75 lashes for Dobbs
You MUST watch Sharpe's Eagle in which Dobbs gets 75 lashes by a cruel Colonel for fainting due to heat and exhaustion while marching in Spain. Only the last few lashes are shown - 3 drumbeats followed by the crack of the whip - only in two brief close-ups do we really hear the whip crack. Dobbs is a handsome, young soldier. He is biting down on a leather strap to stifle his cries. He takes his punishment bravely, unfair and whimsical as it was. Lieutenant Sharpe (played by Sean Bean) arrives on the scene towards the end of the flogging and looks on disapprovingly. After the 75 lashes have been administered, the drum major announces, "75 sir!" The Colonel and another officer (who had earlier advised him against the flogging) look down from their horses approvingly. Sharpe then unfastens the poor, brave, young soldier, and holds him in his arms from behind, supporting him, lavishing him with his fatherly love and concern. He then tells Harper to give him the 50/50 treatment (half a pint? of rum in his mouth and half over his welted back). Harper takes him in his arms, holds him in the most fatherly fashion, and tells the soldier: "You're going to be all right son... you're going to be all right". He then proceeds to administer to this brave, young, handsome soldier the Sharpe's special 50/50 treatment. In a later scene,we see Dobbs in full uniform as the troops are being addressed by Sharpe. He seems none the worse for the flogging...
In addition to the lashing and the circumstances surrounding Dobbs' flogging in Sharpe's Eagle there was something else which really made my heart melt. It was when Lieutenant Sharpe came upon the scene with that look of concern on his face and later cut the soldier down from the flogging triangle and then held Bates in his arms in the most loving, touching, caring, and paternalistic way. He then orders the "50/50" treatment and hands him over to Harper who says to him "You're going to be all right, son; you're going to be all right". Harper then holds him in a paternalistic way and pours some rum down his throat and then bends him over and has another soldier pour some rum over his back. To me, the attention lavished on this soldier is very touching and one of the BEST displays of male bonding I have seen in my life. I would gladly suffer such a flogging just to have that kind of care and attention lavished on me afterwards - a nice, formal, military flogging, with 3 taps of the drum between each lash and my comrades and the officers all standing and watching as the whip cracks on my back. (...although I have to admit that the Colonel (or whatever he is) who ordered the flogging has some very serious issues and some of the "gentleman" officers are extremely snooty and stand-offish).
THE ABOVE SCENE HAS A VERY PROFOUND SIGNIFICANCE FOR ME. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT MAN TO MAN CP. IT'S ABOUT TAKING YOUR PUNISHMENT LIKE A MAN IN FRONT OF YOUR COMRADES AND NOT SHAMING YOUR REGIMENT. IT'S ABOUT MALE BONDING. IT I SEE MYSELF IN DOBBS' PLACE, TAKING A PUNISHMENT MADE FOR MEN, BY MEN. THIS IS A SCENE WHICH TOUCHES THE VERY DEPTHS OF MY HEART AND SOUL.
It would be worth it to take such a flogging just for the attention from Sharpe!