeant's stripes from Sharpe, Cornwell writes this:
“Like strange dogs meeting they had growled at each other, made a rough peace, and now kept a cautious distance.”
But what else do strange dogs do when they meet each other? They sniff each other's arses, that's what. And in case you think that’s too subtle to be a plausible reading, take a look at the notes below on horse colours in Sharpe's Waterloo. This man does imagery, big-time.
Then later, after Louise Parker turns down Sharpe’s offer of marriage, Harper says this:
~ ~ ~
"He'll fall in love with anything in a petticoat. I've seen his type before. Got the sense of a half-witted sheep when it comes to women. It's a good job he's got me to look after him now.
‘You!’ says Hagman.
‘I can handle him,’ says Harper.”
~ ~ ~
(I do wish they’d filmed this scene. I’d love to have seen Harper’s gentle blush and shy smile of acknowledgement at this point.)
And once these two have committed to each other, they're really committed:
“As the bayonets were drawn, Sharpe looked around for Harper, but the Irishman was still nowhere to be seen.”
Bear in mind for a moment that over the past several chapters, various random unnamed riflemen under Sharpe’s command have died without Sharpe apparently taking any notice. But when he sees Harper still alive and well, this is what we’re told:
“ ‘Jesus Christ! I thought I'd lost you!’ Sharpe's relief at Harper's survival was heartfelt.”
# # # # #
Sharpe's Battle - I noticed a couple of examples of clever writing - foreshadowing, paying off, whatever:
Runciman talks about having a purpose in the army but he hasn't found it yet. Hogan says Runciman was born for this moment and this purpose (losing his career and reputation to keep Lisbon and Cadiz happy).
Sharpe says he "can't stand bloody children crying" (admittedly he's under a lot of pressure at the time), and then at the end of the book when the surgeon is taking a bullet out of his shoulder the surgeon says "Stop whining like a damned child, for Christ's sake. I never could stand whining bloody children."
Transcript fics from the books are difficult because Cornwell doesn't tell the reader everything that Sharpe knows. For example in Battle Sharpe knows from the moment Wellington allows Runciman to take the Real Compañía Irlandesa into battle that he's off the hook for the court of inquiry, but the reader doesn't learn that until Runciman tells Sharpe later.
And in Regiment Sharpe sleeps with Lucille for the first time during a thunderstorm but the reader isn't given any clue to that until xx months afterwards [details]
Also this book has surprising amounts of possible Sharpe/Arthur - so much so that I was prompted to write a story around it (A Conflict Of Interests)
ETA: A bit of Sharpe/Harper: I recently wrote (in Reflections) that some of the things Sergeant Harper did for Sharpe while they were in the army (put up his tent, bring his food or his tea, organise his laundry) came pretty close to functioning as the servant that Sharpe couldn’t afford and wouldn’t feel comfortable with, and I wrote in Watching, Waiting, Wanting that the men were used to Harper disappearing at odd moments to go and check that Sharpe was all right so I was amused to see both of these when I read the end of Battle last night:
~ ~ ~
“Harper had just appeared at the church doorway and was holding up a bottle to show that there was some consolation waiting when Sharpe's bullet was extracted.
Sharpe ... joined Harper outside the church ... They wandered through an encampment smeared with the smoke of cooking fires ... Sharpe and Harper walked further from the village.”
~ ~ ~
Cornwell says (in Company, I think) that Sharpe and Harper don’t socialise off duty, the difference in rank making that impossible, but what else are they doing here? These two are simply ascloseasthis, and while Cornwell doesn’t make a big deal of it, he shows it quite often. And I’m here for it.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Company - Several examples of how it really doesn't take a lot of squinting through slash-goggles to work out that Harper is a lot more to Sharpe than just his Sergeant. (Warning - explicit blood and violence)
When Sharpe and Harper go through the breach and are almost the first men into Badajoz:
"Harper leaped the wall built behind the breaches. A man cowered here, pleading, but the axe dropped and Harper's lips were drawn back around his teeth and he was sobbing an anger at the city. There were more men ahead, blue-uniformed, and he ran at them, the axe circling, and Sharpe was there, and they killed because so many were dead, so much blood, an army had nearly died, and these were the bastards who had jeered at it. Blood and more blood. An account to be balanced with a ditch full of blood. Badajoz."
A whole paragraph of emotion and violence from Pat's point of view and suddenly, right in the middle of it, "and Sharpe was there". That's all, and Cornwell presents it as being as significant as everything else that was going on.
...
~ ~ ~
"Sharpe sobbed in rage as he ripped again and again, thrusting down at the gunner, ripping him, mutilating the bastard, and then the giant hands gripped him. 'Sir!' Harper shook him. 'Sir!'.
