Journey's End" is set in a British officers trench located in Quentin (France)

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Luke Langlands                          Journey’s End

Intro

In this essay, I will attempt to discuss the changes and development in the ongoing and differing relationship between Raleigh and Stanhope. I will pay particular attention to character movement and speech, sound, lighting and audience reaction.

Robert Cedric Sherriff was born on June 6, 1896, in Hampton Wick, England. After attending grammar school at Kingston on Thames, Sherriff worked in his father's insurance business until he entered the army to serve as captain in the 9th East Surrey Regiment in World War I. He was wounded at Passchendaele.

Sherriff was an English playwright and screenwriter is best known for his World War I play Journey's End, an account of life in the trenches on the Western Front. Sherriff’s other most famous novel and film scripts were Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1936) and Odd Man Out (1945).

Summary

“Journey’s End” is set in a British officers trench located in Quentin (France) during World War One, and is based on the author's own experiences of the Front Line. The play portrays the life lived by Lieutenant Trotter, Osborne, Stanhope and Raleigh. After being in the front line commanding a company for 3 years, Lieutenant Stanhope’s nerves are a wreck. He is a 21 year-old drunk that is adored by his Men. When Raleigh, a boy who has just left school uses family connections to get into the same company as his “old friend”, Stanhope remembers what he used to be before enrolling: athletic, smart, jovial and happy. Fearing Raleigh will be disgusted with what he has become, and write back to his sister (Whom Stanhope is in love with), Stanhope begins to hate and loathe Raleigh, with apparently no reason. Screaming at Raleigh and trying to censor his letters becomes the norm in the dugout.

With an offensive from the “Boche” expected, British forces attempt to fend of the German troops off. During the attack, Raleigh is hit in the back with shrapnel. Here we see a much more gentle Stanhope, almost weeping as he lovingly cares for the dieing Raleigh. This is why the relationship between Stanhope and Raleigh is so intriguing, with this sudden change of emotion in Stanhope.

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Socio-historical

World War One lasted through the years 1914 – 1918. It involved two alliances – The Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) and The Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy). With every great super-power in Europe all becoming more and more politically hostile with each other, and arming themselves more and more, World War One was a time bomb waiting to explode. When Austria-Hungary Archduke Franz Ferdinand was on an official visit to the recently claimed Serbia, a collective of people opposing Austria’s presence in Serbia assassinated him. Austria-Hungary, being distraught, blamed Serbia, who denied all knowledge, whom, ...

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