Saint Joan Analysis

When the wind changes directions on the banks of the Loire, Dunois is convinced that it's a miracle. He's sure that Joan has been sent by God. To him it's symbolic of God's blessing on Joan. It cou...

Overall Political SituationDuring Joan's time, France was a mess and had been for a while. The Hundred Years War had been going on since 1337. It was an extended conflict made up of lots of smaller...

Though all works of literature present the author's point of view, they don't all have a narrator or a narrative voice that ties together and presents the story. This particular piece of literature...

It's a play, so it falls in the category of drama. More specifically, it's a tragedy, because the heroine's choices are the cause of her own destruction. Furthermore, Shaw called it a chronicle pla...

Shaw gives all of his characters a fair shake. In his preface he declares that, "There are no villains in the piece." All of the people at Joan's trial end up convicting her for understandable reas...

Shaw was such a respected playwright that the critics gave him his very own adjective: Shavian. The word is still used today to compare other pieces of literature to Shaw's work. Saint Joan bears a...

At first this may seem like a question that's not even worth asking. The play is titled Saint Joan. It's about a saint. Her name was Joan. There you go. If you think about it a wee bit longer, thou...

Saint Joan ends with an epilogue, in which a good number of the characters materialize in a dream and discuss Joan's legacy on earth. In it we learn how King Charles had Joan's name cleared twenty-...

Joan sways Robert de Baudricourt.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 sid...

Joan arrives at Vaucouleurs, a country girl on a mission from God.Joan shows up at the Castle of Vaucouleurs full of determination. She wastes no time in making her goals clear to Robert de Baudric...

Scenes One through Three make up the first act. Basically, we watch Joan convince everybody that she's legit. She starts with Captain Robert de Baudricourt, moves on to Charles and the Archbishop,...

Joan was illiterate. (Source)Joan is patron saint of France, soldiers, and prisoners among other things. (Source) Shaw's picture appears on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the f...

You won't find any sex in Saint Joan. She goes to her death a virgin. Joan only seems to be in love with warfare, France, and God.

Book of Hours (4.1)Fouquet's Boccaccio (E.1)Note: Joan hears the voices of Saint Catherine, Saint Margaret, and the Archangel Michael. These are referenced quite often throughout the play. God, Jes...