Journey's End - Raleigh

We know that Raleigh comes into Act One as a naive, snivelling, wet-behind-the-ears schoolboy. We find him nearly as irritating as Stanhope does! However, R.C. Sherriff uses the character to show the effect of war on young men BEFORE OUR EYES. That's a very powerful dramatic device. The end contains more pathos than any play or film I've ever seen: it's two men trapped by fate, trapped by the emotional constraints of the age and situation and condemned to their fate by irresponsible and contemptuous military authority. Devastating.