Key notes in Scene 6

• This is not trial by jury under civil law, but is an ecclesiastical court, addressing heresy. De Stogumber and Courcelles press for criminal charges to be leveled, but the judges refuse to allow such trivialities to occupy the time of their court.

• George Bernard Shaw sets out to restore the reputation of Joan’s judges, which has been subject to defamation following her posthumous rehabilitation. It is important to his purpose that the bishop and the Inquisitor are seen to be acting in good faith; Joan is challenging the fundamentals of their world-view, and their reaction should not be seen as shallow malice. George Bernard Shaw wants us to recognize that this is an extremely significant historical moment, so we must not be distracted by suspicion that this is a petty clash of personalities, or a mere divergence of opinions. Thus the Inquisitor speaks out against cruelty, and Cauchon condemns torture and ‘forced confessions’.

• Crucially, Joan refuses to deny that the voices she heard came directly from God. In privileging her own judgement above that of the Church she condemns herself. Ladvenu identifies in her ‘a terrible pride and self-sufficiency’. Roman Catholicism insists on the need for priests, and the mediation of the institution between individual worshippers and their God. It was one of the principal innovations of Protestantism to argue against the need for such mediation, and to stress the importance of the individual’s direct relationship with God.

• In medieval Europe, church services were invariably conducted in Latin, a language ordinary members of the congregation did not understand, while the ability to read the scriptures was the province of priests and monks alone. Protestantism required individual church members to be able to read the Bible, so the spread of literacy and use of vernacular languages was encouraged. In this scene, we are again reminded that Joan is illiterate and needs assistance even to write her name. Her spirit might have been Protestant, but the times were Roman Catholic, and that tension lies at the heart of her tragedy.

• Reference is made to Joan’s attempt to escape by leaping from a tower sixty feet high. Such an act would appear tenable only for someone with supernatural powers, and it is significant that although she dared to make the jump, Joan was injured in the process. This future saint was not blessed with capabilities denied to other human beings; rather, George Bernard Shaw insists, she was reckless in her single-mindedness. Her recklessness might be perceived as foolishness, but it is a manifestation of that same strength of will which enabled her to inspire those soldiers who followed her. She was not different in kind, but manifested greater intensity of purpose than most other people.

• Warwick’s allegiance to the order upheld by the feudal aristocracy takes precedence over his observance of religious imperatives, to the point of risking damnation, in the bishop’s view. Feudalism and the medieval Catholic Church were based on assumptions that were essentially international. At this point in history, it was becoming evident that despite their shared horizons there was no guarantee of an alignment of interests between the institutions. Indeed, the Inquisitor declares that ‘All secular power makes men scoundrels’ (pg 118) There are clear indications that the old European social and cultural order is starting to disintegrate.

• Through his characterization of de Stogumber, George Bernard Shaw, the Irish dramatist, continues his attack on English arrogance. The chaplain believes that the voices of saints heard by Joan would necessarily have spoken English. George Bernard Shaw detected an assumption amongst the English of divinely ordained privilege. But note that Joan takes a common language to be the basis for shared national identity. Ironically, a solid grounding for nationalist sentiment, so greatly feared by the feudal order, is already evident in de Stogumber’s chauvinism. His name is French, but his outlook is aggressively English, with all the insularity that this might imply from a continental European point of view. The chaplain is Joan’s most vociferous opponent, but his crude sense of national identity makes him in effect her close ally. Perhaps the shock he experiences when witnessing her burning at the end of the scene is not such a complete reversal as it initially appears.

• The Inquisitor notes that heresies often begin with saintly simplicity. This is an important observation, for George Bernard Shaw recognized that a very thin line separated heresy and saintliness in a case such as Joan’s. If the Church accepted the authenticity of her voices and visions then she would be a saint; if it denied their divine origin, she would be a heretic. This is the pivotal point on which the historical reversal of Joan’s reputation rested.

• The Inquisitor is allowed a long soliloquy in which he condemns the dangers of unorthodox behaviour. This outlook will offend modern liberal sensibilities, but George Bernard Shaw has Lemaitre speak emphatically against cruelty. This may seem to contradict the popular view of the Inquisition, as an institution that operated with uncompromising severity, but George Bernard Shaw’s point is that secular morality is inadequate to grasp the compassionate basis of Inquisitorial judgement, summed up in the declaration that ‘if you hate cruelty, remember that nothing is so cruel in its consequences as the toleration of heresy’ (pg 123). Within the terms of his understanding of the world, Lemaitre is a man of real integrity, although we should not overlook his declaration that habit has inured him to public burnings. When a meaningful system for living is reduced to the dull workings of habit, some form of change is surely necessary.

• Joan confronts her inquisitors with an earthy common sense. There is a clear disjunction between their sophisticated understanding and her own impassioned but simple beliefs. Employing characteristically colloquial idiom she calls her prosecutor, Courcelles, ‘a rare noodle’ because he mindlessly follows precedent (pg 128). The effect is comic, especially when Courcelles repeats the term. George Bernard Shaw seeks to intensify the audience’s feeling of warmth towards the artless honesty of the Maid. But it is important to recognize that precedent was paramount in this feudal, Catholic society, with its resistance to change and its respect for established authority. Joan’s rejection of the patterns of the past was nothing short of revolutionary.

• The characterization of Cauchon becomes a matter of great importance at this stage of the play. He has the perspicacity to see how Joan’s Protestant denials of the Church threaten its future, and he responds with a sense of the historical moment, rather than reacting with the hostility of blind prejudice. He laments the barbarity of the English soldiers who conduct the burning. Cauchon is keen to halt their impropriety. The Inquisitor advises him not to hurry; the court itself has proceeded correctly, and if the English now violate the proper order of execution it ‘may be useful later on: one never knows’ (pg 139). This prescient insight suggests that Lemaitre would not have been entirely surprised that, 5 hundred years later, Joan would be canonized as a saint by that very Church that had excommunicated her, and had handed her over to her doom. He recognizes the quality of innocence within the guileless young woman.

