Harry Brighton - Characterisation

Characterisation

Brighton was considered by director David Lean to be "the only honourable character in the film", while actor Anthony Quayle thought Brighton was an idiot. Robert Bolt interpreted the character as "stand(ing) for the half-admiring, half appalled disturbance raised by Lawrence in minds quite wedded to the admirable and inadequate code of English decency". Whatever intentions Lean, Quayle, and Bolt had regarding the character, both interpretations can be read into the character.

In the early scenes at Feisal's camp, Brighton comes across as a stuffy, conventional British officer. He is disgusted by the somewhat effeminate Lawrence and seems to hold the Arabs in contempt. His insistence on "discipline" show him to be an inflexible regular army man, although in this scene he shows some hint of flexibility by expressing interest in Lawrence's proposed guerrilla strategy.

However, Brighton gradually becomes respectful towards Lawrence, frequently expressing admiration towards him and even defending him to Allenby, Dryden and others. Unlike Lawrence's other superiors, who simply wish to manipulate him, Brighton genuinely admires Lawrence.

It is clear that Brighton does have a strong sense of honour, as evidenced by his disgust with the Arab practice of desertion and his arguments with Ali and Auda. His distaste towards Allenby's "hands-off" approach towards the collapse of the Arab Council, the British betrayal of the Arabs, and the disrespectful and cold treatment of Lawrence by his superiors leads him to storm out of the conference room abruptly.

A similar character appears in Terence Rattigan's Lawrence-themed play Ross, in the form of Colonel Barrington, although Barrington maintains his contempt throughout the whole of the play, feeling Lawrence to be an unfeeling, soulless brute.