Statement: “The ending of the play could be said to show how hopeless the whole

situation was.”

In the last scene, the way Stanhope handles the death of Raleigh was
extremely brave and mature. It takes a lot of courage to go to war, but to go to war
with having just witnessed the death of a loved one requires even more courage, and
to have strength to not breakdown from a total sense of hopelessness, in which
something most people would have done in his place. He was emotionally strong
about the situation and accepted the death of Raleigh. The way Sherriff describes the
way Stanhope acts in this last scene, ‘He goes stiffly up the steps’ perhaps to illustrate
how he is almost numb with shock, this is further emphasised when you look back
when he, ‘stares listlessly’. When he walks out, it is almost out of defeat. The death of
Raleigh seems to diminish all hope in him despite the fact that he still goes up those
steps to go in battle.
The scene that Sherriff tries to create, “tall figure black against the dawn sky’ (pg 95)
provides a contrast in colours, from the darkness to the light of the dawn- it seems it’s
almost showing that Stanhope is walking into his funeral and moving towards the
light that he will finally be free when he does die.
When Sherriff says, ‘shock stabs out the candle-flame’ it is ironic that the word ‘stab’
is used to describe how the candle flame was put out as this was the same way
Raleigh has died. The candle almost represents his spirit and life.
Even though, Sherriff overall points out that the war was futile from the way
he creates the last scene, as if everything was hopeless, from Raleigh’s and Osborne’s
death, also from how Stanhope reacted to all of it.
However, because of the war, men were put under stressful conditions, which in some
ways bought out the better inner qualities in them such as courage, solidarity, and
unity of the men, the honour of fulfilling their duty as men being there for one
another.
Further demonstration of courage is shown in the play when Hibbert stays on when he
was so fully determined to leave before the big attack was launched. With persuasion
from Stanhope, he gains the courage to fight on. ‘Because I feel the same-‘(pg 57) this
confession from Stanhope and the when Hibbert admits he feels afraid shows
understanding between the men. In the time of this play, it was known that men were
not to show emotions as they were considered as weakness. Stanhope, a leader by
being Captain he shows equality by treating Hibbert as a friend and an equal enough
to confide in him about his views and feelings. Stanhope also reminds Hibbert of his
duty as a man, ‘it’s the only thing a decent man can do’ (pg 58) - I believe this was
something that helped them stay on, men’s honour was important in those days.
The men in the war only had each other to rely on, creating solidarity, and a
strong unity bond between each other. Osborne welcomes Raleigh with a warm
welcome, (Pg 24) ‘Oh, well you’ll soon get used to it; you’ll feel like you’ve been
‘ere a year in about an hour’s time.’ Even though the men hardly know each other,
they will instantly begin to find common ground, something thy can all relate to and
will need support in from each other. Close relationships are made, for example, many
of the men refer to Osborne as ‘Uncle’ looking up to him a father and friendly figure,
especially Stanhope. He is a leader and had to grow up fast; he needs someone who
can ground him and for someone to watch out for him, instead of him having to keep
a constant watch on his company for example, (34) ‘Kiss me Uncle’ demonstrates he
still wants to be loved and needs what everyone needs- comfort.
When Osborne was going with Raleigh for the raid, (pg 68) Osborne mentions to
Stanhope, ‘If anything should happen, would you send these along to my wife.’ It
shows that he is wise enough to realise that he has very slim chances of returning
alive, he accepts and faces this and goes out there to carry out his duty as man, soldier
and officer.
Even though Stanhope had a very high chance of leaving the company, he still
stuck through, (pg 31) ‘I’ll stick it out now. It may not be much longer no.’ This quote
points out several good quality traits that men in the war began to show. It has to do
with unity of the men, Stanhope was not willing to back out and leave his them, he
had to stay strong for them and set them a good example of a loyal soldier. That is
another attribute, loyalty to one’s country. It shows that Stanhope has an unwavering
faithfulness towards his country, and is determined to complete his duty as Captain of
his company, and this means not shirking or running away like a coward. He is brave
to stay on, particularly when he is at such a young age, knowing he has a full life
ahead, he is willing to sacrifice it and his freedom for his country. He projects a high
amount of maturity by accepting his fate and carrying a huge responsibility over his
shoulders, in which men over his age are not able to do as well as him.
Sherriff explains through the play by describing the deaths of Osborne and
Raleigh, the strain that Stanhope had to go through, the fear of Hibbert of staying on,
ultimately expressing that war was futile, and all it caused was death and pain to
people. On the other hand, because of war the men who went had to live in extremely
uncomfortable conditions, they were forced to bring out the positive virtues or merits
so that they could cope with more ease. If it were not for Trotter’s light heartened
jokes, or Osborne’s kindness or even the food and drinks provided, the situation
would have been colder and uptight. Nevertheless, overall, the war was futile as the
good attributes that men revealed were simply wasted away, they were not used for
something more positive, and instead these men went to their deaths by fighting
during the warfare. Even if the play had displayed some sense of positive hope
because of the characters bringing out their inner good traits, they could not avoid the
inevitable. In they end they died, and those who survived would have most likely
suffered through trauma and grief over their friendship with their comrades.