Page 295 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

Unit 23: Saint Joan: Detailed Analysis of the Text

• King Charles now rules all of France. He set up a hearing to have her name cleared. We also Notes
learn from a time-traveling cleric that, many years afterward, Joan was made a saint by the
Catholic Church. Everybody tells Joan how awesome she is and how they’re sorry that they
sold her out. Joan says, great, now can I come back to Earth as living person again? No way,
says everybody and they all make excuses to exit the dream.
• At the end of the play, Joan is left alone in a pool of light. She asks God when the world will be
ready to accept saints like her.

23.10 Keywords

Protestantism : Protestantism is one of the three major groupings (Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and
Protestantism) within Christianity.
Nationalism : Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group
of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e., a nation.
Realism : Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict
subjects “in accordance with secular, empirical rules”, as they are considered to
exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation.
Feminism : Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and
defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for
women.
Rationalism : Rationalism is “any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or
justification”.

23.11 Review Questions

1. What does Saint Joan determined?
2. Illustrate and analyse the events of scene II.
3. Illustrate that the scene III dramatizes the turning point of the battle of Orleans.
4. Explain the fact that the epilogue and play end with a striking contrast of litanies.
5. Write a short notes on the events of:
(a) Scene I (b) Scene IV (c) Scene VI

Answers: Self Assessment

1. (a) 2. (b) 3. Chinon
4. Nationalism 5. True 6. False
7. True 8. (a) 9. (b)
10. Richard de Beauchamp 11. knights and churchmen 12. True
13. True

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 289