Themes - CCEACourage and cowardice in Journey's End

Journey’s End is at heart about how men deal with almost certain death, constant fear, sudden and intense horror, attack and maiming.

The play touched the hearts and minds of audiences watching only a decade after the war had been fought.

The men all deal with the horrors of war differently and Sheriff uses each character to show the various things soldiers did to cope.

We are immediately made aware of Stanhope’s drinking problem in the opening dialogue between Osborne and Hardy, who asks if Stanhope is “drinking like a fish as usual?”

It becomes clear throughout the play that Stanhope is a brave soldier and a courageous leader. However, he uses alcohol to give him ‘Dutch courage’ - a term believed to have originated in a much earlier war because of soldiers’ reliance on Dutch gin to prepare them for the horrors of battle.

Stanhope himself admits that after “that awful affair on Vimy Ridge … There were only two ways of breaking the strain. One was pretending I was ill – and going home; the other was this.”

The stage directions tell us he “holds up his glass” as he says this. Is Sheriff suggesting that remaining courageous in the face of unbelievable fear and horror always comes at a cost?

Raleigh’s boyish patriotic myth of the hero as some kind of knight in shining armour - and his “hero-worship” of Stanhope - introduces us to the concept of heroism.

Supporting the war effort and fighting for one’s country was glorified by propaganda and poets such as Jesse Pope, who painted a romantic picture of the heroes doing their duty for England. This led to soldiers and officers being pressurised to live up to the expectation of heroism.

We see that Stanhope’s real fear is that his reputation back home as a 'hero' will be ruined if anyone finds out about his alcoholism.

This is shown in the desperate way he "clutches Raleigh’s wrist and tears the letter from his hand" – a letter which could reveal the truth about his drinking to his girlfriend, Madge.

His really heroic acts - like volunteering for the raid - are juxtaposed with his alcoholism to show the cost of true bravery.

Juxtaposed with Stanhope’s brave attitude to his duty is Hibbert, who decides to attempt what Stanhope says is the other alternative to “break the strain”. Hibbert chooses “pretending to be ill”.

His situation shows us what focusing on death can do to the nerves and health.

Stanhope however refuses to believe Hibbert and talks him round to staying, at one stage threatening him with execution for desertion.

Stanhope’s opinions of Hibbert range from “artful little swine” to “repulsive little mind”.

It is never made clear if Hibbert is just a coward or if he has a real mental illness, but his fear is shown through his dialogue and the stage directions. Here Sherriff uses verbs such as “quivering” and “trembling”, as well as “timidly” to describe him.

Osborne bravely accepts his fate when told he is to join the raid. But his advice to naïve Raleigh to “Think of it all as - as romantic. It helps” suggests he too realises Raleigh would do well to continue glorifying the war, as the reality can be too much to bear.

Osborne himself seems to use similar tactics when he reads a childhood book - Alice in Wonderland - for comfort while waiting for the raid to start. In showing the tactics men employ to stay strong and courageous, Sheriff subtly conveys the fear they try not to show.

Sherriff also uses contrasts in physical descriptions to build up the audience’s perception of heroic characters. For example, when the tall and slim Stanhope first appears on set he is with chubby red-faced Trotter.

This emphasises the heroic physical attributes of Stanhope and helps us to understand the boyish love Raleigh has for him.

Hibbert’s desire to leave and his pretence of illness is contrasted with the heroic perseverance of Stanhope who has “never had a rest” according to Osborne.

However, Sherriff also uses these contrasts to show how the men suffer to stay brave - the contrast of Trotter’s addiction to food with Stanhope’s addiction to alcohol is used to show how everyone uses crutches to deal with the horrors of war.

They may choose different things to help them cope, but in the end everyone finds their own way of “breaking the strain”.

Stanhope - like Sherriff himself - has been awarded a Military Cross for bravery and so has received the official hero’s reward.

The Colonel promises Raleigh an MC for taking part in the raid. The fact that he dies in battle a short while later shows the futility of such medals.

However, we can look at the deaths of men like Raleigh and Osborne as futile in one way, but agree that doing what they thought was their duty - voluntarily in Osborne’s case because of his age - was heroic.

Their superiors may have orchestrated the battles and riots, but it was the brave officers who put their lives in danger and died.

Trotter portrays another version of a hero. He is a working class officer who copes with the strain by eating too much and talking of down to earth pleasures such as his garden.

Despite his lower class status, he is made second in command after the death of Osborne.

This shows Stanhope’s trust in his ability and loyalty. The last we see of Trotter is when he “disappears into the dark” as the battle commences.

Then Stanhope receives a message from him in the closing scene, summoning him to “come at once”. We assume that he is killed.

Trotter may not be the conventional ex-public school pupil that we have come to understand as heroic, but his bravery helps us to question our own perception of just what a hero is.