 According to Barczewski, he goes some way towards an assessment of Scott "free from the baggage of earlier interpretations".What has happened to Scott's reputation, Crane argues, derives from the way the world has changed since the "hopeless heroism and obscene waste" of the First World War.At the time of Scott's death, people clutched at the proof he gave that the qualities that once made Britain great were not extinct, but with the knowledge of what lay only two years ahead, the ideals of duty, self-sacrifice, discipline, patriotism and hierarchy associated with his tragedy take on a different and more sinister colouring.