Journeys end analysis

1. Learning objectives:
• To understand the historic context of the play
• To understand how the playwright uses characterisation and
introduces key themes e.g. camaraderie
• To explain how Sherriff uses setting and character to explore the
reality of WWI

2. Exam structure
• English literature paper 1 - 1 hour 45 minutes
• Part A (question (a) + (b) – 20 marks each) – Shakespeare (55
minutes)
• Part B (one question – 40 marks) – Journey’s End (50 minutes)
• AO1 – Critical interpretation of the text with textual references
(quotations)
• AO3 – Use of context to discuss significance of themes and ideas
• SPaG (8 marks)

3. Playwright - R.C. Sherriff
Note the following biographical details and
what they might suggest about the themes
Sherriff was concerned with or the likely tone
or message of the play:
Please respect
me by spelling
my name
correctly.
Biographical detail Significance?
Sherriff enlisted in the army in 1915 i.e. he
volunteered before conscription was introduced in
1916
He saw active service in France as an infantry soldier
i.e. spent time in the trenches
He took part in the battle of Passchendaele, where he
was seriously wounded
He was refused a commission in the army as an
officer, being told that only young men from public
school were given commissions. (He attended a
grammar school.) This rule was revised after so many
officers were killed. In 1915, he was made a captain
in the East Surrey Regiment.
‘Journey’s End’ was first performed in 1928 i.e. ten
years after the end of the war

4. Playwright - R.C. Sherriff Note the following biographical details and
what they might suggest about the themes
Sherriff was concerned with or the likely tone
or message of the play:
Biographical detail Significance?
Sherriff enlisted in the army in
1915 i.e. he volunteered before
conscription was introduced in
1916
He saw active service in France as
an infantry soldier i.e. spent time
in the trenches
He took part in the battle of
Passchendaele, where he was
seriously wounded
‘Journey’s End’ was first performed
in 1928 i.e. ten years after the end
of the war
• Enlisted out of sense of duty; patriotism? Honour?
• Saw first hand the horrific conditions of trench warfare and the
suffering of the men – which perhaps non-combatants and those at
home were ignorant of.
• Saw the brutality of battle – the courage of his fellow soldiers; was
obliged to carry out the orders of those in military authority; saw the
consequences of those battles (huge loss of life and sacrifice for
perhaps little strategic or military gain)
• Class –Officers were from upper classes, privately educated (and may
be significantly younger than the men they were commanding).
Regarded as different and separate from the men – necessary to
ensure strong, unquestioned chain of command. There was rigid class
stratification in society. HWR, some wondered whether this might
change as a result of the war, where men of different classes had
depended on each other and fought alongside each other for a
common cause.

5. The play as an uncomfortable
reminder of the truth of war
Date of first production: 1928
1928 – It was perhaps necessary for a decade for
pass in order for writers to be able to write about
their traumatic wartime experiences, to reflect on
them and try to reconcile themselves to them.
After the war years, there was perhaps also little
appetite in the public to relive them. This was the
‘roaring twenties’ when people wanted to celebrate
and live life to the full. Those who had lost loved
ones in the conflict would also want to console
themselves with the thought that their sacrifice had
been noble and worthwhile. ‘Journey’s End’ instead
presents the futility of war, the suffering of soldiers
and ultimately the insignificance of an individual life
in the face of the ferocity of war.

6. March 1918 – St Quentin, Western Front
German army is preparing a major military offensive against
the allies (Operation Michael began the Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918.
It was launched at Saint-Quentin, France)
Dramatic tension created by the enforced waiting of the
men in the trenches for the inevitable attack; tension and
pity evoked in the audience who know that this will result in
terrible losses for the allies and personal sacrifice for the
characters.
Historical setting

7. Sherriff’s intentions
• To write a play about the truth of war – it was not
intended to be anti-war, even if subsequent
generations have interpreted it this way e.g. late
20th century focused on extent of the slaughter,
pointless sacrifice of a generation of young men
(e.g. popularity of trench poets, Owen and
Sassoon; bitterness and pity of ‘Blackadder Goes
Forth’; ‘myth’ of ‘Lions led by Donkeys’. This has
been reassessed in recent years.)
• Sherriff presents the truth about a sense of duty
held by the men, their courage, their suffering
and endurance, their sacrifice.
As we read the play, try
to identify aspects
which a modern
audience might
perceive as anti-war,
even if this was not the
original intention.