• Warwick remarks to Ladvenu that Joan’s case is concluded. The monk replies enigmatically that ‘It may have just begun’ (pg 142). Here is further apparent prescience, with another intelligent and sensitive member of the Catholic Church recognizing some of the implications for history of Joan’s life and death. The comment also serves to prepare the audience for the surprises in the Epilogue.

the Holy Office : the Inquisition

Moab : region of Jordan, to the east of the Dead Sea

Ammon : region to the north of Moab

St Athanasius : (c.296 – AD 373) Bishop of Alexandria for 45 year commencing in AD 328

SAINT JOAN scene 6

Joan’s trial for heresy is staged at Rouen. She is found guilty and passed to the secular authorities for punishment. Captain de Stogumber, shocked by what he has witnessed, describes how she has been burnt at the stake.

A great hall in a castle at Rouen, on a fine sunny day, 30 May 1431, is the setting for the ecclesiastical trial. The Earl of Warwick enters, and is soon followed by Bishop Peter Cauchon, accompanied by Brother John Lemaitre, a Dominican monk, and John D’Estivet, Canon of the Chapter of Bayeux. Warwick discusses with Cauchon the imminent trial of the Maid. The bishop explains that Lemaitre, a representative of the Inquisition, is a specialist in combating heresy. D’Estivet will act as prosecutor of the case.

Warwick observes that it is 9 months since Joan was taken prisoner by Burgundian troops. It is 4 months since he purchased her from their custody, before passing her to Cauchon as a suspected heretic. He is eager to have proceedings completed, and the Maid sentenced. The bishop explains that lengthy examination of the prisoner has been taking place.

Lemaitre says he has detected grave heresy. This pleases Warwick, but Cauchon asserts his determination to ensure a fair trial for Joan, insisting that the Church must be just. The Inquisitor speaks of Cauchon’s devotion to fair conduct, and of his determination to save the Maid’s soul, if possible. Warwick’s view is that Joan’s death is ‘a political necessity’ (pg 177), but Cauchon angrily declares that the Church is not subject to such necessity. The Inquisitor states bluntly that Joan will die, because every utterance she makes convicts her.

Warwick departs, so the ecclesiastical court may assemble. Cauchon occupies one of the judicial seats, the Inquisitor takes the other. The assessors enter, led by de Stogumber had Canon de Courcelles. De Stogumber complains that the sixty-four-point indictment against Joan has been reduced without consultation. The Inquisitor replies that 12 charges will suffice. Cauchon agrees that heresy is the real issue, and speaks out against the arch-heresy of Protestantism, which poses a serious threat to the ‘structure of Catholic Christendom’ (pg 124).

Joan is admitted to the court, dressed in black and chained by the ankles. She shows physical signs that imprisonment has affected her adversely, but her vitality is still evident. She tells the bishop that a carp he sent for her meal has made her ill, and she complains that the English are unjust goalers, determined to see her burnt as a witch. She asks why the Church does not oversee her captivity.

Martin Ladvenu, another Dominican monk, brings home to Joan the imminence of her execution through burning at a stake. She is horrified at the prospect, and looks around for help. Impetuously, she concedes that voices have devilishly led her to the verge of death. Ladvenu, believing God has intervened to save her at the 11^th hour, hurriedly drafts a recantation, which he asks her to sign. She discloses that she cannot write her name, as she is illiterate.

De Stogumber in infuriated, sensing that the woman is slipping away from the doom he desires for her. He declares that the English will kill her anyway, and calls Cauchon a traitor. Still, Ladvenu reads the recantation to Joan. She signs, assisted by Ladvenu’s guiding hand, but as a stage direction indicates, she is ‘tormented by the rebellion of the soul against her mind and body’ (pg 136). The Inquisitor declares her free from the threat of excommunication, and Joan thanks him.He then announces that on account of her sins she is condemned to spend the rest of her days ‘in perpetual imprisonment’ (pg 137). Joan is shocked, and , tearing up the signed document, she affirms that her voices were right, and demands that the fire be prepared for her burning. She confronts her accusers with the charge that they follow the devil, while she follows God.

The executioner and his assistants leave to prepare the flames. Joan declares that it is God’s will that she should ‘go through the fire to His bosom’ (pg 138). Cauchon and the Inquisitor pronounce her excommunication, and pass her over to the secular powers, with an admonition to them to show compassion in the mode of execution. Joan is led from the court. The assessors depart, with the exception of Ladvenu, who is appalled at the outcome. The judges ask him to oversee the proper conduct of the execution, but he intends to stand at Joan’s side as sympathizer rather than a persecutor.

Cauchon deplores the manner in which the English are staging the burning. The Inquisitor is more reconciled to the course of events and declares. ‘One gets used to it. Habit is everything. I am accustomed to the fire: it is soon over’ (pg 139). Unexpectedly, he argues that Joan is innocent, in the sense that her ignorance was her downfall.

Warwick enters. The Inquisitor leaves to witness the end of the execution. It is clear that Warwick and Cauchon have disparate views as regards the extent of their authority. The bishop departs. After a short while, Warwick is joined by de Stogumber. He was the most vociferous advocate of burning for the witch, but now he is tormented by what he has witnessed. In the midst of the horror, Joan called out to Christ. She asked for a cross, and was given one, hastily contrived from two sticks. De Stogumber is horrified that some people laughed at her, and he suggests they would have made fun of Christ at His crucifixion.

Ladvenu arrives, carrying a bishop’s cross. He asserts that Joan’s death showed her to be blessed by Christ, and suggests that her physical death was merely the beginning of a new mode of existence. De Stogumber rushes wildly from the room declaring himself a Judas, who should take his own life. Warwick sends Ladvenu to constrain the chaplain. As he exits, the Master Executioner of Rouen appears, and announces proudly that Warwick’s bidding has been done. Joan’s remains have been disposed of in the river, although her heart would not burn. When he tells Warwick that he has heard the last of her, the earl smiles uneasily, recalling Ladvenu’s words to the contrary.

Key notes in Scene 5

• Dunois calls Joan ‘my little saint’ (pg 101). It took until 1920 for the Church to endorse his estimation.
  