'Christ!'
'Sir!' The hands pulled on Sharpe's shoulders, turning him.
'Christ.'
'Sir!' Harper slapped him. 'Sir.'
...
Harper had recovered first, the axe shattered in a killing strike, and he had watched in awe as Sharpe had killed. Now he quieted Sharpe, soothed him, and watched the sense come back even as the madness climbed up the city streets."
~ ~ ~
Does a normal Sergeant shake, and even slap, his officer? Not unless he wants to be shot for striking an officer, he doesn't.
Does a Sergeant normally "quiet and soothe" his officer? I think not. Tbh I'm finding it difficult to imagine anything that might qualify as quieting and soothing that doesn't also involve holding and stroking.
Earlier in the book, Harper is to be flogged in the morning and Sharpe sits up all night drinking with him, "...sharing a friendship that rarely had a chance to be expressed or defined." (And I can't see that sentence without reading it as a paraphrase of "the love that dare not speak its name".)
Harper calls him Sir only once in several pages of dialogue, and also tells him affectionately "You're just a foot soldier like the rest of us."
Harper says he wants to volunteer for the Forlorn Hope and Sharpe refuses to put his name forward.
" 'You keeping it for yourself?' The words were spoken harshly. Sharpe turned and looked at the big man. There was no point in denial.
'How did you know?'
Harper laughed. 'How long have I been with you? Mary, Mother of God, do you think I'm a fool? You lose your Captaincy and what will you do? You'll go screaming up some bloody breach with your sword waving because you'd rather be dead than lose your bloody pride.'
Sharpe knew it was true."
'How long have I been with you?' Not 'How long have we worked together?' or 'How long have I been your Sergeant?' Very, very personal.
One more from Company, again from the night before Harper's flogging, again showing Harper's determination to be close to Sharpe - Harper asks questions until Sharpe admits he's thinking of applying to return to the 95th, and Harper says, "By God, I'll not stay on here without you. I'll go back to the Rifles with you. You need someone sensible near you." So sweet.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Honour - Lots of emotion between the two of them when Sharpe finally turns up in the middle of a battle. Bring in the actual quotes.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Siege - One of the things that really stands out for me in this book is the way Sharpe is always the last to safety. He's the last out of the fort, the last across the beach, the last into the water. He never even gets in the boat, just hangs on behind, and he's the last of the rescued men to board Killick's ship.
And what's so powerful about this is that we don't see him thinking about it. There's no standing there nobly deciding it's his duty to go last, no wistfully watching everyone else scrambling to safety(*) while he's still in danger. It's simply presented as fact. This is who he is.
And half the time it's clear that Harper, who he's just sent away for his own safety, is waiting specifically for him, to help him to safety if he needs it. And half the time it's as if Harper doesn't exist - he simply doesn't get mentioned for pages.
~ ~ ~
" 'Back! Back! Back!' Sharpe pushed his men away."
"Sharpe waited, standing in one of the embrasures with his sword drawn. Harper came to his side but Sharpe snarled at him to go. The French charged [but found only] the one officer, sword drawn, whose face was like death. That face checked them for a few seconds, enough to let Sharpe's men scramble towards the sea's edge. Then Sharpe turned and jumped."
" 'Break ranks!' Sharpe shouted it. 'Go!' He stayed as rearguard."
~ ~ ~
(*) It feels ridiculous to even mention this as a possibility. It just isn't.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Revenge - I've just finished re-reading Sharpe's Revenge for the first time in years - certainly the first time since watching the series - and I am literally sobbing at the parting of Sharpe and Harper on the quay at Calais. Literally. Sobbing.
I knew they'd be parting, of course, but if I've ever read that scene before then I have to admit that the huge emotions in it completely passed me by.
I've picked out some of the key lines below. They're standing on the quay at Calais, and Harper is about to take ship for Spain to collect Isabella (called Ramona in the tv series) while Sharpe will ride back to Normandy and Lucille.
~ ~ ~
"I don't know what to say, Patrick."
"Nor me, sir," Harper spoke softly, "but we've had some good times, sir, so we have."
They fell silent. "If you're ever in Normandy?" Sharpe suggested.
"Of course, sir. And if you ever take yourself to Donegal..."
"Of course I'll come. You know I'll come."
...it was time for Harper to leave. He looked at Sharpe and neither man could find anything to say. They had marched all the soldiers' miles together, and now their ways parted.
Sharpe tried to say what he felt, but it would not come, so he gave his friend an embrace instead. "Look after yourself, Patrick."