8. Sheriff uses setting to create a sense of realism or verisimilitude
• There is no romanticism or idealism about war (remember, in contrast, Asquith’s ‘The Volunteer’
and Brooke’s ‘The Soldier’?)
• Sherriff presents a faithful representation of conditions in the trenches and relationships between
men.
All the action takes place in the dugout where the British soldiers eat and sleep. Sherriff uses sound
and lighting to create a realistic impression of the war’s ominous presence beyond the dugout.
The basic living conditions are a reminder of the hardships soldiers endured. The sense of tension is
exacerbated by the claustrophobic setting of the dugout – but it does also allow Sherriff to explore
the close bonds which were forged between men in such adversity.
Setting – the dugout

9. Setting – the dugout
‘double purpose’ of bed and seat
‘gloomy tunnels’
‘tattered magazine pictures…of girls in flimsy costumes’
‘sounds of war…faint and far away’
‘pale glimmer of moonlight’, ‘starlit sky’
‘officer’s equipment hangs in a jumbled mass’
Table in middle of dugout
Significance of light and shade: moonlight, candles and gloom of
dugout
chiaroscuro – creates sense of subterranean claustrophobia but also
reinforces contrast between light / dark, morality / immorality, life /
death
Read the stage directions
at the start of the play
and at the beginning of
Act One. Comment on
the significance of the
following details. What
do they suggest about
the characters, living
conditions or what
atmosphere do they
create?

10. Pages 1-8
This play does not directly present battle but instead the waiting in
trenches. It aims to realistically portray the paradox of the tension and
boredom of waiting for conflict.
What is the significance of:
the earwigs?
the mismatched boots
Hardy’s song about a
ticking clock
Earwig races
A comic device to distract the men
from the agony of waiting and
horror of war
BUT
Also a metaphor for the absurdity
of the situation. Creatures with no
sense of purpose or direction are
driven along by their superiors, like
the men scuttling across the
battlefields on the orders of
military authority but making little
or no progress.

11. Youth, enthusiasm and innocence
Osborne: ‘I hope we’re lucky and get a youngster straight out
of school. They’re the kind that do best.’
Why might they ‘do best’? What ideas or attitude would they
arrive on the front line with?
Read Herbert Asquith’s ‘The Volunteer’. What ideas and
attitudes might have influenced new recruits?
AO3

12. Raleigh – How does Sherriff use characterisation to explore
the theme of duty, courage and youthful innocence
Lieutenant Raleigh Lieutenant George
How does Sherriff
convey Raleigh’s
eagerness but also his
inexperience?
Can you explain how
George is a stereotype of
this type of new recruit?

13. Conditions in the trenches Private Baldrick is
cooking rat au vin for
dinner tonight!
Rats
Trench foot

14. The Volunteer - Asquith
Here lies a clerk who half his life had spent
Toiling at ledgers in a city grey,
Thinking that so his days would drift away
With no lance broken in life’s tournament
Yet ever ‘twixt the books and his bright eyes
The gleaming eagles of the legions came,
And horsemen, charging under phantom skies,
Went thundering past beneath the oriflamme.
And now those waiting dreams are satisfied
From twilight to the halls of dawn he went;
His lance is broken; but he lies content
With that high hour, in which he lived and died.
And falling thus, he wants no recompense,
Who found his battle in the last resort
Nor needs he any hearse to bear him hence,
Who goes to join the men of Agincourt. A chivalrous knight is victorious at
the battle of Agincourt