• George Bernard Shaw refers to the cathedral’s bells as a medium for the voices Joan hears.The sound of the bells acts as a focus for the vivid work of her imagination. When Charles asks why the voices do not visit him, as king. Joan replies, ‘They do come to you; but you do not hear them’ (pg 106). George Bernard Shaw believed that receptiveness was a quality crucial for greatness. Joan had the capacity to become an agent of the Life Force, enabling it to operate through her actions and words.

• To Dunois’ observation, ‘We never know when we are beaten’. She retorts, ‘You never know when you are victorious’ (pg 106). The positive single-mindedness of her vision is a source of great strength, but it also results in a naïve incapacity to grasp the political reality of her situation. She is incapable of understanding, until it is spelled out for her, that the men who wield power regard her as a threat, and will take drastic action to negate her influence.

• Identifying Joan’s pride the archbishop remarks, ‘The old Greek tragedy is rising among us. It is the chastisement of hubris’ (pg 106). Despite her chirpy colloquial speech, Joan is intended as a tragic hero, and George Bernard Shaw makes that explicit here. ‘Hubris’ is the term used in Greek tragedy to identify self-confidence that blinds tragic figures to the inevitable fate that will follow their indifference to laws authorized by the gods. There are no gods of that order in George Bernard Shaw’s play; rather, it is the nature of power, the character of those who possess it, and above all the weight of tradition, that determine the immediate outcome of Joan’s life. It is the function of the play’s Epilogue to show how Joan, after her death, will rise above those factors that circumscribed her earthly fate.

• Joan draws readily on proverbial wisdom, such as ‘If ifs and ans were pots and pans there’d be no need of tinkers’ (pg 108). This is the orally transmitted wisdom of a rural culture, using unsophisticated examples in readily remembered formulas. People of Joan’s class inhabited a world without books, although before long literacy would cease to be the Protestant spirit of the Reformation. Joan, despite her rustic manner, speaks for the future, not the past.

• In particular, she understands that war has been altered by the intention of gunpowder. The impact of continuing technological change had been felt profoundly during the recent First World War. In the Preface George Bernard Shaw suggests that Joan’s intuitive grasp of the nature of modern warfare foreshadowed the calculating strategies of Napoleon. In this scene, Bluebeard harks back to Caesar and Alexander for his skeptical comparisons. All were agents of significant historical change, but arguably Joan’s example of Protestant nationalism has produced the most far-reaching legacy.

• The archbishop attributes Joan’s voices to her ‘wilfulness’ (pg 110). He is suggesting that she is obstinate, but the will to act has been a concern throughout the play. In the initial scene, de Beaudicourt is seen to compensate for lack of will through bluster and bullying. The Dauphin’s weakness is attributable to still greater deficiency of will. For George Bernard Shaw, the Will was the motor of history, operating through certain individual, and what the archbishop takes to be mere stubbornness is actually a manifestation of the Life Force finding an effective outlet.

• Joan has reached a crucial turning point in her life. Isolated, her fortunes now enter a downward spiral. She remarks here that she has always been alone, and refers to her father’s threat to have her drowned if she failed to watch his sheep. George Bernard Shaw refers in the Preface to his blatant example of patriarchal oppression, an attempt to curb her attraction to soldiering, and to confine the young woman within the conventional limits allocated to her gender.

of Agincourt, of Poitiers and Crecy : battles in the Hundred Years War

SAINT JOAN scene 5

Following the coronation of Charles VII, Joan speaks with Dunois, the king, and the archbishop, within the cathedral at Rheims. It becomes apparent that despite her success she is an isolated and vulnerable figure.

The setting is the cathedral at Rheims, immediately following the coronation of King Charles. Joan, dressed beautifully but still in masculine fashion, is praying. An organ is playing. As the music fades, Dunois appears, and tells Joan to desist praying as the people in the streets are calling for her. She has no desire to share the limelight with the king, and speaks of the fear she experiences before a battle, and boredom once the action has passed.

Dunois warns her that she has offended the powerful and the ambitious, and should expect them to seek revenge. She tells him, ‘the world is too wicked for me’ (pg 102). Only the saintly voices sustain her. She hears them in the sound of church bells. Dunois considers her excessively fanciful.

The king appears, accompanied by Bluebeard and La Hire. Joan conceals herself behind a pillar. The king’s remarks show him still to be a weak character; he has failed to take on the dignity of kingship along with its trappings. Joan emerges. She feels discouraged by Charles’ inappropriate attitude and demeanor, and declares her intention to return to her father’s farm. It is evident that she is not wanted at the Court, despite her role in crowning the Dauphin. He is clearly unsettled by her.

She then speaks, with apparent prescience, of her death. Dunois says that from recent experience he has learnt to take war seriously, and he is confident that he will drive the English from France. Joan wants to capture Paris before she departs, to ensure the king has his capital city. The prospect of further conflict horrifies the timid Charles.

The archbishop enters. He chastises Joan for not showing proper respect to the king and his Court. He accuses her of ‘the sin of pride’ (pg 106). Dunois advises that although she has had God on her side, and continuance of God’s support. He argues that the time has come for them to assume responsibility for their own work. He points to his own contribution as a general engaged in practical necessities, rather than a worker of miracles. But Joan counters that with the advent of gunpowder his conception of warfare is outmoded. She suggests that the men should be less obsessed with her perceived pride and more concerned with the truth she conveys.

Dunois cautions that Joan never counts the cost of her adventures, adding that ‘she thinks she has God in her pocket’ (pg 109). Her recklessness will lead to capture, with a prize of 16 thousand pounds for her mercenary captor. When the mystique that surrounds her miracles is punctured, she will lose her following amongst the French troops. Charles says he will have no money to pay a ransom, and the archbishop announces, to her evident horror, that Joan, once captured, will be denounced a witch.

Joan is forced to realize that she is effectively alone in the world of human affairs, but she sustains faith in her heavenly friends and advisers. She concludes that ‘the loneliness of God is His strength’ (pg 112), and vows to draw strength from him until she meets her death. She departs, leaving the men impressed by her ‘dangerous power’, yet fearing the worst for her (pg 113).

