Character Analysis (AQA A-Level English Literature A): Revision Notes
Character analysis
Introduction to the characters
Journey's End by R.C. Sherriff presents a compelling cast of characters set in the trenches during World War I. The play focuses on C Company, a British infantry unit stationed at the front lines. Through these characters, Sherriff explores themes of heroism, psychological trauma, class divisions, and the brutal reality of trench warfare. Each character serves a specific dramatic purpose, revealing different responses to the extreme pressures of war.
The play takes place over four days in March 1918, just before a major German offensive. The confined setting of the dugout becomes a microcosm where these men's personalities, fears, and coping mechanisms are exposed. This claustrophobic setting intensifies the psychological pressure on all characters.
Main characters
Captain Stanhope
Stanhope serves as the central character of the drama. At just eighteen years old when he enlisted straight from school, he has now completed three years of military service. By the time the play begins, he has earned promotion to Commanding Officer of C Company.
Physical and psychological state:
- Uses alcohol heavily as a coping mechanism for the psychological strain of warfare
- Suffers from symptoms consistent with what we now recognise as post-traumatic stress disorder
- His temperament shifts dramatically and unpredictably
- Despite these struggles, he maintains the respect and loyalty of his men
Stanhope's character is crucial for understanding Sherriff's critique of war. His alcoholism and mental deterioration are not presented as personal failings but as the inevitable consequences of prolonged exposure to combat. This challenges the audience's preconceptions about heroism and military leadership.
Key relationships:
- Engaged to Raleigh's sister, who continues to believe he is heroic
- Shares a past with Raleigh, having attended the same school
- Their fathers were friends, creating expectations about their relationship
Characterisation:
- Described as physically imposing and attractive
- Demonstrates leadership abilities despite personal struggles
- Represents the toll that prolonged warfare takes on young men
- His character challenges simplistic notions of heroism
Lieutenant Osborne
Osborne functions as Stanhope's second-in-command and provides a stabilising presence in the company. He is mature in both age and temperament, offering a stark contrast to the younger officers.
Character traits:
- Calm and rational in his approach to military duties
- Performs all responsibilities thoroughly and competently
- Before the war, worked as a schoolmaster in civilian life
- Known affectionately as 'Uncle' by the other men
Role in the play:
- Acts as a father figure or caretaker, particularly towards Stanhope
- Holds deep respect for Stanhope's abilities and experience
- Refuses to entertain suggestions that he should take command instead
- Takes on extra responsibilities when Stanhope's condition worsens
- His steady presence highlights the chaos and instability around him
Osborne represents the moral centre of the play. His pre-war values of duty, decency, and honour provide a measuring stick against which the brutality and chaos of war can be assessed. His calm demeanour creates a powerful contrast with the hysteria and breakdown surrounding him.
Significance:
- Represents pre-war values of duty and decency
- His calm demeanour contrasts with the hysteria of war
- Demonstrates loyalty and honour in his interactions with others
Second Lieutenant Raleigh
Raleigh enters the play as a fresh-faced eighteen-year-old officer arriving directly from school. His character embodies innocence and idealism about warfare.
Background and connections:
- His uncle, General Raleigh, initially opposed his assignment to a specific battalion
- Made the necessary arrangements to join Stanhope's regiment deliberately
- Attended school with Stanhope, creating expectations about their reunion
- First name revealed as Jimmy only at the play's conclusion
Character development:
- Begins with boyish enthusiasm and hero worship of Stanhope
- Knows Stanhope by his first name, Dennis, indicating their close past
- His idealistic view of war gradually confronts harsh reality
- Dies from injuries sustained when a mortar shell paralyses him
Dramatic function:
Raleigh's character arc is central to the play's anti-war message. He represents the loss of innocence that war inflicts on young men. His presence forces Stanhope to confront the gap between his past self and current reality, creating painful dramatic irony. Raleigh's tragic death symbolises the destruction of an entire generation's youth and idealism.
Supporting characters
Second Lieutenant Trotter
Trotter occupies the position of third in command within C Company's hierarchy. His character provides moments of lightness within the dark atmosphere of the trenches.