15. Divide your page into four and make notes on
what we learn about each of the characters.
Include quotations
Hardy Stanhope
Raleigh Osborne

16. How would you describe the relationship between
Osborne and Stanhope and its significance to the
play?

17. Hardy
• Dries a sock over the candle flame – highlights the inadequacy of facilities,
also highlights the amount of time soldiers had to spare doing menial tasks
• Linked with repeated references to time passing – Hardy marks time with his
feet and sings a song about the passing of time (consciousness of attack,
time until relieved from the front line – desire to escape warfare)
• Harsh and reductive in his assessment of Stanhope (serves to highlight
Osborne’s comparative loyalty)

18. Stanhope
• Introduced through dialogue prior to initial meeting; structurally interesting – the audience is given an impression that his alcoholism is his
defining quality
• Hardy identifies his youth (‘young boy’) with habitual excessive alcohol consumption (‘drinking like a fish, as usual?’) – mismatched,
Sherriff gives an impression of the impact of war upon individuals (individuals pushed beyond social norms / expectations)
• Does not go home on his last leave – disjuncture between home/civilisation, and war/savagery (soldiers struggled to return home, had to
be rehabilitated, PTSD / shellshock)
• Osborne at odds with Hardy – views alcoholism as a marker of Stanhope’s resilience, a form of medication, alludes to trauma (‘young
Stanhope goes on sticking it’)
• Hardy gives an anecdote about Stanhope violently losing control, only to cry afterwards in response to a ‘silly argument’
• reaction not in proportion to trigger, exemplifies how war shapes soldiers to act without though, to act first and think / feel second,
physical reaction against emotional reaction (the psychological trauma of warfare)
• interesting as men are typically presented as rational and collected but here Stanhope could – by understanding of sex/gender in
WWI – be considered as emasculated, showing weakness = how war challenges understanding of society / what is means to be a
man

19. Osborne
• Osborne’s physical description reflects his character – a man of control and rationality (‘close-cropped’, ‘iron-grey’),
age associated with wisdom and experience, muscular, strong stature – a figure of strength / a pillar of support
within the dugout
• Controls dialogue with other characters / mediates conversation – distracts soldiers from morbid topics, redirects
conversation to more comfortable areas – a figure of relief
• Hardy views him as a ‘quiet, sober old thing’ – defined by his social reservation (makes his outspoken defence of
Stanhope more important), sober – denies himself pleasure / that which would obscure or limit his mental faculties
• Loyal, defends Stanhope – family / public school culture (responsibilities, hierarchy, unit)
• ‘uncle’ – a paternal, avuncular figure, family structure – works with Stanhope (a father figure, despite his youth),
Raleigh as younger son / school structure (Osborne as school master, Stanhope as head boy, Raleigh as younger
student – highlights youth of the soldiers, intentional comparison)

20. Raleigh
• ‘boyish voice’ – not yet completed puberty, impression of youth, innocence and a lack of experience
• ‘bewildered’ – not accustomed to warfare, war as disorientating, misled in someway
• Youthful idealism – ‘new uniform’ as symbolic of how – at the start of the play – he is new to war
(Sherriff explores Raleigh’s expectations of warfare / Stanhope against the reality - link to
propaganda – Jessie Pope who use metaphor to label war a ‘game’)
• ‘sir’ – deferential, eager to please
• Contrasts to Stanhope, who has already been introduced – Sherriff highlighting how men like
Raleigh become men like Stanhope - highlights how youth are tainted / corrupted by war

21. Homework – making your notes as thorough as
possible Go through the questions for Act
One (p1-10), adding to your notes
where necessary.
Bring any questions or queries to
the next lesson.

