Explain the ways in which R.C. Sheriff conveys a sense of the horror of war in Journey's End with detailed reference to three extracts from the play?
How could a film director enhance this sense of horror on screen?
Journey's end is the seventh and most famous play written by R.C. Sheriff in 1929. It is set in Saint Quentin, France, in 1918 and gives us a brief glimpse into the experienced of the officers of a British Army infantry company in World War One by showing us a mere six days in a dug out on the front line. The action centres around a twenty-one year old captain, Stanhope. Having spent nearly three years in the trenched without any significant leave, he has taken to drinking heavily to control his nerves and to ease the stress of trench warfare.
The play contains many different themes though the play, from death, to live and friendship, comradeship, class differences, and the scarring effects of war. The thing that interests me with this play is that is stays only on the single set of what is the dugouts. They are dark, underground rooms in where the officers of a British company eat, sleep and talk about the goings on outside. By being shown this so intimately, you the reader experience war and what the conditions were like. You are not faced with the usual heroic commander who saves the day, but instead there is Stanhope, a heavy drinker, badly effected by the three years of war. The play doesn't have any courageous battle scenes and huge explosions, a happy ending or a valiant death bed scene. Instead, the horrors of war are portrayed through the waiting and suspense of not knowing what was going to happen next and the way the characters would try to find security and comfort in any way possible.
Fear and cowardice is shown a lot amongst the British soldiers in this play, which is very different from the usual courageous soldiers, ready for battle. The authenticity of the play is what makes it original. It actually shows what really went on in the trenches.
During Act two, the audience experience one of the soldiers, Hibbert, attempting to escape the war before a raid by pretending he had neuralgia. By now in the play, the men are expecting an attack in about two days and as it draws closer, Hibbert is becoming more and more terrified. We are first introduced to Hibbert in the first act where he tries to hint towards a possible illness, but is quickly dismissed by Stanhope. In this scene, after much hinting to his supposed illness and unfortunately is not successful in convincing Stanhope he is ill, simply declares that he has to "go down" the line to a hospital. You can clearly tell though that Stanhope, a commander of three years, who has seen his sort of behaviour before and has regretted letting men go because they wanted to get out of going to war, certainly tries to throw off everything Hibbert is trying to say.
Hibbert: This neuralgia of mine. I'm awfully sorry. I'm afraid I can't stick it any longer -
Stanhope: I know, rotten, isn't it? I've hot it like hell -
Hibbert: (Taken aback) You have?
Stanhope clearly does not think that neuralgia is an excuse to go to hospital, and as said previously, he could not afford to loose any more men. Stanhope, instead of having to get into an argument, tries to dismiss Hibbert and his plans to escape by just commenting that he has the same problem as well, suggesting that whatever Hibbert is whining about isn't really that important to have to leave.
The character Hibbert is desperate to get out and go home because he knows that the raid is predicted ...
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Hibbert: (Taken aback) You have?
Stanhope clearly does not think that neuralgia is an excuse to go to hospital, and as said previously, he could not afford to loose any more men. Stanhope, instead of having to get into an argument, tries to dismiss Hibbert and his plans to escape by just commenting that he has the same problem as well, suggesting that whatever Hibbert is whining about isn't really that important to have to leave.
The character Hibbert is desperate to get out and go home because he knows that the raid is predicted to be near. It is not only the battle that is horrifying to him, but also having to wait for it and knowing that it's going to happen, and not being sure that you're going to come back alive. Hibbert should be stuttering, unsure of what to say or do because he seemed quite convinced that he would be able to leave, yet Stanhope is determined to make him stay. He should be inconsolable, trying to make more excuses as to why he should be sent home, almost pleadingly. Not really the profile of a war hero, to be honest.
The director could develop the horror of this scene on the screen by making the sounds of distant guns and explosions a but more prominent, almost as if Hibbert is getting more and more scared as the attack draws closer. The actor playing Hibbert should also be shorter and not as well built as Stanhope because Stanhope is more of an intimidating figure, who Hibbert both looks up and is afraid of.
Stanhope: Go down - Where?
Hibbert: Why, go sick - down the line. I must go into hospital to have some kind of treatment. There is silence for a moment. Stanhope is looking at Hibbert - till Hibbert turns away and walks towards his dugout. I'll go right along now, I think -
Stanhope: (Quietly) You're going to stay here.