Personality and behaviour:
- Middle-aged and physically described as short and overweight
- Takes great pleasure in food, even complaining about his uniform becoming tight
- Attempts to maintain positivity and find enjoyment despite circumstances
- Tries to make the best of conditions in the trenches
Stanhope's view:
- Stanhope criticises him for lacking imagination
- This judgement reflects class prejudices and different coping strategies
- However, Trotter's approach represents a valid survival mechanism
Trotter's significance extends beyond comic relief. He represents working-class soldiers' pragmatic approach to war. His focus on mundane pleasures like food demonstrates that different personalities cope in different ways. His character challenges class-based assumptions about intelligence and worth.
Second Lieutenant Hibbert
Hibbert serves as a junior officer whose behaviour raises questions about duty and cowardice.
Claimed condition:
- Reports suffering from severe neuralgia (sharp nerve pain)
- Seeks to leave the front lines for hospital treatment
Stanhope's assessment:
- Believes Hibbert is pretending illness to escape duty
- Views this as an attempt to avoid the dangers of the front lines
- Confronts him about his suspected deception
Thematic importance:
Hibbert's character raises profound questions about the limits of human endurance. His case explores the fine line between self-preservation and duty, challenging audience judgements about courage and fear. Rather than simply condemning him as a coward, the play invites us to consider the psychological breaking point that war forces some soldiers to reach. This adds moral complexity to the drama.
The Colonel
The Colonel appears as Stanhope's superior officer in the military hierarchy.
Characterisation:
- Demonstrates greater concern for impressing his own superiors
- Shows less interest in the welfare of soldiers under his command
- His priorities reveal the disconnect between high command and front-line reality
Dramatic purpose:
- Represents the flawed military leadership structure
- Highlights how soldiers' lives can be sacrificed for strategic or political reasons
- Creates conflict with Stanhope, who bears responsibility for his men
Private Mason
Mason represents the enlisted men serving in C Company.
Role and characteristics:
- Currently assigned as cook and servant to the officers
- Selected from one of the platoons within the company
- Frequently apologises for the poor quality of food rations
- Works with limited and compromised supplies
Significance:
- Provides insight into the conditions faced by ordinary soldiers
- Represents the class divisions within the military structure
- His apologies highlight the inadequate provisions supplied to troops
- Demonstrates the dignity of enlisted men despite difficult circumstances
Captain Hardy
Hardy arrives from another regiment and provides an outside perspective on Stanhope's condition.
Assessment of Stanhope:
- Suggests Stanhope should be replaced as commanding officer
- Cites multiple concerns: Stanhope's youth, drinking habits, and temperament
- Believes these factors make him unfit for continued command
- Notes that Stanhope appears to be deteriorating from prolonged service
Dramatic function:
- Offers an objective outsider's view of Stanhope's state
- Raises questions about when duty becomes too much to bear
- Highlights the lack of support systems for traumatised officers
Company Sergeant-Major
The Sergeant-Major holds responsibility for the enlisted men within C Company.
Characteristics:
- Physically imposing with a large, burly build
- Reports directly to Stanhope on matters concerning the soldiers
Function:
- Sometimes relieves officers from duty watch responsibilities
- Represents the non-commissioned officer rank
- Acts as intermediary between officers and enlisted men
- Maintains discipline and routine among the troops
German soldier
The German soldier appears during a raid that results in Osborne's death.
Portrayal:
- Captured by Raleigh during the military operation
- Breaks down emotionally, crying and begging for mercy
- Faces questioning and searching by the Colonel
Significance:
The German soldier's appearance serves a crucial thematic purpose. He humanises the enemy, showing fear and vulnerability that challenge propaganda depictions of Germans as monsters. This brief but powerful moment demonstrates that soldiers on both sides share common fears and suffering, highlighting the tragedy affecting all participants in the conflict regardless of nationality.
Character relationships and dynamics
Stanhope and Osborne
This relationship forms the emotional core of the play. Osborne's paternal care for Stanhope reveals the younger man's vulnerability. Stanhope depends on Osborne's steady presence to maintain his functioning. Osborne's respect for Stanhope's abilities validates the captain despite his struggles. The loss of Osborne would represent not just a military blow but an emotional devastation for Stanhope.
The dynamic between these two characters demonstrates how war creates surrogate family bonds. Osborne becomes the stabilising force that Stanhope desperately needs, while Stanhope represents the younger generation that Osborne feels duty-bound to protect. Their relationship reveals the deep human connections that form under extreme circumstances.
