Description of Journey End

Characters Capt. Denis Stanhope Second Lieutenant Raleigh Lt. Osborne Second Lt. Hibbert Company Sergeant Major Private Mason The Colonel Introduction Synopsis: - Journey's End is about life in the trenches during World War One, and about the depressing one by one, soldiers go 'over the top' and meet with death routine. The endless spectacle of death has taken its affect on Captain Stanhope; psychologically scarred he becomes an alcoholic to ease the pain and guilt of sending more young men to die. The captain senses his second in command, Lt. Osborne, is beginning to doubt his competence, and Stanhope must maintain his troops respect for him until his replacement arrives. But tensions run high when a new officer, Second Lieutenant Raleigh, joins Captain Stanhope's company behind British lines in France in 1918. The two men knew each other at school, but after three years on the front, Stanhope is a changed man. On the eve of a big German attack, Lieutenant Osborne desperately tries to keep Stanhope from cracking, as he is seen talking to himself and his alcoholism has seen him deteriorate over three years, and it has now come to a point when Stanhope "can't bear being conscious all the time" and that "if I went up those steps into the front line, without being doped up with whiskey, I'd go mad with fright" In This essay I am going make points, give quotes and explain those quotes on various subjects such as the Setting and the characters of Journey's End, the props and the dramatic devices used, the action in the background including the use of light and sound, and to finalise I shall talk about the audiences expectations of Journey's End and what were R.C Sherriff's intensions when he wrote journeys end and when it was first performed on December 9th 1928. I also think that the first act is very effective at setting the tone of the play. .