What makes George Bernard Shaw's play 'Joan of Arc' great?

Thèmes abordés

George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan, Joan of Arc, characters, feminist, tragedy

Résumé du document

Saint Joan is a play written by George Bernard Shaw and published in 1923. In this work, Shaw delivered us an interpretation of her life. It's a kind of hommage which respects the true historical events and written after Shaw studied the documents recorded during Joan's trial. It is one of the most famous plays about her and we can note that it was written only three years after Joan was canonized.

Extraits

[...] What makes George Bernard Shaw's play 'Joan of Arc' great? ESSAY - TD LITERATURE 16 / 11 / 2015 Saint Joan is a play written by George Bernard Shaw and published in 1923. In this work Shaw delivered us an interpretation of her life. It's a kind of hommage which respects the true historical events and written after Shaw studied the documents recorded during Joan's trial. It is one of the most famous plays about her and we can note that it was written only three years after Joan was canonized. [...]

[...] We are able to really understand them and to be at their place but also to develop our own point of view about them and all these events. In conclusion, the form and the cutting of the play contributes to making Saint Joan great. Through symbolism plus all the dialogues and debates we can confront our initial opinion about this part of History and think about it again. In this third part we are going to see how this play isn't only a tragedy but also a mix of different genres. [...]

[...] As an example we can find Charles when he was still Le Dauphin. At that time his counsellors are completely disrespectful of him and he is treated like a child. He does not have the characteristics of an usual Dauphin and he says it himself in scene II : CHARLES. ( ) I am quiet and sensible; and I don't want to kill people: I only want to be left alone to enjoy myself in my own way. I never asked to be a king: it was pushed on me. [...]

[...] To conclude this first part we can quote the sentence There are no villains in the piece that Shaw writes in the preface. Because even if some of the characters do what we can called bad or evil things they all have their reasons to do what they do and we are able to understand it, especially because Shaw made them justify themselves, in the epilogue but also by diving us into their thoughts and opinions. Furthermore, each character stay loyal to his within nature. [...]

[...] First of all, the whole play is punctuated by sharp lines of humor. As we can see in this extract from scene II : LA TRÉMOUILLE. And who the deuce was Pythagoras? THE ARCHBISHOP. A sage who held that the earth is round, and that it moves round the sun. LA TRÉMOUILLE. What an utter fool Couldn't he use his eyes? Even in the saddest moment : for example while the long debates take place during Joan's she always find a kind of impudent way to say what she thinks. [...]