Key notes in Scene 4

Following the conversational scene between Joan and Dunois, we now have a longer analysis of events between the Earl of Warwick, Chaplain de Stogumber and the Bishop of Beauvais. In this scene, the only one from which Joan is absent throughout, George Bernard Shaw makes explicit some of the major issues addressed in SAINT JOAN, notably the Maid’s foreshadowing of Protestantism in religion, and nationalism in politics.

Feudal fellowship allows the French bishop to enter the English camp and be warmly welcomed by the Earl of Warwick. The nobleman is keen to preserve the distinction between feudal territories such as Burgundy, Brittany, Picardy and Gascony, and deplores the notion of being classified as French or English: ‘If this cant of serving their country once takes hold of them, goodbye to the authority of their feudal lords, and goodbye to the authority of the Church’ (pg 87)

Warwick is more willing to give credence to the power of Dunois, as a fellow Christian pilgrim to the Holy Land, than to that of a woman he prefers to regard as a ‘village sorceress’ (pg 87). The feudal system and the Catholic Church both had international orientation, they were both very powerful so to speak.

Warwick’s family name is de Beauchamp, a clear reminder of the Norman dominance in English society since the conquest in 1066. A distant relative of the noble.

George Bernard Shaw holds names in reserve during the first part of the scene, foregrounding the men as types, in their opposition to Joan: nobleman and churchman. The introduction of proper names, all French in origin, cuts across the lines of demarcation anticipated by a modern audience, and shows just how radical Joan’s incipient Protestant nationalism was. In that light, de Stogumber’s crude patriotism appears decidedly ironic. He is especially vehement in his support for burning, and that intensity prepares us for the dramatic reversal he undergoes in Scene 6, after witnessing the execution. He is the opposition of Joan in that he seems entirely to lack imagination.

It is crucial to George Bernard Shaw’s characterization that the bishop is seen to be more measured and sensitive in his response to accusations of witchcraft. He insists on the processes of ecclesiastical law, and emphasizes the need for fairness. George Bernard Shaw was anxious that the bishop should be seen as a fanatic, although he does read Joan’s actions as diabolic in inspiration, and consequently he sees the threat she poses as leveled against the entire Catholic Church, and ‘the souls of the entire human race’ (pg 92).

When he speaks of the spread of heresy, Cauchon clearly has in mind the origins of what became Protestantism and created a vast rift within Christendom. His objection that Joan ‘acts as if she herself were The Church’ (pg 94) is exactly the charge that came to be leveled at later advocates of Protestant faith: ‘It is always God and herself’ (pg 95). The charge against her has to be heresy, rather than sorcery, and the bishop declares his first obligation to be salvation of the girl’s soul.

Cauchon campares Joan to Mahomet, the camel driver who became a prophet and founded Islam, a faith that spread to the verges of medieval France.

De Stogumber is outraged when Cauchon accuses Sir John Talbot be being ‘a mad bull’. We learn that Talbot was ‘three times Governor of Ireland’ (pg 92).

SAINT JOAN scene 4

Inside a tent in the English camp, a chaplain (John de Stogumber) is writing, while a nobleman (Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick) reads an illustrated book. The chaplain is concerned that the English have started to lose battles; Orleans went to the French, and a series of similar losses have followed. The nobleman replies, realistically, that only in books and ballads do enemies go always undefeated. The men regard Joan as sorceress. Warwick is more anxious about the proven capabilities of Dunois. Nonetheless, he plans to offer a large sum of money for the betrayal of Joan, who will then be burnt for witchcraft.

A page announces the arrival of the Bishop of Beauvais, Peter Cauchon. Warwick welcomes him warmly. They discuss the imminent coronation of Charles VII. It is agreed that the crowning of the Dauphin is a strategic master-stroke. The Englishmen advocate that Joan should be tried for sorcery, and burned if found guilty. De Stogumber is especially vehement. Cauchon is more measured in his evaluation, and insists that a French court should be involved. He points out that Joan carries the names of Christ and the Virgin Mary on her banner, and suggests that there might conceivably have been divine sanction for her actions, although he favours a theory that the devil has been involved. He is angered by Warwick’s presumptuousness in assuming that he may act as the secular arm of the Church and oversee the burning of Joan. But the men are agreed that she poses a threat to them both and to the interests that they represent.

Warwick refers to Joan’s Protestantism. Cauchon warns against the dangerous rise of nationalistic sentiment, which he regards as anti-Christian in its divisiveness since it amounts to the dethroning of Christ. De Stognumber argues the case for an ‘England for the English’ policy (pg 99). He claims that the English are a privileged people with ‘peculiar fitness to rule over less civilized races for their own good’ (pg 100).

Key points in Scene 3

Following the animated action of the last scene, George Bernard Shaw produces a marked change in dramatic effect. We now see Joan in conversation with Dunois, and their sense of fellowship is soon apparent. The brevity of the scene suggests a moment of relative clam between Joan’s struggle to win approval and the battle that lies ahead.



The sympathy between the two is readily comprehensible. Dunois is a man of action and a professional soldier, exemplifying the courage and resourcefulness that Joan admires. He also has evident sensitivity, which fortifies the bond between them. As George Bernard Shaw makes clear in the Preface, historical evidence supports his own determination not to allow his tale. Yet there does seem to be mutual attraction between the Maid and the military man in this scene. That impression is enhanced by the image of a pair of brilliant kingfishers, flying ‘Like blue lightning’ (pg 80). Still, references to love of war and love of religion suggest that the potentially amorous energy underlying the meeting is being directed on to another, impersonal plane. Joan does embrace Dunois, but as a comrade-in-arms. She also says, in matter-of-fact fashion, ‘I will never take a husband’, adding the historical detail: ‘A man in Toul took an action against me for breach of promise; but I never promised him’ (pg 83).



Is the change of the wind’s direction following Joan’s arrival a miracle, or a mere coincidence? It is a question that tests modern audiences just as it tested Dunois. As the archbishop remarked in the previous scene, a miracle is whatever generates faith, and George Bernard Shaw required his audiences to have faith in the positive effects wrought by Joan’s energies. She must also remain credible as a woman.


