Journey's End By Rc Sherriff

The Horrors of War

R C Sherriff, the author of ‘Journey’s End’ was himself an officer in the East Surrey Regiment. His play is based upon his real-life experiences during the war, mirroring the way he and his comrades lived and fought and in a way re-living some of the war’s fantastic atmosphere of constant fear and incidents. Some very strong, positive characters and a hint of humor make this play successfully dramatic.

In 1913, Europe was dominated by two power blocks. The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria and Italy and in the Triple Entente were Britain, France and Russia. The event which sparked off World War One was the war was the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Bosnia.
As Austria declared war on Serbia, Russia got its armies together to support Serbia. Germany, supporting Austria, then declared war on Russia and France.

When Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, the mood in Britain was one of heroic optimism. Many, young and even under aged, men responded to the government to enlist in the army. However, far from it all ending quickly, World War One lasted four bitter years. The consequences were tragic. By the end of 1918, millions of casualties were dug into trenches in France on either side of no-man’s land.

‘Journey’s End’ was set in 1918, when the German army was preparing for a massive attack against the allies once again.
Preparations for, and discussion of, an attack form the backbone of the play. Stanhope, the leader of the group, is the hero figure. He is someone the audience can empathize with until the book unfolds an ugly truth about him. Life in the front line had affected him, as his only way to cope with it is with alcohol. This shows a clear picture of how stressful the war can get and a few ways in which you can help yourself. It is not a rare occasion where a young man, with a lot on his mind uses alcohol to relieve
stress.

Early in the play he and his fellow officers are joined by Raleigh, a slightly younger boy, who used to go to school with Stanhope. As Raleigh hero-worships to him, Stanhope is afraid that Raleigh will reveal to his friends and sister, Madge, his fiancée, what an alcoholic he has turned out to be. It’s not until later when Stanhope finds out that Raleigh is far from critical of him and his letters to friends and family are in fact full of his praise.

As the German attack gets nearer, one of the characters, Hibbert pretends to be ill and thinks he is sneakily going to get out of the war and be sent home.
But as Captain Stanhope is described as a clever experienced bloke, he does not fall for it. Stanhope threatens to shoot him and persuades him to stay and face the raid of his terrors. The whole problem of cowardice and desertion during the war is glanced at in ‘Journey’s End’ too. When Hibbert understands he has made a stupid mistake he tries to cover it by saying ‘You won’t say anything Stanhope, about this?’ But then Stanhope replies, ‘If you promise not to tell anyone what a blasted funk I am’, and is offering his own weakness as a
parallel.

As well as the obvious relationship and source of conflict between Stanhope and Raleigh, Stanhope also has a close relationship with Osborne, the ‘uncle figure’ in the play. It’s bound to happen that Osborne, the richest character and Raleigh, the boy that has everything to live for, are going to be doomed. Their deaths show a point often made in First World War letters home- the irony of death.

The play also emphasizes the class differences between the officer’s class and the men. Also, it seems odd to us now that the officers then thought of themselves as superior human beings to the men. When Raleigh eats with the men he is question by Stanhope: ‘Are you telling me, you’ve been feeding with the men?’ It’s like he is not allowed to and he is letting the other, higher class officers down. Journey’s End is a great play to illustrate of the theme of war. R C Sheriff makes it fast moving with cleverly thought out well delineated characters. Their different personalities make it more relevant to the world nowadays and the points of view we have on things. There are all sorts of different issues that occur within the play, which is typical of the front line in World War One. There is a hero, who we can look up to and alcohol stresses which are very common. Sheriff also included a death scene, at the end of the play, for a thrilling finish. Sacrifice and leadership are clear and the description of horrific conditions in the trenches, like eating and sleeping in mud and rats make it feel like a reality which is very close to you.