Journey's End by R.C. Sherriff

‘He’s a long way the best company commander we’ve got.’ – Osborne is always very supportive of Stanhope. He is also giving the audience important information.

Page 5

‘When a boy like Stanhope gets a reputation out here for drinking, he turns into a kind of freak show exhibit.’ – An obvious reference again to Stanhope’s drinking, but notice how Osborne refers to ‘a boy’ like Stanhope. He and Hardy are part of an older generation. Stanhope is still basically a boy at school to all intents and purposes.

‘He didn’t go home on his last leave, did he?’ – The audience learn the real reason for this – Madge Raleigh – later on.

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‘Nearly three years. He came out straight from school – when he was eighteen…young Stanhope goes on sticking it, month in, month out.’ – Osborne continues to build up Stanhope’s status for the audience.

‘And because he’s stuck it till his nerves have got battered to bits, he’s called a drunkard.’ – Osborne provides an important commentary on Stanhope’s character for the audience; Osborne always tries to see the best in people and is never overly critical, a feature shared, to some extent, by Trotter.

‘all of a sudden he jumped up and knocked all the glasses off the table! Lost control of himself; and then he – sort of – came to – and cried’ – more indications for the audience of Stanhope’s strained mental condition.

‘Osborne, you ought to be commanding this company’ – There is, of course, a lot of truth in this, but Osborne is fiercely loyal to Stanhope – and we have to remember that we are seeing the very end of Stanhope in this play – the disintegration of a genuine hero, facing intolerable pressure and somehow coming through.

‘He was out here before I joined up. His experience alone makes him worth a dozen people like me.’ – more loyalty from Osborne.