22. JE A1 (pp. 11-20)
Tuesday, 23 April 2024
Learning objectives:
• To know – the significance of setting and link this to context
• To understand – how Sherriff characterises Stanhope, Osborne, Raleigh,
Trotter, and Mason to introduce and develop key themes of the play
• To be able to – comment on how Sherriff uses setting and character to
explore the reality of WWI, and to promote a largely anti-war message
which does manage to encapsulate the sense of community of the soldiers

23. How is Osborne characterised?
Consider the following things:
• Dialogue with Raleigh (their interaction
when they first meet / how Osborne
broaches the topic of Stanhope)
• His view of the war

24. Osborne
• Dialogue between Osborne and Raleigh eases tension – Osborne discusses the familiarity of
‘Raleigh’ as a name and uses common ground of Stanhope to introduce Raleigh to the dugout (a
paternal ‘uncle’ figure)
• Osborne views the war as far from the simple entertainment of sport. Unlike Jessie Pope who uses
the metaphor of a game to trivialise war, Osborne understands the severity of the reality – war is
not light-hearted
• Considerate and gentle – attempts to enlighten Raleigh as to how Stanhope has changed both
psychologically and physically – does not have the same harsh, callous tone as Hardy who makes
entertainment out of Stanhope’s alcoholism (euphemistic / ambiguous – ‘big strain’, ‘tells on a man’,
‘quite the same’)
• He encourages Raleigh to be ‘romantic’ as ‘it helps’ – Osborne as protective, seeks to preserve in
Raleigh some sense of hope, he recognises Raleigh’s idealism and suggests that – if he reads beauty
into the destruction of war, their may be some benefit to his psychological wellbeing

25. How is Raleigh characterised?
Consider the following things:
• How he views Stanhope
• How he is juxtaposed to Osborne
• How he responds to Osborne’s hints about Stanhope’s changed
character
• His reasons for going to war
• His expectations of war
• His juxtaposition to the other soldiers

26. Raleigh
• Youthful idealism (unyielding optimism) – in contrast to Osborne: both admire Stanhope for different reasons.
Raleigh’s admiration stems from childhood nostalgia, more superficial (sporting abilities), rooted in a moment in the
past / Osborne’s admiration is rooted in Stanhope’s resilience, rooted in the present.
• Hero-worships Stanhope because of age difference = Raleigh as impressionable and vulnerable. Hero-worship
reflects civilians at home viewing the war through a lens of propaganda and denial; up until this point he has been a
civilian and – as such – views the war in an idealistic and flawed way
• Raleigh is naïve and ignorant to the realities of war – his decision to go to war is shaped by his admiration of
Stanhope (‘keen’ / ‘luck’ = manipulation / desperation to be with Stanhope’s unit); increases the tragedy of his death
= not a legitimate reason to go to war (unlike patriotism or forced enlistment which seem more understandable)
• On the front line, his expectations of war are challenged, highlighting his naivety: he ‘thought there would be an
awful row here – all the time’. This foreshadows Raleigh’s view of Stanhope being challenged.
• Ignorant of how Stanhope has changed, despite Osborne’s attempts to enlighten him – when Osborne discusses
Stanhope’s quick temper, Raleigh responds with an ironic anecdote about his disapproval of alcohol and the
punishment he gives within his role as head boy; he does not understand or note the difference between the anger
of war, and the disapproval of a school boy. Highlights how Stanhope’s morals have changed – impact of the war
upon individuals

27. How is Stanhope characterised?
Consider the following things:
• How Raleigh’s account of Stanhope is juxtaposed to
Hardy’s account
• Why he has not mentioned Raleigh’s sister
• The contents of the letters he sends home
• How he is juxtaposed to Trotter
• The different elements of his appearance (uniform and
health)
• His actions (alcohol, cigarettes, behaviour when he meets
Raleigh, how he disciplines Mason)

