Journey’s End
R.C Sheriff wrote Journey’s end in 1928. The play was written 10 years
after the war had finished to let people’s emotions feelings and
emotions about the war settle down.
The play is set near the end of the war, in 1918, along the western
front in France. Sheriff set the whole play in one setting so it is
easier to stage, it personalizes it, and it creates a sense of
entrapment.
The whole play is set in the trenches, which are very confined, damp
and cold. They were most likely inhabited by rats and the dugouts most
likely smelled.
The final scene is set in the dugout, at dawn just before a German
attack is expected. At he beginning of the scene
“There is no sound except the distant mutter of the guns.” But later
on in the scene
“There comes the faint whistle and thud of falling shells.” Towards
the end pf the scene the noise from the shells being dropped
intensifies and continues like this until the end of the play.
R.C Sheriff uses comedy in the play to lighten the mood and to add
relief from the depression of war. The party scene was a scene where
everyone forgot about the war and started to lighten up.
At the beginning of this scene the audience most likely expects the
mood to be unsettled and things to be tense between the characters,
this is because of the arguments that happened between the characters
the night before.
“Towards dawn, the candles are no longer burning.”
Mason is framed in the doorway against the very lights.
“There comes the rasp of a striking match-a tiny flame- and a candle
gleams.”
Mason the wakes Stanhope up. This depicting the way he is breaking the
tension from the previous night’s argument and how he is lightening
the mood, be it with a hot cup of tea or with his tactful handling of
Hibbert later on.
In “Journey’s End” the lighting is very important because it outlines
what kind of mood different parts of the scene are. For example, at
the start of Act 3 Scene 3, it is half past five on the morning the
attack is expected. The lighting would be very dark, creating a
depressing atmosphere. Near the end of the scene, as Raleigh is dying,
“The faint rosy glow of the dawn is deepening to an angry red.”
At this point the lights would slowly turn red, representing death,
blood and pain.
The audience think Hibbert is a coward, mainly because he tried to o
home, complaining of neuralgia, when he was fine at the party, and he
takes his time over everything he does.
play was set in 1912 two years before the first world war so from this
The play is set around the late 1940s and throughout the 50s on the south side of Chicago
As we know, the pretext of the play is the aftermath of a war, so I
Many times when reading a novel, the reader connects with one of the characters and begins to sympathize with them. This could be because the reader understands what the character is going through or because we get to see things from the character’s perspective and their emotions and that in return allows a bond to form for the reader. The character that is the most intriguing for me and the one I found comparing to every book that I read during school was Stacey from the book “Ravensong” Lee Maracle. The character Stacey goes through a lot of internal battle with herself and it’s on her path to discovery that she begins to understand herself and what she’s capable of. Throughout the novel, Stacey has a few issues she tries to work through. This is emphasized through her village and in her school that is located across the bridge in white town. Stacey begins dealing with the loss of Nora, and elder in her town. And this in return begins the chain of events that Stacey begins on the path of self-discovery not only on herself but everyone around her. She begins to see things differently and clearly. Stacey is a very complex and confused character, and she begins to work through these complexities through her thoughts, statements and actions.
In Act II, Scene i, it is a dark night. Fleance says, "The moon is
As soon as you read the opening lines of Act3, Scene 1 you can tell
The play is set two years before World War I, in 1912, and in the year
which is found at the beginning of the play, in the prologue. It is a
this is said at the beginning of act 3 scene and is saying that if
As part of my coursework, I intend to analyze Act 3 scene 3 of the
Act 3 Scene 5 is a significant scene in the play as within this one
Act 2 Scene 1 Page 296 Line 41-42: "Is this a dagger which I see before me, /
In Act 3 Scene 3 (the scene following on from the one in question) the
in Act I scene 3 "Why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image ... Are