Journey's End shows the horror of trench warfare in the First World War. R.C Sheriff
Journey's End essay by Sam Thacker "Journey's End" shows the horror of trench warfare in the First World War. R.C Sheriff knows about it because he was an officer in it and he presents a realistic picture of life in the trenches as he had known and seen it when he was in the war fighting. The issues raised by R.C Sheriff were that by 1928 soldiers were still disillusioned and traumatised by the war. It scarred the soldiers for life watching fellow men die when soldiers had to obey senseless orders to attack on the enemy even when the officers knew it was suicide. But if the men did not follow these orders they would be ashamed of themselves as another person does it for them and they have to live with humiliation. R.C Sheriff shows the dreadful conditions and the waste of lives in the trenches. Stanhope has a lot of strengths, which make him a very good company commander. Stanhope cares about his men and looks after them well. He takes care of the trenches and expects them to be in good condition and order. We know this when he is angry about the way Hardy left the trenches. Everybody respects Stanhope and he takes his fair share of work, he proves this when he says, " Hibbert can do from 2 till 4 and I'll go on from then till stand -to that'll be at 6". Stanhope is unselfish, thinks of others before himself and cares for Osborne. He proves this when he lets Osborne have
Asylum Seekers Play
For the past four weeks we have worked on our coursework 'Asylum Seekers' and how they obtained illegal access into 'England'. We will be performing various acts and a monolog in the first scene and following on with flash backs and freeze-frames. We will be looking at the harsh realities of the Afghanistan government (Taliban) there radical views and extremists laws, which oppress the people of Afghanistan. In this case we will be following the journey of Afghanistan's asylum seekers who want asylum in England but through discreet and illegal means. Asylum Seekers Scene 1. Amjad walks onto set stage with a chair at the front of the stage Amjad sits on the chair. Amjad: "I can't believe this has happened again, I don't even know if my brother is dead or alive how could it go all so wrong?" Amjad walks off stage. Enters Amjad (speaker), Imran (speaker), Ibrahim (executioner), Ali (executed), Rachel (executed wife), walks onto stage with chair as execution stand. Amjad: "GOOD MORNING AFGHANISTAN! Today we will be looking at an example to all our people" Imran: " For cutting his beard off! He shall pay the price of our laws" Amjad: "1,2 and 3 !" Imran: " Hang the outsider" The executed is finally executed at the hands of Ibrahim. Rachel: "No no no why? why? He didn't do anything" Amjad: "You question our law? 20 lashes for her" Ibrahim leads Rachel off the
A comparison in the presentation of the 'horrors of war' in Birdsong and A Journey's End.
A comparison in the presentation of the 'horrors of war' in Birdsong and A Journey's End. In Journey's End there are a lot of references to the shear numbers of people killed on the battlefield. Quotes such as "One thousand eight hundred companies in France" use figures to stress just how epic the war really was, the reader has to be reminded of how vast the war was as most of the readers would not have experienced it for themselves. Journey's End makes the mass death seem even more insignificant by introducing the fact that the German's were just like the allied forces, "I remember once at Wipers we had a man shot down...Next day we blew each other to blazes", no matter what happened the two sides would still kill each other. Similarly in Birdsong there is a lot of description of death, as in Journey's End it explains the losses from both sides of the war, for example the death of Levi's brother towards the end of the novel, and the death of the men in Ypres in Journey's End. The short part of the novel in which Levi and the rest of the Germans show how similar the two sides are, they are all just people that are being lead by different leaders. Another similarity to Journey's End is the inclusion of men dying for their duty, in Journey's End Osbourne and Raleigh raid the German trench putting their lives on the line for their country, similarly in Birdsong there are
Journey's End - Write a letter from the trenches
Write a letter from the trenches (to mother/brother/sister/girlfriend...) Dear mum, I'm just doing fine here in the trenches with my company. It is a bit boring having to wait for so much time, but it is also exciting, because you never know when something will happen. We pass the time speaking, most of the time. Our company leader often tells us anecdotes about his battles and they are really interesting. However, when have got nothing to do, we might simply talk between ourselves, play cards, or make snail races. I just wanted you to know that I'm OK. I feel proud of serving my country. Please don't suffer for me. I'll write again soon. Love, Víctor. Dear father, I am sorry for being like that when I wrote the letter to mum. In fact, everything is foul in the trenches. They are humid, stinky, muddy, and sometimes there is a deathly silence which is really frightening if you think you are going to be attacked in any moment by the enemy. If not the silence, the constant rattle of the machineguns and the floor trembling below our feet. The truth is that we don't ever see our commander; I don't even know his name. Nobody speaks, time goes by slowly and what we only do is sleeping. Gambling and card games or any distraction is forbidden. But I obviously prefer just to sit and wait to see what happens rather than being out there fighting. I really wish I was there with
Before his arrival, the scene is set and we are prepared for Stanhope. How does Sheriff do this?