*bend sinister: in heraldry, a band on a family shield indicating illegitmacy



Taken from York Notes on "Saint Joan" by George Bernard Shaw.

SAINT JOAN Scene 3

It is the evening of 29 April 1429, near the city of Orleans, which is besieged by the English. Dunois paces restlessly on the bank of the river Loire. He curses the west wind which hampers his efforts to lift the siege. His page draws attention to kingfishers flying across the river.

Dunois has eagerly awaited the arrival of the Maid, and when Joan appears, dressed in fine armour, he is too agitated to notice that the wind has dropped. Joan is annoyed that her troops have led her to the wrong side of the river for the intended challenge to the English. Dunois reveals that they were following his orders. He tries to give her a lesson in soldering, but in response Joan simply asserts that she has come to do God’s bidding. He remarks that she is in love with war, and she recalls the archbishop’s insight that she is in love with religion.

Joan declares that she has no interest in romantic love or in money, supposedly the preoccupations of women. Instead, she is committed to soldering. She advocates use of artillery, but Dunois still regards her as a religious figure, not as a soldier. Reaffirming her divinely ordained mission, she declares that the time for action has come. She agrees to go to church to pray for a change in the wind’s direction, which will allow the river to be crossed on rafts. But the wind changes at once. Dunois takes this as a sign that Joan now commands the army. She embraces him, and they set off, ready for combat.

Taken from York Notes on "Saint Joan" by George Bernard Shaw.

Key points in Scene 2

The Dauphin calls La Tremouille’s threatening behaviour ‘high treason’ (pg 66). The terminology, which has more relevance to modern nations than to feudal Europe, would have been particularly meaningful to audiences at the end of the First World War, when treason was an emotive issue. For George Bernard Shaw, it had additional significance following recent trials in Ireland. Joan is found guilty not of treason but, tried by an ecclesiastical court, of heresy.


Joan’s accent and colloquial idiom contrast boldly with the speech of the Court. She cannot match the nobility in sophistication, but the intensity of her energy makes them appear dull. The test of her insight staged by de Rais is particularly unimaginative, and discloses an inclination to triviality and inconsequentiality. It is an important part of George Bernard Shaw’s characterization that Joan should not really be aware of the disruption she causes. Her actions have historical implications far beyond the limted scope of her comprehension.


The archbishop speaks of the dawning of a new age, which with the benefit of hindsight we can identify as the Renaissance. He accurately predicts that during this epoch the wisdom of pre-Christian thinkers, such as Aristotle and Pythagoras, will assume far greater importance than faith in saints and miracles. He comments that miracles are often, if not always, ‘contrivances by which the priest fortifies the faint of his flock’ (pg 71). Such a remark indicates that he is himself a transitional figure, his faith balanced by attachment to rationality in a manner that became the characteristic Renaissance orientation.


Joan may appear in her Christian zeal to be a figure belonging squarely to the earlier epoch, but her foreshadowing of Protestantism and nationalism arguably makes her more closely attuned to practical changes soon to occur in human social organization than the archbishop is, despite his learning and his skepticism. But she is more single-minded in her religious faith than he is, and it is her ability to believe without a trace of skepticism that transforms her into a positive force.



Taken from York Notes on "Saint Joan" by George Bernard Shaw.

SAINT JOAN Scene 2

It is 8 March 1429, late in the afternoon. In a curtained-off section of the throne room in the castle of Chinon, in Lorraine, the Archbishop of Rheims and Monseigneur de la Tremouille, the Lord Chamberlain, await the arrival of the Dauphin. The archbishop’s composure contrasts with the brooding impatience of Tremouille. They have divergent attitudes, but both men are owed money by the Dauphin, and are mystified that he has spent so much with so little to show for it.

A page announces the arrival of Gille de Rais, known as Bluebeard on account of his small beard, curled and dyed. Bluebeard brings news of Foul Mouthed Frank, an inveterate swearer, who was warned by a soldier to desist from cursing as his death was imminent. Soon afterwards he fell into a well and drowned. Captain La Hire, a hardened fighter, enters. He also is renowned for swearing, and, as Bluebeard has intimated, he is now fraught with anxiety. La Hire asserts that the soldier who delivered the warning was actually an angel in disguise.

The Dauphin, the uncrowned King Charles VII, enters. He is physically a pitiful figure, but he reveals some strength of character, including a sense of humour. He is evidently at odds with both the archbishop and the chamberlain, who show him no respect. He bears the note of introduction written for Joan by de Baudricourt. The archbishop is intensely skeptical, and declares that Charles should not see the ‘cracked country lass’. But the Dauphin is insistent that she is ‘a saint: an angel’ (pg 67). He is especially eager to receive her as visitations from saints have been a family tradition. La Hire interjects that the Maid, dressed as a soldier, is the angel that brought death to Foul Mouthed Frank. The archbishop assumes the voice of common sense, attributing the drowning to accident and the fulfillment of the prophecy to coincidence.

Discussion shifts to Joan’s promise to lift the siege of Orleans, a feat that Jack Dunois has not yet managed to accomplish, despite his military reputation. It is eventually agreed that Joan should be admitted to the Court, and a simple test is planned; de Rais will pretend to be the Dauphin, and they will see whether Joan is fooled. The archbishop points out that common knowledge will enable her to make the distinction. Still, the test is staged in the main throne room. Bluebeard clerly relishes his role. Joan enters, dressed as a soldier, with bobbed hair. She sees through the pretence straight away, and in high spirits she draws the Dauphin from the assembled crowd, and announces her mission to see him crowned at Rheims.

Accordingly, her wish to speak in private with the Dauphin should be respected. There ensues a dialogue between Joan and Charles, in which she tells him he must learn to behave like a king, and must fight the English. Riddled with self-doubt, he nonetheless pledges to fight and to become king. The court is summoned to return, and Charles announces that Joan now commands the army. La Tremouille reacts with hostility, but, supported by Joan, and through a great effort of will, the Dauphin dismisses him with a snap of his fingers. The knights of the Court rally to her and Joan falls to her knees to offer thanks to God. The others also kneel, as the archbishop gives a blessing, La Tremouille collapses, cursing.