28. Stanhope
• Juxtaposition between Raleigh’s account of Stanhope during his
last visit and Hardy’s account of Stanhope’s alcoholism;
impression of lost and tainted youth, contrast between past and
present (Raleigh functions to contextualise Stanhope’s
character)
• Does not mention Raleigh’s sister to Osborne – women are on
the periphery of the play (symbolic of home and comfort, link to
poster at the start), also reveals Stanhope’s mind set and the
difficulty soldiers faced reintegrating into civilisation post-war
(shellshock, trauma)
• Stanhope’s sparse communication / censorship in his letters –
does not desire or consider himself worthy of interaction with
those back home
• Juxtaposed to Trotter – highlights Stanhope’s superior stature.
However, he is still ‘no more than a boy’ – despite his position
which implies accomplishment and maturity, Stanhope still
appears young (how war corrupts and forces young men to grow
into men (psychologically) before they are ready)
• Stanhope’s hair is ‘carefully brushed’, and his uniform, despite its
age, is ‘well cut and cared for’ ; Stanhope, despite his alcoholism
which could imply a lack of care, takes his responsibilities
seriously (however, he does ‘throw’ his helmet which suggests
discontent)
• However, these responsibilities are a burden, visible in his
appearance (‘pallor’ and ‘dark shadows’); unlike the position of
head boy, there are serious life-changing implications to
Stanhope’s choices that were not present when he was at school
• Alcoholism as a numbing agent / smoking as a death wish?
• ‘dazed’ when he meets Raleigh – confronted with his past and
memories of who he used to be. Highlights the difficulties
soldiers had reintegrating into and assuming civilian roles in their
pre-war lives – struggle between Stanhope as a soldier and his
civilian self – he alters how he acts, acting with ‘forced gaiety’ to
preserve that image of himself in Raleigh’s mind / out of fear for
how Raleigh – someone untainted by war as of this moment –
would respond to his character
• A ‘quiet’ authority – cautions Mason against forgetting the
pepper – respected

29. How is Trotter characterised?
Consider the following things:
• Why Trotter eats / his reaction to the pepper
• His dialogue with Raleigh
• His discussion of the war and time

30. Trotter
• ‘red, fat, and round’ – highlights the impact of war upon individuals. While Stanhope
drinks alcohol, Trotter eats to fill the void (also evident in his name, a pig’s foot)
• Well-meaning and friendly (enquires as to how Raleigh is feeling) – a likable
character; like Osborne, he initiates and welcomes Raleigh into the dugout
• Like Hardy, Trotter is conscious of time - ‘oh, well, you’ll soon get used to it; you’ll feel
you’ve been ‘ere a year in about an hour’s time’ – how war ages soldiers beyond
their years
• Disappointed at the lack of pepper – pepper as antimicrobial, but also a luxury = it is
the little things that make war bearable

31. How is setting used?
Consider the following things:
• How war is comparable to a
public school
• The silence
• The surrounding village and
factory
• Very lights

32. Setting
• Combination of war and public school ranks: (Osborne as school master, Raleigh as the new student, Stanhope as
head boy – parallels with soldier positions) – highlights the youth of the soldiers, highlights different levels of
responsibility within the trenches, allows the audience to contrast past / present (e.g. Stanhope’s less intense
responsibility as head boy against his responsibility / burden as a captain).
• Raleigh describes it as ‘frightfully quiet’ – Sherriff sets the play in the silence and waiting of war rather than
combat to highlight a different reality (as exemplified in ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen = ‘but nothing happens’ –
soldiers / war as largely redundant, WWI as a questionable war)
• ‘ruined village’ and the ‘ruined factory place’ – warfare as destructive, destruction of the landscape and
settlements, link to Sherriff’s biography and his reflections on nature’s ruin, link to quotation about the ear-wig
• Very lights – illumination to prevent progress across No Man’s Land – war as futile, land as unclaimed

33. How is Mason characterised / humour used?
Consider the following things:
• How Mason adds to the audience’s
understanding of hierarchy
• How Mason adds to the realism of the
play
• How the soldiers use humour to
approach their responsibilities

