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I don't exactly know the background of this story, but a common way to save yourself the disgrace of defeat or surrender (at least, as far as Shakespeare would leave us to believe) was to have a friend stab you. This could be accomplished either by them sticking the blade into you, or by you running into the blade.
This may be staged, but the bodily reactions of the man on the right feel very real. Who knows who he was, or why he chose this; why his friend chose not to, or why he chose to help at all.
I'll post a few more.
