| Sharpe |
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| Richard Sharpe was born in the late 1770s, the son of a whore. He spend his childhood in orphanages and workhouses, fighting, stealing and cheating to stay alive. When he killed a man to defend a friend, Sharpe became a fugitive from the law. And, like thousands of others before him, he joined the army. He enlisted in the 33rd Regiment; serving in India - spending three months as a prisoner of the Tippoo Sultan before escaping and killing his captors, and then getting posted to Portugal at the beginning of the Penninsular War. During the long hard winter of |
| Intro: |
| 1808-1809, Sharpe was one of a small group of riflemen cut off from the rearguard of Sir John Moore's army in the retreat of Coruna. He was later part of a stronger, better equipped force which returned to drive Napoleon's forces from Spain. It was then that fate took a hand in his advancement. Sharpe saved Wellington's life earning promotion and regular work as his troubleshooter. |
| The army is Sharpe's world. He abides by his harsh rules, but if those same rules conflict with natural justice, he is prepared to break them. Although he loves the army for its values of honor and decency, he also hates it for allowing the wealthy and the well-born to buy their way to power and influence over better men. |
| Sharpe's innate sense of justice often gets him into trouble, notably in India, where he reported a sardistic sergeant - Obadiah Hakeswill - for torturing a man, and ended up being accused of the atrocity himself. |
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| Sharpe, Harper and Hakeswill |
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| Wellington |
| Sharpe's first command is of a small group of riflemen in the 95th known as The Choosen Men. Initially he comes down hard on them for their sloppy conduct and shabby appearance but learns a less authoritarian approach from Commedante Therasa, the Spanish partisan, leading by example rather then ruling by force. Theresa also teaches Sharpe to love and despite frequent |
| partings and the constant fear to losing each other to a bullet or knife, they devolep an enduring relationship and have a daughter, Antonia. |
| With Theresa, Sharpe can reveal his vulnerable side, but in public he is moody and in frequent conflict with his superios. His manner, his proud insistence on wearing the uniform of a rifleman rather than that of an officer, and the scars of his flogging mean that he is sometimes taken for an ordinary soldier. It's a mistake people do not make twice. They quikly learn that Sharpe was not born to his commission, nor did he buy it. He earned it. And a man raised from the ranks is a force to be reckoned with. |
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