Hibbert: I'm going to see the doctor. He'll send me to hospital where he understands -
Stanhope: I've seen the doctor. I saw him this morning. He won't send you to hospital, Hibbert; he'll send you back here. He promised me he would. There is a pause You can save yourself a walk.
Hibbert: fiercely What the hell-!
Here, Hibbert is getting worried. He was probably so sure that he would be allowed to go home that he was not prepared to be thrown off by Stanhope. He pretends that he cannot hear what Stanhope says at first and is quite reluctant to disobey Stanhope, yet his own fear shown in his words makes him try to almost ignore Stanhope until Stanhope explains to him that the doctor would just send him back, crushing his hopes. Hibbert ends up getting angry about it and the scene continues to where Hibbert almost is hysterically pleading to Stanhope to let him leave.
Hibbert: (Pleadingly) Stanhope - if only you knew how awful I feel - please let me go by -
The gaps in the dialogue shows Hibbert's desperation, how he is almost in tears. He is having to face the reality and not really believing that what he had been waiting for, for so long, is finally going to happen. Hibbert is panicked, as most men would be, scared for their lives and safety.
The scene continues to the point in where Hibbert refuses to stay and where Stanhope has to actually physically make Hibbert stay, in which turns into a fight. Stanhope tells Hibbert "If you went, I'll have you shot - for deserting. It's a hell of a disgrace - to die like that. I'd rather spare you the disgrace." Stanhope is warning Hibbert, testing his courage and loyalty. Deserting the army must have been a ignominy and looked down upon. Stanhope gives Hibbert half a minute to decide weather he'd stay and "try and be a man" or leave and he will shoot him, which Hibbert replies:
Hibbert: Go on, then, shoot! You won't let me go to hospital. I wear I'll never go into those trenches again. Shoot! - And thank God -
This must be a terrifying revelation. Hibbert is actually so afraid of going into war that he is actually considering giving up his own life to avoid it. Hibbert's tone when saying this line must be cocky and loud, as if he is trying to act like he doesn't care and as if accepting the fact Stanhope was going to shoot him was brave.
In the end, Stanhope does not shoot Hibbert and tries to convince Hibbert to see it through. Hibbert explains that ever since he came to war he's hated it, that every sound "up there" makes him cold and sick. He explains that he'd "rather die down here."
This shows the horror's of war because there is a lot of paranoia and things going on in Hibbert's mind that torture him. Going up in the trenches and the front line has become unbearable that the mere thought of having to go back up there makes him feel sick and want to die. Even the sounds up there make him feel uneasy. The director should direct this scene to be dramatic, to show the inner feelings of Hibbert, his desperation and grief, the dread of going to war.
In much of the play, we see how many of the men try to cope with and try to get their minds off the trauma of being in war so they do not go crazy like Hibbert does.
Osborne is seen as the "uncle" figure amongst the officers for his avuncular manner and Raliegh adopts him as a paternalistic persona. At one point in the play, Osborne is reading an extract from Lewis Caroll's Alice In Wonderland. Raliegh questions him as to why he is reading a children's book, but is seems that Osborne is comforting himself by trying to escape back to the times where he felt safe and secure in his childhood memories.
Before the extract from Alice In Wonderland, Raliegh and he were discussing the raid, shooting this in a film would involved lots of dramatic pauses with the characters trying to avoid eye contact, until Osborne quickly changes the subject to a less depressing one and reads more Alice In Wonderland.
Raliegh: I don't mean that. I - mean - I'm sorry to keep talking about the raid. It's so difficult to - to talk about anything else. I was just wandering - Will the Boche retaliate in any way after the raid?
Osborne: Bound to - a bit.
Raliegh: Shelling?
Osborne: "The time has come" The Walrus said
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes - of ships - of sealing wax -
Of cabbages and kings."
Raliegh, new to the war and only previously just joined is interested and even maybe excited about the raid. He is young, naïve and still unaffected by the horrors of war, whilst Osborne is and has been in the war for a number of years, showing a contrast between the two, how war effects people with time. This scene is where Osborne is showing his first sign of vulnerability in the play but taking comfort in childish things to remind him of innocence and a safe and secure environment. Raliegh tries to talk about the upcoming raid, and like Hibbert, Osborne probably cannot stand the thought of it and tries to change the subject immediately, not even inconspicuously or discreetly, but by just randomly quoting from Alice In Wonderland. This completely changes the subject to Raliegh's home town. The actors saying these lines should be quite awkward to each other when talking about the raid, avoiding eye contact and with low voices, and the lines from Alice In Wonderland should be almost haunting, not comforting at all.
