There is no real tension in the play’s opening few pages, but with the introduction of Raleigh; the new boy in the company comes the first area of real tension, upon his first encounter with Stanhope. Raleigh is anticipating their first meeting with great expectations, but this is not what he receives. Stanhope introduces himself with a special glee in his voice, but when Raleigh removes himself from the shadows, there is a slight pause and the glee that Stanhope once spoke with quickly vanished and his voice changed, for the worse. But even before he has noticed that his new under study is Raleigh he demands a bottle of whiskey, much to the misfortune of Raleigh as he begins to see what the war has turned Stanhope into. From the moment they met in the trench until the moment they become deceased Stanhope has a major cloud over his head, in the fact that when Raleigh decides to write home, he may tell his sister about the new Stanhope. The fact that Stanhope used to be unable to drink any form of alcohol only crops up later on in the play, when he has a drunken conversation with Osborne.
Upon Raleigh’s decision to write home and inform his family how he is coping with life on the front line, is where Sherriff brings in his next area of a tension filled play. It is impossible to predict what he will or would have written as it is not revealed until later on in the play, Sherriff leaves a number of avenue’s of thought open for his audience but gives no hint as which one to take. The only hint given as to which way to go, is when Sherriff takes the tension to another level, Raleigh enquires what he is to do about writing home, Stanhope informs him of what to do and then adds a new rule which was the fact that all letters were to be read by the companies commander in chief. Raleigh stutters and tells Stanhope “that it no longer matters, he will not be writing home.” Of course Raleigh’s refusal to write home, even though the letter was clutched in his fist, for everybody to see, sends Stanhope and Sherriff’s audience down the road that he has written all the bad things he has seen in Stanhope since his arrival in the trench. That was the last straw for an already tipsy Stanhope, as he rises to his feet and scream’s at Raleigh to hand the letter over to him, even though Raleigh claimed there was nothing written in the letter about Stanhope. The letter is taken from Raleigh by Stanhope and given orders to leave the room, in the description given by Sherriff, the audience is left with no doubt that Raleigh is gravely disappointed with the man he once saw as his hero. When the letter is torn open by Stanhope, he breaks down and says he is unable to read the words that may have been spoken, so Osborne offers to read it to him. Both Stanhope and the tension are relieved when Osborne informs him, that there is nothing but his good side written about, how he is said to be the finest officer in the battalion, by far the hardest worker and how proud he is to be known as one of Stanhope’s best friends. After the completion of the passage, the lowered heads can only point to one ting and that is pure and utter shame upon Stanhope and he begins to look at himself in a different light from that point onwards.
The next feeling of real tension only involves Stanhope and the want away officer Hibbert. Hibbert claims to be suffering from an in diagnosable disease called Neuralgia. The play makes you think that Hibbert is making it up about him having contracted the disease, as he has spoken of his discontent of not being allowed sick leave. When Hibbert moans about his sickness to Stanhope, he dismisses it without thought and says it nothing. Hibbert thinks that he has a good chance of getting away from the war as one officer has been sent home with the same disease, but no matter how hard he pressed he was still told ‘No.’ The subject of Hibbert and his ‘disease’ is dropped and only returned to when the big attack is nearing it’s date. Stanhope and Hibbert are left alone and Hibbert re-opens the subject and begins to get into hysterics, and also begins to lose his temper with Stanhope. But the tension has yet to reach it’s peak and only does so when Stanhope shows him that he is willing to shoot him, but instead he gives him half a minute to decide whether to stay and fight, with his dignity in tact or desert and die and Hibbert becomes so angry ad frustrated that he lashes out at Stanhope and hits him across the face. Stanhope then threatens to have a Court Marshall put in place but does Hibbert a deal, he says “if you stay and fight I will not bring in a Court Marshall, your half a second is up. What will it be?” There is no need for the answer to be written in words for the play, the choice is made and Hibbert stays. The tension is only eased once Hibbert breaks down in Stanhope’s arms.
Although we have reached the highest level we reach in words of tension, Sherriff still manages to find more room in this play for, yet again more tension. This is of course, the raid of a German trench. Raleigh and Osborne lead the attack with ten other officers from their battalion. We come across a conversation between the Colonel and Stanhope, but the Colonel seems less than interested in the men’s safety as he sees the raid as just a game. After the conversation is over, we have a real moment of huge pressure and of course the tension, this is the last few minutes before that big event in a person’s life that they are really fired up and burning inside to do. Raleigh asks Osborne for the time and it is time to go. They stage directions say ’as they walk up and into the trenches, with the pale evening sun leaving just a silhouette of their bodies.’ There is no description of the raid, which is a very vital moment in the play, and is done to keep the audience on the edge of their seats and guessing as to what will happen next. Six men and ‘Uncle’ died in the raid but this is only found out once the Colonel has remembered the regiment’s name and how many were in the raiding party. The tension ends instantly and with no hesitation the celebrations began.
Celebrations fill the immediate aftermath, but without doubt the tension rises when Raleigh refuses to eat or drink any sort of substance. The reason for this is because Osborne has just died in the raid and he feels like nobody around him cares. Another factor in his decision is the fact that he is very inexperienced and young at heart, and nothing like this has ever happened before to him. Raleigh is order to leave by Stanhope, after and argument in which Stanhope without realising begins to shout at Raleigh for not enjoying himself, but Raleigh then begins to accuse Stanhope of not caring about the fact that one of his closest friends has just died, and he has not been happy with Raleigh being there from the very beginning, Stanhope struggles to find his breath and the order is blared at Raleigh with no hesitation, which cancels out the tension that was in the room.
The big attack is upon the battalion and Hibbert once again is resenting the fact that he has to go up into the trench and fight. He has a very pale and unwell complexion at this point, but tries to remove the fact of the attack by drinking glasses of water. He is one of the last men to reach the trench front as the sound of shells get increasingly louder and closer, but during the talk between Stanhope and himself, he comes round to the idea and walks up the stairs into the trench for the last time with a petit smile upon his brightening face.
The title Journeys end only leads to one conclusion, the end of life’s journey. The tension never really left the play, and we are always reminded of it through the fact that there is a war on during the whole play. There is only one set for the whole play and that is the dugout where all of the acts and scenes take place. The tension embedded itself into the play and never leaves the story, but it only bubbles to the surface every so often. It is an excellently written play, as Sherriff manages to stitch tension, pathos and also the odd bit of humour into the play without, it ever getting to complex to understand.