34. Mason / use of humour
• Mason – apricots, yellow soup. His character is a reminder of hierarchy / social class. Mason also functions as an
element of comic relief. Mason introduces realism to the trenches by allowing soldiers to exhibit their humour /
their humanity; there is more to war than simple combat
• Humour as a defence mechanism against the horrors of war
• It is also a way of establishing community within the dugout
• Used to deflect reality. In the following dialogue, Trotter focuses on the damage of the bomb, its ultimate effect
rather than its potential to kill. This focus on the mundane / ignorance and denial of danger is part of the dark
humour of the trenches: making light of a life-threatening situation
• Osborne: Hardy says they had a lively time here yesterday. Three big Minnies right in the trench
• Trotter: I know. And they left the bloomin’ ‘oles for us to fill in’

35. Context: World War One exhibition explores role of black humour
A new exhibition highlights how black humour helped troops cope with the horror of World War One.
Enduring War - Grief, Grit and Humour, which opens this week at the British Library, features cartoons, posters and the manuscripts of famous war
poets.
It also includes magazines of cartoons produced for troops in the trenches.
"When we were putting the exhibition together we were struck by the amount of material that uses humour," said co-curator Dr Matthew Shaw.
"For the troops it was a way of talking about life on the front line, as well as satirising their officers and demonising their enemy."
The trench journals were produced very close to the Front, sometimes on captured printing presses.
One journal, The Waitemata Wobbler, was created on board a New Zealand troop ship carrying reinforcements to the Western Front.
"We didn't want to be flippant or suggest the Front was a barrel of laughs," said Dr Shaw.
"But there was something about the military experience that brought out a certain sense of humour. The ever-present threat of death and
dismemberment focused the mind.“
Political satire also played an important role on both sides as a weapon to mock the enemy.
The exhibition features British cartoons that depict the German emperor Wilhelm II and his son as helpless blunderers. A postcard shows the Germans
as radishes.
A German satirical magazine Simplicissimus depicts the world drenched in blood with a personification of the British Empire trying to hold onto it.
"There's a lot of self mocking too," said Dr Shaw. "On a Christmas card a Scottish regiment portray themselves as thistles giving the enemy a bit of a
prick."

36. Create a character
tree to present
the roles and
relationships of
the characters
Brigadier
(unseen)
Colonel
Highest ranking
officer
Stanhope
Commanding officer
of C Company
Osborne (officer and
second in command)
Trotter
Officer, second
lieutenant, and later
second in command
Mason
Soldier-cook and
servant
Hibbert
Officer
Sergeant Major
Highest ranking
soldier
Company soldiers
Raleigh
Youngest officer,
second lieutenant

37. JE Act 1 (pp. 21-30)
Tuesday, 23 April 2024
Learning objectives:
 To know – the significance of setting and link this to context
 To understand – how Sherriff characterises Stanhope, Osborne, and Hibbert
to introduce and develop key themes of the play
 To be able to – comment on how Sherriff uses setting and character to
explore the reality of WWI, and to promote a largely anti-war message which
does manage to encapsulate the sense of community of the soldiers

38. How is setting used?
Consider the following things:
No Man’s Land
References to time
The reason Trotter suggests
Raleigh wears his revolver
The cyclical structure of A1

39. Setting
 No Man’s Land – going “over the top”, a questionable/redundant strategy, lack of progress
 Trotter’s preoccupation with time – time as a motif. The days feel long – lack of peace or rest. Ages men
beyond their years. Countdown as a way of controlling / focussing on an uncertain future = an attempt to
establish a sense of order
 Trotter warns Raleigh to wear his revolver to ‘shoot rats’ – not shooting the enemy, the idea that disease and
vermin are the real enemy, lack of hygiene within the trenches (trench fever), sense of boredom with shooting
rats as a form of entertainment, link to earwig incident = the destruction of nature.
 Act ends the same way it opens (structure): ‘low rumble of distant guns’. Cyclicality to represent the constant
and impending threat of war, ‘distant’ as vague – uncertain as to the threat; only certain as to the presence of a
threat

