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How does sheriff succeed in creating a peak of tension in this extract?

Sheriff succeeds in creating a peak of tension in this extract when Hibbert, a soldier, goes to talk to his general, Stanhope, about the war, and hides his fears in a “fake sickness”. Hibbert tells Stanhope that he is sick with neuralgia and asks to go to the hospital to go off duty. Stanhope replies to him in a tone of anger but showing him that he understands him. What Stanhope says is that is that everything that Hibbert is complaining about is the attitude of a coward and that the sickness is psychological, that really he has nothing wrong in his body, just fear. They have a violent discussion in which the diction, stage directions and punctuation influence the tension of the essay. We could say that this tension is the climax of the extract.

The stage directions used for Hibbert show the tension and how nervous and preoccupied he was “in a low voice” “pleadingly”. As if the situation had gotten completely out of his hands and it was impossible for him to handle. He could not control the situation and his feelings either. For Stanhope he shows violence, but to show he is the leader and to impose respect to make Hibbert think what he is saying and to put him back to earth

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