Shakespeare

Totally agree. he was a worthless tool, who had plenty of chances to BECOME noble, but failed at every turn.

Hate that guy.

I suppose the undying unwillingness to kill overrides the fact that those men got killed because he didn't act fast enough?

And I suppose the thing with Tate had to do with redemption? But having said that that would work better if he'd killed someone unnecasserily at the beginning of the movie, then his unwillingness to kill makes more sense. So likewise the second time Tate is trapped it makes more sense to the story and to the character for him to just save Tate. I felt really let down by the storyline when he let Tate get killed, to be honest.

JESSIE There, now I can change my ID as often as I damn well please.

Do you really think it's that easy to kill a person? Especially one you know? Somehow I doubt you've ever been there.

Yes, Shakespeare left Tate to die at the beginning. He was 16 and under heavy fire. He should never have been there in the first place. I think he can be forgiven.

He didn't think Quinn would actually kill Tate (Quinn did appear to be having doubts at that point) or that Bradford would actually kill Fairweather. You have to remember that the trench was doing strange things to these men. Neither of them were likely to kill their comrades normally, even Quinn, who was evidently proud to be a killer. It was not a normal situation. It is not easy to shoot your friends. It's not even easy to shoot an enemy at short range. Killing is not something that comes naturally to the vast majority of people.

"First, he left Tate to die, hung up on barbed wire near the beginning of the movie."

He's a 16 year old kid. He's scared to death as guns and bombs are going off all around him and fellow soldiers are dropping like flies. He knows he will probably be dead any second. Understandably, saving Tait would have been the very last thing on his mind.

"Second, he has a chance later in the movie to save Tate. When Quinn and Tate are fighting Tate gets (yet again) hung up on barbed wire as Quinn is about to brain him. Shakespeare draws a bead on Quinn but waits until after Quinn has already brained Tate to shhot him."

Can you fault a 16 year old kid for having reluctance to kill? Suddenly, we are all born murderers or what? Unlike the other soldiers who lost their humanity in the war, Shakespeare still had it intact and that's why it was hard for him to shoot his fellow men.

Shakespeare was indeed a noble character in the film. Its true that he was unable to save any of fellow soldiers but that's only because he didn't want to kill any of his own men to save anyone. However his mercy towards the POW turned out to be the focal point of the movie in the end. To be able to see a POW as a fellow human being is what set him apart in the end.

He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither ~ B. Franklin