40. No Man’s Land
 Ranged from several hundred yards to in some cases less than 10 yards
 Feature of intimate combat – lack of technology
 Heavily defended by machine guns, mortars, artillery and riflemen on
both sides
 Often riddled with barbed wire and improvised land mines, as well as
corpses and wounded soldiers who were not able to make it across the
sea of bullets, explosions and flames
 The area was usually devastated by the warfare and riddled with craters
from artillery and mortar shells, and sometimes contaminated by
chemical weapons
 It was open to fire from the opposing trenches and generally slowed
down any attempted advance.
 Not only were soldiers forced to cross no man's land when advancing,
and as the case might be when retreating, but after an attack the
stretcher bearers would need to go out into it to bring in the wounded

41. How is Stanhope characterised?
Consider the following things:
 Refuses to let Osborne help him
 Turns down Osborne’s offer of a bed
 Dislikes Hibbert
 His approach to leadership
 How he questions his own worthiness
 His relationship with Raleigh’s sister
 How his mind set has altered the longer he has been
at war

42. Stanhope
 Despite being ‘tired’, he refuses to let Osborne relieve him. He is stubborn and committed to his responsibilities.
Protective – will not allow Osborne to shoulder what he perceives to be his burden
 Stanhope turns down Osborne’s offer of a bed – which he is entitled to as captain – to focus on work. Osborne is
deferential, Stanhope does not care for the “perks” of his position; he only cares to fulfil his duty as captain
 Disdain for Hibbert – Hibbert represents what Stanhope could have become – two ways in which soldiers /
individuals are shaped by warfare – their conflict is symbolic of Stanhope numbing his own fears, and Stanhope
opposing Hibbert’s values which undermine his approach to leadership
 Believes in unity - ‘no man of mine’s going sick before the attack. They’re going to take an equal chance – together’ –
a sense of dependency, possessiveness / control, ‘togetherness’ as key to survival
 Doubts the worthiness of his own character – does not believe himself to be a hero
 Carries a photo of Raleigh’s sister – reminder of home / a distant reality. reminder of Stanhope’s potential / Stanhope
in a world without war – a relic of a former identity, reminder of the difficulties soldiers have reintegrating with
civilisation post-war.

43. Stanhope
 Fatalistic view of war- ‘it may not be much longer now’ – despite focussing on the survival of his men, he recognises
that he is only alive from ‘luck’. The idea that war is not governed by a Christian god, but by a fickle idea of chance
 Flashback to leave after six months – ‘it was all right at first […] it was jolly fine to feel I’d done a little to make her
pleased’ – functions to highlight the extent to which Stanhope has changed, the idea that pleasing those back home
is not reason enough to go to war
 Contrast to post-Vimy Ridge – ‘I couldn’t bear being fully conscious’ – PTSD, trauma
 Osborne and Stanhope discuss Stanhope’s return after the war – ‘I’ve hoped that all the time. I’d go away for months
and live in the open air – and get fit – and then go back to her’ – reintegration is difficult, soldiers as altered by war –
no longer fit in with the values of home
 Irrational and progressively more unhinged – fragile stability of soldiers – advocates censorship and insults Raleigh -
willing to misuse authority in his own interests?
 Teases Osborne about tucking him in to bed – ‘make you little apron – with lace on it’ - joke about domesticity /
‘clean trenches up – with little dustpan and brush’ – humour to make light of responsibilities / burden, how soldiers
feel redundant at points on the front line?

44. The difficulty of transitioning from soldier to civilian
Following the armistice, many soldiers were left in a state of disbelief.
Stretcher-bearer Percy Samson wrote in his diary from Paris:
No fuss was made by the boys. Everybody went on working as usual. ‘The war is over,’ someone said, but no more
notice was taken than if someone said, ‘There is no parade today’. Not that there was not joy in everyone’s heart,
the glint in the eye showed that […] Perhaps it was hard to realise that nobody sought another’s life, that the
beautiful moonlight did not mean horror and death poured from the sky, that men could now live naturally.