As the conversation continues, Raliegh and Osborne talk about their home towns, it gets more and more mundane and boring, yet the two would do anything to busy themselves and avoid talking about the upcoming raid. Avoiding the subject of war is what the men do a lot in this play with the constant references of food and changes of the subject when the war is mentioned. It also becomes more thoughtful and deep as it becomes more prominent that the two characters are missing the home comforts that they are deprived of and are used to. This shows that the war is hard on them, and for the time they've been away, they miss the things they can't have in the dugouts. This is another privation of this play; the lack of certain possessions and things that the men are used to that they cannot have in the dug out, these being good food, comfort, sleep and even the company of women.
The deaths of the two most important characters in the play, Osborne, the parental figure, and Raliegh, the figure of innocence and naivety are extremely important, as are there effects on the main character, Stanhope.
The death of Osborne, a good friend of Stanhope's who from previous scenes we know that they are both very close...
Stanhope: Kiss me uncle!
...The atmosphere of the play darkens. Although after a somewhat successful raid, the men are treated with a good meal and some champagne, Stanhope, Trotter and Hibbert, seemingly celebrating, are actually deeply depressed by the death of Osborne and because of the drunkenness, the audience begin to the characters feelings towards the raid and the war it's self. The three begin to look at Hibbert's post cards of possible explicit photographs of women that just shows us their desire and craving for the company of women as they have been around men for so long, and just how lonely they all are.
Stanhope: Oh, for God's sake forget about the bloody raid. Think I want to talk about it?
Here, Stanhope retorts rudely towards Hibbert as the raid is mentioned. Stanhope before has never done this and because he is under the influence of many drinks, lashes out rather discourteously and using more explicit vocabulary that before, and the audience can tell that Stanhope would rather not remember the raid and the death of one of his closest friends, and copes with this all by what he usually does, drink and try to forget.
The relationship between Stanhope and Raliegh was never a smooth one. Raliegh often talks about their history, they attended the same school and Raliegh looks up to Stanhope. Stanhope was clearly uncomfortable about this because, because of the war, Stanhope has changed and has become a broken man with a drinking problem, and feels he is not that same role model to Raliegh that he used to be. Stanhope's attitude towards Raliegh gets even colder after the raid where Osborne dies.
When Raliegh goes into another attack nearing the end of the play, he comes back with a fatal injury to the back which paralyses him. He is with Stanhope in his dying moments, and for the first time in the play, is warming to Raliegh, is being comforting and showing a whole new side of himself.
Stanhope: It's bound to hurt, Jimmy
~
Stanhope: Steady, old boy. Just lie there quietly for a bit.
Stanhope here is calling Raliegh "Jimmy" and "Old Boy," showing that he cares for Raliegh really and is affectionate towards the young boy, even though he his relationship with him was not that great through the play. It could be the fact that Raliegh is the young, naïve character in which Stanhope almost feels responsible for him.
Even now, the character Raliegh is naïve which is moving for the story, and rather bittersweet.
Raliegh: I'll be better if I get up and walk about. It happened once before - I got kicked in just the same place at Rugger; it - it soon wore off. It - it just numbs you for a bit.
Raliegh here is comparing a small injury during rugby to a serious one. You can tell that this injury is actually nothing like his rugby injury by the way his voice is lowly draining and his having to pause a lot. Raliegh does this a lot in the play, talk about rugby and home and things like that, which just contrast how the men in the dug outs affected by war were and how Raliegh, new to war was. Raliegh, even now feels a certain duty towards the war. He comments that he "feels rotten lying down here when everyone else is up there." By now, Stanhope is desperately trying to comfort Raliegh hoping against hope that he would possibly survive his injury.
Another horror of war is that death is all around you, happening all the time, even to those you never though you could lose.
When Raliegh dies at the end of the play, Stanhope is left alone to face the rest of the war on his own. It makes you wander what happens to Stanhope now.
Alyssa Fallaria