Taken from York Notes on "Saint Joan" by George Bernard Shaw.

Academic writing 1

How to quote Sound of Thunder

Language of Ray Bradbury

Authors use magnificent language and description to enhance their stories. In "A Sound of Thunder", Ray Bradbury uses descriptive language to enhance the reading experience. Bradbury uses detailed description, foreshadowing, and symbolism to make the stories a first hand experience for his readers.

Bradbury uses amazing description to make the reader feel as if they are in the story, not just reading it. For instance, he uses tremendous detail in "A Sound of Thunder" when he writes "Eckels glanced across the vast office at a mass and tangle, a snaking and humming of wires and steel boxes, at an aurora that flickered now orange, now silver, now blue"(17) Bradbury is recounting what Eckels sees upon entering the Time Safari, Inc. office. Once again, he could have simply stated that Ecklels walks into an office and sees a time machine, but he does much more. He defines the colorful glows coming off of the time mechanism, and the machinery lying about in heaps around the floor to make the reader feel as if they are the ones stepping into that office for the first time.

Bradbury also uses the tool of foreshadowing to help the reader better understand the story and plot line and to let the reader know a little bit more about the mystery of a story without giving anything away too quickly. Bradbury uses foreshadowing in "A Sound of Thunder" to give the reader an idea of what might happen in the future. For instance, Eckels shows his insensitive personality when he states "‘So they’re dead. So what?’"(20). An another example of foreshadowing is the sign shown at the beginning of the story. This sign is grammatically correct. However, the same sign which Eckels notices when they return later that day is filled with errors. This foreshadows that something has changed, i.e. a different person has been elected President. This is significant because of Bradbury’s description of the two candidates at the story’s beginning. One is highly educated and the second finds education to be less important.

Bradbury establishes his characters’ personalities through dialogue. He lets you know that Eckels is boastful on the outside, but scared on the inside by the way he speaks. A reader can tell that Eckel’s priorities are not in the right place, which serves as a foreshadowing of future events.

To sum up, Bradbury uses detail to make the reader feel as if he or she is the main character embarking on adventures. He uses foreshadowing to give hints to the reader of future events, and makes use of symbolism (e.g.Time machine, Butterfly effect) to strengthen the stories’ plot lines. On the whole, Ray Bradbury uses special skills to enhance his remarkable stories

MORE TO COME

Grandmother poem

The relationship that the writer describes that she has with her grandmother is that they didn’t seem to be very close. They never spent any time together. The writer says that she was “afraid” of her grandmother. This may have been because she was scared to get too close to her in case she lost her, as she was so old. The writer also says that all she felt was guilt when her grandmother died because she never went out with her. There was probably a lot of tension between the two when the grandmother was alive because the writer was scared to be with her.
I think that that the poem is separated into 4 stanzas because each stanza seems to describe a different part of the grandmother’s life. In the first stanza, the writer explains what her grandmother used to do; the second stanza goes on to say how she thought that her grandmother felt hurt that she did not want to go out with her. The third stanza talks about her getting too old to look after the antique shop and probably being on her last legs. The final stanza talks about when she died, and what was left of her antiques and the memories that were left of her in the room where all her things were.
In the first stanza there are many ways in which the writer has created the atmosphere of an antique shop. “Apostle spoons” and “Bristol glass” are the most obvious in the first stanza; this is because they are both collectables and are treasured by antique lovers. The writer also uses phrases such as “faded silks” and “heavy furniture”. The faded silks could have been describing her grandmother as well as what was in the shop (double entanger). Heavy furniture would have been in the shop because years ago the heavier the furniture, the more expensive it would be.
There are many couplets in the poem that do not have ‘full’ rhyming patterns: prove – love
afraid – said
guilt – felt
then – again
there – air
room – come
All of these couplets that are not “full” are either at the end of a stanza or near the beginning.
In the second stanza, there are a lot of simple words used. This may have been because when she refused to go out with her grandmother she was probably very young. The simple words reflect that because it is the sort of style that a child would write in if they were writing a poem. The use of simple words also makes it quite strong and makes the stanza stick in your head.
I think that Jennings is trying to tell us that growing old is all about memories. This is because she describes her grandmother as always keeping her memories with her, even if she didn’t need what she had in that room where she kept all her antiques. “I walked into her room among tall Sideboards and cupboards – things she never used But needed:” Jennings is also telling us about a memory that she has of being young.
“I could still feel the guilt Of that refusal, guessing how she felt” I think that this is an important line in the second stanza because it does not show any finality. The writer is showing how she felt about what she said to her grandmother, but she was not sure how her grandmother felt about it. It is the writer’s own feelings and draws you into the poem.
The last line “Only the new dust falling through the air” is significant because it is saying that this is the only thing that is left of her grandmother. All she has to remember her by is the antiques that she used to collect. The dust seems to mean that she is thinking about her grandmother and could signify memories of the antiques and her grandmother.

How to quote GRANDMOTHER

This is a poem about a memory. The poem describes the writer’s grandmother and the grandmother’s love for antiques and how she had previously had a antique shop, before having to give it up due to her age. The writer describes her emotion - guilt of how she wished she had gone out with her grandmother, and not been too afraid.


The poem is descriptive. The first stanza captures the picture of the antique shop which the grandmother kept. We get the impression that the grandmother was rather lonely since antiques is all she seems to have. - perhaps because these antiques remind her of life when she was younger? The way the grandmother watches her own reflection in the brass suggests that she was lonely. (‘She watched her own reflection in the brass Salvers and silver bowls’) I think because she seemed lonely, it created a sensation of solitude and a strong feeling of emptiness.


In the second stanza, the writer describes her guilt. She describes how she refused to go out with her grandmother. It’s like she did not realise how the grandmother must have felt at the time - but as she looks back - she realises and feels the guilt. As a child - you don’t realise how she might have been hurt by it, which makes the reader feel quite sad for the writer.