45. The difficulty of the transition from soldier to civilian
Edgar Woolley was disappointed with his treatment when he returned to Britain in January 1919.
Naturally, we were pleased to be home and we were looking forward to the sort of welcome which
we'd heard which said we would be welcomed and we should be kissed on our arrival. But, in point of
fact, the atmosphere and the reception which greeted us was one of returned jail escapers. We were
directed to a concrete-covered floor, given a couple blankets, told to make ourselves as comfortable as
we could. None of us had had any money for many weeks – we were hoping to get a decent meal and
they had nothing to offer us. And the men were getting very disappointed with the reception and the
conditions and they wanted to know what was being done about it. They started marching around the
camp singing out words like, ‘We want food, we want money.’ And they were just trying to make some
sort of demonstration and were extremely disappointed with the nature of their treatment and
reception when they got home

46. Vimy Ridge
 Battle of Arras
 Canada vs. Germany
 9th – 12th April 1917
 Fell under German control in October 1914
 In the week leading up to the battle, Canadian and British artillery pounded
the enemy positions on the ridge, killing and tormenting defenders
 New artillery tactics allowed the gunners to first target, then destroy enemy
positions
 A nearly limitless supply of artillery shells and the new 106 fuse, which
allowed shells to explode on contact, as opposed to burying themselves in
ground, facilitated the destruction of hardened defences and barbed wire
• It is important that Sherriff
roots the play within a specific
historical moment
• Realism
• Adds to the poignancy of the
play – simultaneously fictional
and historical

47. Community within Stanhope’s company
Consider the following things:
Trotter’s relationship with
Raleigh
How Osborne influences
conversation with Stanhope
How Osborne cares for
Stanhope

48. Other soldiers / community within the dugout
 Trotter helps Raleigh – intimate relationships within the dugout (the play focusses on these rather than
solely focussing on relationship with the enemy), community = link to realism / realist theatre, captures
the humanity of soldiers
 Osborne directs conversation with Stanhope – figure of support, positive mind set, hopeful
 ‘I couldn’t bear to meet her, in case she realised –’
 ‘when the war’s over – and the strain’s gone – you’ll soon be as fit as ever, at your age’
 Osborne tucks Stanhope into bed – repetitive, insistent, Osborne as a paternal figure, Stanhope as a son,
Stanhope as a child that needs protection = vulnerability
 Osborne’s mechanical watch – time motif, needs to be wound up – does not run indefinitely, as soon as it
is wound, it will continue to move towards a point at which it stops, symbolic of a countdown (link to
Trotter’s chart) – Osborne’s death

49. Hibbert
 ‘small’ in stature – reflects his weak, underdeveloped
morals (contrast to Stanhope)
 Insincere claims of sickness – while his claims of
‘neuralgia’ could be true (context - neuroses as a key
reason for soldiers being discharged from the army),
he exhibits a lack of commitment to his role as a
soldier
 ‘another little worm trying to wriggle home’ –
diminutive, lesser, inferior, prey, death, decay,
spineless, lacking in courage, cowardice
 Hibbert represents a large groups of soldiers who
attempted to escape duty due to illness – ‘another’ /
‘Warren’ – cowardice as a common occurrence
Context: cowardice
• 266 soldiers executed for ‘desertion’
• 18 executed for ‘cowardice’
• 7 executed for ‘quitting a post without
authority’
• 5 executed for ‘disobedience to a lawful
command’
• 2 executed for ‘casting away arms’
Context: blighty wounds
• Wounds could be self-inflicted, which would be a
capital offense (cowardice).
• 3,894 men in the British army were convicted of
self-inflicted wounds; they were not executed,
but they all served periods in prison.