Stanhope and Raleigh
Their relationship drives much of the play's tension and tragedy. Stanhope fears Raleigh will expose his deteriorated state to his fiancée. Raleigh's hero worship makes Stanhope uncomfortable, as he knows he cannot live up to those expectations. The gap between who Stanhope was and who he has become creates painful dramatic irony. Raleigh's death compounds Stanhope's trauma and guilt.
Officer and enlisted dynamics
The play carefully depicts class divisions within the military structure. Officers occupy the dugout whilst enlisted men serve them. Mason's apologetic manner reflects the subordinate position of ordinary soldiers. However, the play also shows mutual respect and shared suffering across these divisions. The Sergeant-Major's burly competence commands respect from officers. These relationships reveal both the rigidity and the complexity of military hierarchy.
Character functions and themes
Coping mechanisms
Different characters employ various strategies to survive psychologically:
- Stanhope uses alcohol to numb his awareness
- Osborne maintains calm rationality and routine
- Trotter focuses on simple pleasures like food
- Hibbert attempts to escape through claimed illness
- Raleigh initially relies on idealism and hero worship
These varying approaches demonstrate that no single method proves adequate to the horror they face. Sherriff's presentation of multiple coping strategies shows the universal struggle to maintain psychological survival in impossible circumstances. Each method has its limitations and costs.
Class and background
The characters represent different social classes and their distinct perspectives:
- Stanhope and Raleigh come from upper-middle-class backgrounds with public school education
- Osborne represents educated middle-class values
- Trotter embodies working-class pragmatism
- Mason shows the position of ordinary enlisted men
Sherriff explores how class affects both military hierarchy and personal relationships. The play reveals how pre-war class structures persist even in the supposedly equalising environment of the trenches, yet also shows moments where shared danger transcends social divisions.
Heroism and disillusionment
The play dismantles conventional notions of heroism:
- Stanhope's drinking reveals heroes have human weaknesses
- Osborne's quiet competence goes unrecognised compared to dramatic gestures
- Raleigh learns that war bears no resemblance to heroic fantasies
- Even the German soldier shatters enemy stereotypes
This theme reflects post-war disillusionment with propaganda and glorification of conflict. Sherriff, writing in 1928, captures the changing attitudes toward war in the aftermath of WWI. The play challenges audiences to reconsider what true heroism means and to recognise the cost of warfare on real human beings.
Psychological trauma
Several characters display symptoms of psychological damage:
- Stanhope's alcoholism and mood swings suggest PTSD
- Hibbert's neuralgia may be psychosomatic
- The fear expressed by various characters shows mental strain
- Hardy's concern about Stanhope 'cracking' acknowledges this reality
The play pioneered realistic depiction of war's psychological costs. At a time when shell shock was poorly understood and often stigmatised, Sherriff presented these conditions with sympathy and recognition of their legitimacy.
Exam tips for character analysis
When writing about characters in Journey's End:
- Always link character analysis to Sherriff's dramatic purposes and themes
- Consider how characters represent different responses to war
- Examine relationships between characters, not just individuals in isolation
- Use specific textual evidence and quotations to support points
- Discuss how characters change or develop across the play
- Connect character analysis to historical context of WWI and its aftermath
- Consider how audiences in 1928 would have responded differently than modern viewers
- Analyse Sherriff's dramatic techniques in characterisation (dialogue, stage directions, reported action)
Key Points to Remember:
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Captain Stanhope is the traumatised protagonist whose alcoholism and PTSD reveal the psychological costs of war, challenging traditional heroic ideals
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Lieutenant Osborne functions as the moral centre and father figure, representing pre-war decency and demonstrating quiet heroism through steady competence
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Raleigh embodies lost innocence, moving from idealistic hero worship to confronting war's brutal reality before his tragic death
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Supporting characters like Trotter, Hibbert, and the German soldier show diverse human responses to war's pressures, from pragmatism to breakdown to shared suffering
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Character relationships drive the drama's tension, particularly the strained dynamic between Stanhope and Raleigh, and the protective bond between Stanhope and Osborne
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All characters serve to reveal different aspects of Sherriff's anti-war message and exploration of what warfare does to the human psyche