Explore Raleigh and Stanhope’s relationship and compare their characters
Stanhope and Raleigh’s relationship went through many phases during Journey’s End there was their relationship before the war, comradeship and conflict between them. A reason of why their relationship was straightforward is that Sherriff made both their characters very different from each other in all aspects.
Stanhope‘s character was a captain and had seen the realities of the war a lot more when compared Raleigh’s character. Stanhope at points seemed to be losing his mind and was constantly paranoid and drunk. Stanhope’s actions and behaviour can be justified as it can be said that his character has been through a lot more and he has a right to act the way he is as war did have this impact on a lot of the men.
Before the war, Raleigh and Stanhope’s relationship was not as rough as it was during the war and they were really good friends. As Stanhope was a senior at Raleigh’s school it is reasonable for Raleigh to hero-worship Stanhope since Stanhope did look out for him as their fathers were friends and spent their holidays together. This justifies Stanhope’s relationship with Raleigh as he might feel responsible for Raleigh during the war too, making him more hostile and paranoid. When Raleigh first came he told Osborne of his relationship with Stanhope “in the holidays we were terrific pals” showing that both were very close and they had a very good friendship.