Before his arrival, the scene is set and we are prepared for Stanhope. How does Sheriff do this? The first thing that the reader notices is the stage directions at the beginning of the play. This sets the scene and we are prepared as to what is going to happen later on in the play. It hints that the majority of the play will take place in a small, claustrophobic, enclosed area. This hints that the soldiers are bored in the mundane trench. The room, which we see, is dark and gloomy with several lighted candles. These lighted candles signify that for the men during the war the night merges with the day and therefore the men's behavioural patterns are irregular. A calendar is situated upon one of the bare walls and it symbolises how slowly the time passes for the men who are entrapped within the trench. During the war propaganda played a major part in the recruitment of men who thought that they were to come back alive to England as heroes. This idea is repeatedly brought up throughout the play. At the beginning we see the trenches as dirty which is not the perceived view back at home. The first two characters that we, the reader meets are Osborne and Hardy. As we see them the first thing that we notice is the difference in the pair's moods. Hardy is singing a happy song about women; 'One and two, it's with Maud and Lou; three and four, two girls more;' We later find out in
Examine the presentation of Stanhope in R
Examine the presentation of Stanhope in R.C Sheriff's Journeys End. In your answer refer to: * His reputation * His relationship with other characters * His effectiveness as a leader In this essay I am hoping to explore all the prospects of Journeys End that deal with the characterization of Stanhope during the play. The company commander, Stanhope, is a leader from an English school who had played cricket and 'rugger' brilliantly and is now a great inspiration to his men at the front. Stanhope's drinking clearly dramatizes the stresses of war but he is hailed by his men as one of the best Company Captains in the army. After three years on the front line he is left nervous and exhausted. R.C sheriff effectively introduces Stanhope using the Hardy, Osbourne dialogue. This dialogue not only establishes that a major enemy offensive is imminent but also serves as a base point for Sheriff in developing Stanhope's character. The character of Stanhope is discussed, references made to his capacity of heavy drinking but also his line record as a company commander. Stanhope is not introduced personally but rather by an incompetent coworker who seems to touch upon the darkness of Stanhope's personality. The contrast between Hardy's and Osborn's thoughts of Stanhope as a company leader dramatically increases the suspense before the main character is eventually introduced to the
Mission transoprt granddad
Anna Mulligan Mission Transport Granddad 7th October 2004, 4am: base camp Flash. Thump. Blinding light seared my eyes and pain shot through my stomach. Apparently I was difficult to wake so received a harsh kick from my sister Helen. Gradually, I regained my sense of consciousness and a strange cocktail of excitement and dread pulsed through my body. After all the months of waiting, all the planning, preparing and panic, the day had finally arrived. 5.30am, Base camp: the launch Dressed and washed we (that meaning me, my sister, and my mum) made a mad dash around the house mentally checking everything; toothpaste - check, books - check, bags packed - check, tickets - check, Granddad -? Granddad was of course in the kitchen criticizing and condemning. " It'll make us late," " come on!" "That will be forgotten," "come on!" "They'll not wait for you" and "COME ON!" were just a few of the phrases that penetrated our ears through the stress that enveloped us. Naturally, Granddad already had everything perfect and ready. Ten hectic minutes later I was squashed into the car in-between the cantankerous mound that was my sister, Helen, and a bulging suitcase, half full of cans of tomato soup (apparently that was the only thing you couldn't get in the paradise to which we were on course for). Stage one - the launch, was under way with no setbacks. Or was
Discuss the ways in which R.C Sheriff uses drama to convey the suffering of the soldiers on the Western Front during the Great War Journey's End is a play set in the Great War