In the Third Stanza, the atmosphere of old-loneliness is brought alive - by the writer talking about the smell of the place. (The place smelt old, of things being kept to shut’) Also, the writer describes the smell of absences - which again creates the lonely feeling. The idea of things being kept shut, may describe the Grandmother, due to her loneliness, she may have felt she was kept shut. (‘The smell of absences where shadows come that can’t be polished’) I get the feeling that the grandmother is perhaps more lonely by the third stanza because the reflection that she once used to look at, is not there anymore. (‘There was nothing then to give her own reflection back again.’)


On the last stanza, the writer describes how she felt no grief at all, which gives us the impression that she wasn’t very close to her grandmother. (‘An when she died I felt no grief at all.’). It shows that the only emotion she had was guilt, which is sad for the reader. When the writer speaks about the antiques, (‘Sideboards and cupboards - things she had never used’) she compares it to the relationship she had with her grandmother.


I think that the writer wanted us to think about how when she was a child, she did not realise the loneliness of her grandmother and did not realise how much it would have hurt her, which applies to most children. I think the writer took interest in her grandmother more after she had died, which makes us, as a reader think about spending time with our elders before they die and not to end up like the writer did (‘A wish not to be used’)

Grandpa

Grandpa he was a man
He taught me the things that mattered
how to eat oxtail soup before
fishing on Saturday morning to
keep you warm how to
cast a line into a
streamful of angered anglers and
be the only one to
come home with anything worth
bragging about how to
set teeth in any saw and
dovetail a joint in a
chair leg and roof a
house and weld a
straight seam on a
kitchen pipe and make a
home out of a
workshop out of a
two-car garage and
smoke Granger’s tobacco and
love work out kids and
fishing for ‘a Man’s
life is his work and
his work is his life’ and
Once you take away his work
you pull the plug of his life
and it takes too long
for it to drain silently away.
one day the came and
told him to go home and
rest old man it’s time
that you retire he begged
them ‘let me stay’ but
they of course knew best for
every one knows at sixty-five
all men are old and useless and
must be cast off to
rot so he came home and
tried to fish and
couldn’t and tried to joke and
couldn’t and tried to live and
couldn’t Every morning he was
up and four and cooked breakfast for
grandma and warmed up the house and
went to the workshop and filed saws for neighbors but
they told him to stop that too
so he put all his tools away and
cleaned up the workshop and
came into the house for his
daily afternoon nap and
died. They didn’t know
what I knew because he didn’t tell them but
he showed them
Grandpa he was man.

W.M. Ransom

IMPORTANT NOTES

1. grandson sees grandpas as role model
2. grandson has a good relationship with his grandpa who has taught him many things
3. grandpa was a man whose life was devoted to his work
4. metaphor: grandpa stops working "Once you take away his work you pull the plug of his life and it takes too long for it to drain silently away"
5. pull the plug "when he's forced to retire" > drain silently away "his life going to end"
6. grandpa has been objectified as rotting plants - his life is no longer worth living
7. the shape of the poem is irregular and the lines seem to drag on endlessly, echoing the image of water going down the drain
8. all grandpa's words are direct speech- suggest a close relationship between the writer and his grandpa - grandpa's words are meaningful to the writer
9. Grandpa has taught the writer

• how to eat oxtail soup
• cast a line into a streamful of angered anglers
• set teeth in any saw and dovetail a joint
• weld a straight seam on a kitchen pipe

10. Grandpa was a working man

• smoke Granger's tobacco
• love work
• love kids
• love fishing

My grandmother (MUST READ)

“My Grandmother” by Elizabeth Jennings explores the relationship between the personae and her grandmother. It focuses on the remorse and guilt she felt after her grandmother passed away.

The first stanza begins by saying that Elizabeth’s Grandmother owned an antique shop, which she cherished more than anything or anyone. She kept lots of antiques. She kept so many of them that they became to dictate your life. She has a great relationship and a passion with her possessions. This can be found in Line 1.

‘She kept an antique shop – or it kept her.
Among Apostle spoons and Bristol glass,
The faded silks, the heavy furniture…’

In the antique shop there was heavy furniture, which had been faded over the years. There was a good atmosphere in the shop. She polished the objects and antiques very well. It was a well-run shop. When she looks in the brass she sees her own reflection. She has a better relationship with the shop than any of her family, or friends. This can be found in Line 4.

‘She watched her own reflection in the brass
Slavers and silver bowls, as if to prove
Polish was all, there was no need for love.’

In the second stanza, Elizabeth is describing a particular incident that happened in her childhood. This can be found in Line 7.

‘And I remember how I once refused
To go out with her, since I was afraid.
It was perhaps a wish not to be used
Like antique objects…’

Her Grandmother asked her Granddaughter if she would go out with her but she refused and thought her Grandmother would own her but not love her. She felt abstinent, and felt she should have gone with her, but also had to say what she felt. She did not want to go with her, so she said 'no'. Line 10.

Though she never said
That she was hurt, I still could feel the guilt
Of that refusal, guessing how she felt.’

She was starting to feel guilty about refusing to go out with her Grandmother. Elizabeth did not know what her Grandmother was thinking or feeling when she refused to go out, but she guessed she was not happy. Even though her Grandmother said nothing she still felt guilty about what she had said.

The third stanza is when her Grandmother gets more frail, and is not able to keep the antique shop running. The third stanza is what the Grandmother does in retirement. She has a sense of loneliness because she spends more time with her shop than with the people who care about her. She replaces her family with her hobby and her passion for the antique shop. When she excessively polishes she is trying to escape from reality. This can be found in Line 13.

‘Later, too frail to keep a shop, she put
All her best things in one long, narrow room.’

In the next four lines of stanza three we can see that the place she had gone to smelt old, and the smell of absence where the shadows come that could not be polished. This meant that she had gone to a place where she could not clean.

‘The place smelt old, of things too long kept shut,
The smell of absences where shadows come
That can’t be polished. There was nothing then
To give her own reflection back again.’

In stanza three the Grandmother has died. When it says that the ‘shadows come’ it means that death has arrived and has come for the Grandmother. She would not be able to use polish to make her reflection return or return her life back out of reality, and into her dream world.