...the last passengers broke from their farewell embraces and hurried towards the gangplank. Sharpe gripped Harper's hands. "I'll miss you, Patrick. You were an awkward bugger, but by God I'll miss you."
"Aye." Harper could not find the proper words either, so he just shrugged. "God bless you, sir. I'll come and find you, sir, if you don't come and find me."
Harper turned and walked away...he waved once, but then Sharpe turned away so that the parting would not be prolonged.
~ ~ ~
I've written previously that in the context of these two, skin to skin is practically a metaphor for soul to soul and infinite love. And that holding hands, in Western culture at least, is one of the first steps to publicly displaying intimacy. And I think having done that analysis of their relationship, based on a scene in Peril, made this scene have even more impact on me.
I also like the way this scene is written so firmly in Sharpe's viewpoint. If you didn't know Waterloo was coming, this scene, and the description of Sharpe's thoughts as he gets ready to ride to Normandy, totally read like the end of the series. Because he thinks it is.
~ ~ ~
Another small Sharpe/Harper snippet, this one more by omission than commission: there's a scene where it's just Sharpe and Frederickson, talking about life and love, and Frederickson describes paying his money at a fair to see a remarkably ugly woman. He ends up by saying "It would be like going to bed with Sergeant Harper." And then Bernard writes this:
"Frederickson grimaced. Sharpe smiled."
Frederickson has an automatic shudder of revulsion. Sharpe explicitly does not, lol.
# # # # #
Sharpe's Waterloo: - Masterful use of imagery here. Description of Napoleon's horse, leading to the Book of Revelation.
We see the newly-returned Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte outside an inn as his troops march past on their way to re-take the northern lands. His horse is tied up nearby.
The first reference is to his "white saddle horse" : "And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." [Revelation 6:2]. Perhaps by the fact that Napoleon is explicitly shown to be not seated on his horse at that moment, Cornwell is undermining the rest of the line as well, showing that although he has certainly gone forth conquering, he will not conquer. But it comes damn close, just the same as he is sitting close to his horse.
The second reference is to "the Emperor's pale horse" : "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." [Revelation 6:8]. We could well say that Death is, metaphorically, sat on the horse, and certainly death and hell follow with him. He brings them again to a world only recently brought to peace.
So many images called up with clever use of words.
~ ~ ~
He's a Lt-Colonel, a senior staff officer personally chosen by Slender Billy yet he doesn't have a proper billet - he's sleeping out in the stable with Harper. [after Rebecque offers him uniforms from a trunk in his bedroom - check the date]
Author's Choices: It seems to me that Bernard Cornwell chose to write the Battle of Waterloo, occasionally featuring Sharpe, rather than Sharpe at the Battle of Waterloo. To get enough Sharpe content in the book - and actually I don't think there is quite enough Sharpe content - he had to give Sharpe the freedom to be anywhere at all during the entire period of the campaign, from Napoleon's troops first crossing the border into Belgium to the very end where Wellington's troops pursue the French army off the field.
It would have been very plausible for Sharpe to have rejoined the South Essex in his previous position - senior Major. He couldn't be Colonel, because that would involve paying for the position. But if he had done that, he would have been fixed in place with the Regiment for the entire period. So Sharpe can't rejoin the South Essex, and to cement that, Cornwell gave the South Essex an inexperienced and insecure Colonel who brought with him his own Majors and would not be comfortable with the renowned and notorious Major Sharpe breathing down his neck.
By giving Sharpe to the Prince of Orange, Cornwell allows him to be present at various high-level meetings, to give us the overview of the battle and the army deployments. The nature of Sharpe compared to the Prince of Orange gives Sharpe the freedom to ride the countryside widely and describe for us the build-up from the first crossing of the border, all the way through the stand-off at Quatre Bras, the Duchess of Richmond's Ball, the defence of Quatre Bras and the retreat to Waterloo. Then finally the battle itself, where again Sharpe has complete freedom to move about the battlefield, be involved at Hougoumont and La Haye Saint and finally - when it's all down to fighting off the Old Guard - Cornwell allows him to pick up his old Regiment and to the job he's been growing into for years, and do it excellently. To lead the South Essex against the Old Guard, to overcome and triumph.
Just before Sharpe almost literally picks up the South Essex, we see him and Harper talking to Lt Doggett.
Waterloo - when Sharpe's talking to Doggett about fighting with them. We see Sharpe thinking about tactics etc and Harper is all "just kill as many as you can". He has no thoughts at all of actually influencing events whereas Sharpe does. Sharpe sees the South Essex about to break and then we move outside his thoughts to omniscient and effectively see things from the point of view of the soldiers of the battalion.
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