Page 301 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

Unit 24: Saint Joan: Epilogue and Plot

• Ladvenu, 25 years older than last we saw him, enters the bedroom unannounced. Notes
• Startled, the King jumps out of bed.
• Ladvenu tells the King that Joan’s good name has been cleared. Apparently he’s been ob-
sessed with setting the record straight ever since her execution.
• He goes on to say that, unlike Joan’s original trial, this recent hearing was full of lies and
corruption. However, strangely enough, this time the truth was actually heard.
• Charles says he doesn’t care how Joan’s name got cleared, as long people can’t criticize him
for being crowned by a heretical sorceress.
• Ladvenu says that he should be thinking of Joan now not himself.
• There’s no use in thinking about her, says the King. She was bigger than all of us.
• He tells Ladvenu that, if Joan were resurrected today, people would just burn her all over
again.
• The clock tolls and the Soldier goes back to Hell.
• Joan is left alone in a bright white light.
• She asks God when the world will be ready for His saints.
• Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients such as the initial situation,
conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion.
• The first scene does a great job of establishing Joan’s character. Her charm, courage, and faith
are on full display as she sways Robert and his soldiers to her side.
• Once Joan wins over Charles and gets control of the army, she can really get down to busi-
ness.
• In Scene Four, we see the Earl of Warwick and the Chaplain de Stogumber forming plans to
take Joan down.
• After Charles gets crowned at Rheims, Joan’s buddies want to sit back and relax.
• Joan’s friends warn her that if she continues the fight and gets captured, they won’t lift a
finger to help her escape.
• The action of the play begins to resolve as the captured Joan is convicted of heresy and is
burnt at the stake.

24.4 Keywords

Peasant : A member of a class of persons, as in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, who are
small farmers or farm laborers of low social rank.
Inspiration : A divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul.
Ingredients : A constituent element of anything; component.
Conflict : A discord of action, feeling, or effect; antagonism or opposition, as of interests or
principles.
Rationalism : Rationalism is “any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or
justification”.
Climax : In a dramatic or literary work, a decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or
is a major turning point in a plot.

24.5 Review Questions

1. Give a brief view of the betrayal and capture of Saint Joan by British?
2. Illustrate and analyze the plot in Scene II.

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