Lord God forgive me! Essay

   The grenade had been thrown and it goes through it’s stages building up to the horror of the war. â€Å"(Swish swish swish BANG)! † This quote shows that there is silence at first and Sherriff shows what the grenade would do. He shows the tense of the atmosphere for example the type of smooth faint noise the grenade would make when it is in the air and then it builds up to the great noise when the grenade lands on the ground. This quote shows the tense of the atmosphere and the stages it goes through until it seems completely realistic. Sherriff uses the this example in the stage direction to show the horror’s of war through the atmosphere, through noises he is able to show the violence there is in the war, this quote can help the director create the scene and help the audience give a better understanding of the horror’s of war. R. C Sherriff uses a variety of different structures of language through the characters, he shows the audience on how the soldiers had spoken most of the time through out the war and how they might speak due to their class. For example, upper class soldiers would speak in a more posh accent and have a better use of grammar whereas the lower class soldiers would use army jargon such as â€Å"minnies† and â€Å"pineapple’s† as well as slang such as characters dropping the letters in some words, for example a soldier says e instead of he. Sherriff had created characters with this characteristic on language so he could show the rank the men are in. Osborne is from an upper class therefore he uses language in a good sense of grammar and he speaks words in a posh accent. â€Å"Osborne: Cheerio. † This quote shows that a character called Osborne is from an upper class since he uses words like â€Å"Cheerio† which is a posh word. Mason a cook who constantly speaks slang shows his characteristics to be from a lower class since he uses that sort of language and has a poor level of work in the war. â€Å"Mason: E said the leopard can’t change its spots. † This quote shows that a character called Mason is from the lower class since he speaks slang, for example he drops his h when saying he. Sherriff had initially done this because this reflects the rank the men are from so it can give a clear understanding of the characteristics to the audience. The characters Raleigh and Stanhope are significant roles in the play. Raleigh holds the characteristics of a nai ve, inexperienced and gormless person who had just joined the company. Stanhope, who is more opposite to Raleigh, he runs the company which shows that he is much more experienced. Raliegh had known Stanhope from school even though Stanhope was three years older than Raleigh. The characters mainly represent the horrors of war by talking about violence in their conversations and actually going through the process of it when coming to the points of attacking and fighting. Through out the course of the play the characters interact with each other dramatically and emotionally. Their behaviour reflects how they had survived the war, for example they would try not to talk about bad and emotional events and they would try to adapt to positive points while drinking rum. Stanhope talks about upcoming violent events. â€Å"Stanhope: We must expect this attack on Thursday morning. † This quote shows how the characters would represent the horrors of war by talking about an attack which hold the structures of violence, it makes the audience imagine a fight of some sort and injuries which reflect the horror’s of war. When the soldiers were to attend an attack six soldiers went but five came back and one had died which was Osborne. â€Å"Stanhope: Four men and Raleigh came back sir. Colonel: I’m very sorry. Poor Osborne. † This quote shows that one of the soldiers had died which shows death as a part of the horror’s of war and the men interact kindly with each other at this point because their fellow friend had just died. There are many ways the Stanhope and Raleigh had interacted with each other through out the play. At first points of the play Raleigh was more of the shy person and had seemed more scared to talk to Stanhope. â€Å"Stanhope: How did you get here? Raleigh: I was told to report to your company, Stanhope. † This quote shows how Raleigh had reacted in a more respectable manner and had called him Stanhope instead of his original name, Dennis. In addition this quote shows that Raleigh had deliberately joined Stanhope’s company which shows that he cares for Stanhope. The play shows how the soldiers were able to cope with the horrors of war since Stanhope had come back from an attack and he had started to celebrate with the other soldiers as soon as he gets back. â€Å"Mason: I thought I might tell you sir, this is the last bottle. Stanhope: The last bottle! Why damn it, we brought six. Mason: I know sir, but five of them have gone. † This quote shows that even after Osborne’s death, the soldiers are not that emotional because they face their problems to alcohol and try not to remember those emotional and heartbreaking moments. This quote shows the behaviour the soldiers had that would help them to cope with the horror’s of war. Overall this play shows the horrific effects of war and that it puts a bad example on a person, and soldiers are not treated fairly due to their personal problems. In my opinion I think that there is no reason for war, it does nothing other than create a bigger stage of conflict. It ruins many soldiers life, when they could have had a ordinary life but war can put immediate effect on it. Overall I think that R. C Sherriff had tried to outline the horrors of war, the causes of it and how it can also cause soldiers to suffer. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Miscellaneous section.