Discuss the ways in which R.C Sheriff uses drama to convey the suffering of the soldiers on the Western Front during the Great War Journey's End is a play set in the Great War, set days before the "big attack". It shows the experiences and events a particular battalion of soldiers face. They experience death, new beginnings, the overcoming of fear, the dire conditions that they live in and above all the meaning of the war. It was written by R.C Sheriff, a soldier who fought in the war, but returned home after being wounded. He wrote a fictionalised account of his experiences in the trenches. He conveyed the suffering of the soldiers in a large number of ways. The story centres on Stanhope, the main character. He is the company commander and a hero for many of the soldiers on the front. A typical English Public school boy who was brilliant at football and rugby, he came to the army just after he left school.. The war created heroes and it was something that your family would be proud of. It seemed as though Stanhope was happy with what he was doing, but Sheriff conveys a soldier's suffering in a psychological way with this character. To forget all the reality of war Stanhope drinks. He drinks excessively and this helps him to forget the pain that he is feeling. "Not a drunkard; just a-just a hard drinker; but you're quite right about his nerves. They are all to blazes."
In what ways does R.C Sherriff re-create for his audience the over whelming stress and fear suffered by the men at the Front. Do all characters react on the same way? How does each individual cope with the nightmares of trench warfare?
English Course Work Stanhope. I was looking across the Boche trenches and right beyond- not a sound, not a soul; just an enormous plain, all churned up, like a sea that's got muddier and muddier until its so stiff that it cant move. You could have heard a pin drop in the quiet; yet you new thousands of guns where hidden there, already cleaned and oiled- millions of bullets lying in pouches- thousands of Germans waiting and thinking. In what ways does R.C Sherriff re-create for his audience the over whelming stress and fear suffered by the men at the Front. Do all characters react on the same way? How does each individual cope with the nightmares of trench warfare? On many occasions throughout the book of the play of "Journeys End", Sherriff uses methods to re-create the overwhelming stress of trench warfare. He describes every aspect of the trenches, the guns and the whole life. With this understanding of the trenches, the audience are helped in imagining what it must have been like to live there. In the play, all the narrative writing in the book has had to have been left out. Instead the directors must rely more on the acting and the scenery, which is not to do with Sherriff's work and vision. However the directors of these plays have to get the scenery correct if they are going to make the audience understand the unbearable stress suffered by the soldiers. Sherriff
Explore the different ways that Sherriff reveals courage to the audience?
Explore the different ways that Sherriff reveals courage to the audience? Throughout 'Journey's End', the sheer brutality of the war is portrayed to the audience in a subtle manner. The thousands of deaths and the shocking injuries were all facts of life for the soldiers in the trenches in World War One, but the playwright does not chose to focus upon these directly. For example, the raid at the end of the play is not visibly displayed, instead it is created through dramatic techniques such as lighting, sound effects and setting. In 'Journeys End', the audience, are fully aware of the horrors that the soldiers faced. The characters deal with the horrific situation in their own, different ways, showing astonishing courage throughout the play. Stanhope is the commander of their company and it is he who dominates the play. He is a committed, trustworthy, respected soldier, who has been out in the trenches for the longest period of time. "He's a good chap" ,"He's a long way the best company commander we've got." Stanhope is courageous in many ways. He has been out in the war "for nearly three years" and "he came straight out from school - when he was eighteen." This shows that he is very knowledgeable and experienced about the war and everything that is going on, but it also shows that he has been through an awful lot. The soldiers admire his determination and courage, for