Journeys end gcse coursework

Journey’s End

Journeys end is a play set in the First World War when trenches where the choice of defense that everyone choose to use to go to war.

The author of this play is called R C Sheriff; who was an officer in the First World War in the East Surrey Regiment, and was wounded in the battle of Passchedaele in 1917. This play was written based upon his real life experiences during the war- mirroring the way he and his comrades lived and fought.

I intend to explore three characters from this play and show how they cope with the situation they are in. The three characters that I have chosen are:

Osborne
Stanhope
Hibbert

I have chosen these three characters because the way they cope with situations of grief or worry is very normal and would probably happen in real life. Sherriff show’s how that each of these people copes with the war by referring closely to the text and explaining how he gets these men across to his audience.

My first point I will make is at the start of the play about Osborne. The scene is when the last officer (Hardy) is just about to leave and he and Osborne are having a talk about some supplies and essentials that Osborne should know about. They then talk about how a bomb landed on the men’s dugout whilst they were having some tea. Osborne then makes a remark that shows that he is trying to hide the fear and pain “I know there’s nothing worse than dirt in your tea”. Just by using this sentence you can see that he is trying block out what those men must have felt like when that bomb hit and all the suffering that must have taken place. Sheriff has shown us that some people in that position try to block out and forget what happened so they don’t go crazy with fright. Raleigh (The New officer) has just come in and Osborne has just greeted this stranger with a warm hearted “Hullo” which says that he is trying not to display his real deep down inside feelings this is another good example of how someone is trying not to show emotion. Not showing emotion can quickly get you promoted to an officer.

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My second point is about how Osborne reads books to take up some of the time, he is reading “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland” which is a children’s book, this makes Trotter laugh and think Osborne is a bit sad, but his smile stops when Osborne says “Haven’t you read it yet” Sheriff shows us that Osborne is trying to get rid of time by reading or occupying himself so he doesn’t have to think about what is going on out in the cold death plains of the trenches. Sheriff has created a character who occupies himself so as he can’t go crazy with grief and fright. In reply to this Trotter says in a scornful voice “NO”. Osborne again tries changing the subject so they can try and forget about this raid they are about to do on the Bosche, Osborne talks about where he lives to change the subject, which is another example of Osborne trying to pass time and not think about what might happen soon. Here in this stage of the play is when Osborne dies whilst the raid is taking place.

The next character I will be doing will be Stanhope, who does not appear right at the beginning, but little later on. The first big point on Stanhope is that he drinks to forget, so in the end he doesn’t remember all the suffering that went on that day, which to him is a good thing. Being the commanding officer of the company is hard and Stanhope can do it only when he is doped up on alcohol, “If I went up those steps – without being doped up on whisky I’d go mad with fright” It is a big responsibility and he gets lots of respect from his company. Stanhope drinks to forget things that happen this is a really big point as Sheriff has created a character whose way of dealing with war is to drink. Sheriff has created a character who thinks it is alright to drink and encourages it, he has just had a big argument with Hibbert and starts pouring a drink of whisky “Go on. Drink it. Another example for this is when the raid has taken place and was successful, but as a result Osborne died. This has a huge effect on most of the officers, Raleigh mostly, but the other officers have champagne and good food. Raleigh doesn’t understand why so Stanhope explains and this tells us he drinks to forget so do other officers. “To forget you little fool. D’you understand, to forget”. This tells us that Stanhope knows that he drinks and admits he is an alcoholic but says it is a good thing to drink because you can forget what happens in the trenches and all the killing that you have seen happening all around you. The next point is that Stanhope always needs everything to be perfect, an example of this is when Stanhope is talking to the Colonel, he tries to get Raleigh out of the raid by making an excuse, but when the colonel suggests they send men from another company Stanhope quickly says “Oh, lord, no. We’ll do it. Sheriff shows us that there were some people in the war who made everything perfect just so they can use up some time

My next character will be on Hibbert. At the beginning of the play Hibbert is not really well known as he is quiet and not very sociable. This is mainly because he is very scared of being up in the trenches. Sheriff has created a character in his play that wants to go home and not take part in the war, the first way in which he tries to hint that he is sick at the beginning. “It’s this beastly neuralgia. It seams to be right inside this eye”. This shows us that Hibbert is the sort of person who doesn’t care about anyone but himself; he is selfish and most likely was spoilt when he was younger. This character is trying to cope with the war by trying to go sick or even go home. He doesn’t care for anyone and an example of this is when Stanhope and Hibbert are having an argument about if he should go down sick. Stanhope has different plans and knows that Hibbert is scared so he tries to help him. It results in Hibbert hitting Stanhope trying to get out and go to the doctors. Stanhope could punish him, “God! – You little swine. You know what that means – don’t you? Striking a superior officer! By saying this Sheriff shows us that striking a superior is quite serious and leads to being shot. This scene ends in Hibbert being really stubborn and nearly gets himself shot, but Stanhope changes mood and calmly says “Stay here old chap, see it through”. Hibbert eventually gets some more courage and goes up into the line.

By the end of this play, Osborne and Raleigh have been killed but Stanhope lives. The deaths of Raleigh and Osborne show that war is indiscriminate, and death can occur at anytime to anyone, regardless of age or experience. Raleigh is a young, inexperienced newcomer ready for anything, and Osborne is an experienced senior officer, but they both die within a few days.

Journeys End shows the effects of the war on the men involved very realistically. It paints a clear picture in the reader's mind of what it was like in the trenches, and how the men were affected by battle.

Michael Ratcliffe