In the forth and final stanza the Grandmother has died and nobody is looking after her antique shop. The echoes of death have been surrounding the shop, because it has lost its life, just like her Grandmother. This can be found in line 19 to the end of the poem.

‘And when she dies I felt no grief at all
Only the guilt of what I once refused.
I walked into her room among the tall
Sideboards and cupboards – things she never used
But needed: and no finger - marks were there,
Only the new dust falling through the air.’

In these lines of stanza four we can see that Elizabeth Jennings’s felt no grief of her Grandmother, but she still felt the guilt about her refusal in stanza two. She may not have felt any grief when she dies because she was not that close and had nothing to do with her. Most people expect to feel grief when a family member, friend or pet dies but some people feel more grief for a friend or pet than a distant or closer family member.

She walked into her Grandmothers room and saw all of her belongings, which was in there, and realised that she needed none of it. She never used any of it. It was just wasted. In her room there was no dust or finger marks where the dust would be collected over a day or two. It was beginning to show because she was not there to clean it.

The language used in the poem was quite simple. The poem was set in the mind of a child and the memory of Elizabeth Jennings’s. There is a rhyme pattern. In the first stanza we can see that in the first and third line there is rhyme. In fifth and sixth line there is eye rhyme. This is when you read it out – loud it does not sound as if it would rhyme, but when you look at it, it looks similar because both ‘prove’ and ‘love’ end with ‘. ove.’ Half rhyme has been used in the second stanza when it says ‘ guilt’ and ‘felt’. These two words sound nothing like each other or look alike, but the last letter of either word is the same, which makes them end on the same note when you say them.

The landlady

T-Rex in Sound of Thunder

“A sound of thunder” is a science-fiction story by Ray Bradbury. It is set in the future at “Time Safaris Inc.”. Time safaris Inc. are a company which allows serious hunters to live their dream: to travel back in time and shoot a live dinosaur. This story focuses on one hunting party’s encounter with a T-rex, during which Bradbury uses various techniques to make us feel both horror and sympathy simultaneously. I will now look in detail at the way Bradbury depicts the T-rex.

Bradbury begins by entering the dinosaur on “great oiled, resilient, striding legs”, which gives the impression of power, of the dinosaur being able to withstand anything. The word “great” helps give an impression of size, and you can really imagine the “oily”, shimmering scales. “Striding” makes you imagine huge, clawed feet gliding over the ground: you can almost picture the immense mass of oily scales and claws. This opening phrase helps to draw tension.

Next we are told how “each leg was a piston”, which is especially effective as a piston is part of a machine, therefore giving us the image of the monster as machine-like. This, once again, gives the impression of how powerful the creature is, as well as making it seem as though, like a machine, the great lizard does not have the ability to feel emotion. This draws a feeling of horror, adding to the tension at the same time.

Bradbury then uses “sheathed over in a gleam of pebbly skin”. This metaphor, if just for a moment, makes the dinosaur sound almost beautiful. The choice of “gleam of pebbly skin”, likes the gleam of water trickling over pebbles on a river bed, makes us feel sympathy for the great creature: how could anyone want to kill something so beautiful and tranquil? However, as soon as the phrase “like the mail of a terrible warrior” is introduced, our image of the dinosaur is changed once again, making him sound powerful, deadly, ready to attack and able to withstand anything that should be stupid enough to attack him once more, Introducing the feeling of horror back into the description.

The adjective “delicate”, which Bradbury chooses to describe the dinosaur’s arms, gives an amazingly different view of the monster. It makes it sound fragile, as though it could be hurt, a contrast to the earlier description which made it sound almost indestructible! This word he has chosen helps us to sympathise with the dinosaur once more.

“The snake neck coiled” is a really effective metaphor as it gives the dinosaur more of a reptile feel, and the decision to compare it with a snake, a feared and sometimes deadly creature, increases tension and makes the monster sound even more deadly, adding to our feeling of horror. The verb “coiled”, is an unusual choice as it is used to describe coils, concentric rings, making it sound as though the dinosaur has layers of fat round it’s neck, encrusted with scales. This stops us feeling so much sympathy for the dinosaur, and makes it sound a bit ugly.

The description of the head as “a ton of sculptured stone, lifted easily upon the sky” is a very effective metaphor as stone is amazingly strong, and can withstand almost any thing, emphasising once again the indestructibility of the dinosaur. Describing it as “a ton” shows us just how heavy it is, and how strong the dinosaur must be to lift it, as well as giving us an impression of the sort of size it must be.. Telling us how it was “lifted easily upon the sky” shows us how the monster lifts his head to the sky with almost no effort, showing how strong he is. At this point you almost admire the great beast, wonder why anyone would want to kill it...

However, Bradley soon snaps us out of this trance by combining a simile and a metaphor to build “a fence of teeth like daggers”, once again alerting you to the fact that this monster is deadly. Comparing the teeth to daggers gives the impression of just how sharp they must be, and really draws the tension. You can just imagine the teeth glinting in the prehistoric sun, like the way a dagger might glint in the sunlight now. This phrase definitely helps reinforce the sense of horror once more.

Bradley soon calms us down, however, with the metaphor “gliding ballet steps”, which he uses to describe the way in which the dinosaur moved. It makes it sound almost graceful, and contrasts the description he has used earlier. The verb “gliding” in particular helps the dinosaur’s new, innocent image. Here, instead of making the dinosaur sound dangerous, evil and machine-like, he makes it sound innocent and dainty, fragile and graceful. It doesn’t sound like the same dinosaur described earlier. This certainly helps you feel sympathy for the dinosaur, knowing it is about to be killed.

“Death grin”, however, soon brings us back to reality. This oxy moron combines grin, which we associate with being happy, with death- something horrifying which most people would choose not to talk about. This gives it an almost sinister feel, and helps to draw both tension and horror.

Next, Bradbury helps us to sympathise with the dinosaur once more, telling us how “it moved into a sunlit arena warily”. This choice of adverb combined with the metaphor makes the dinosaur sound shy, as though it doesn’t want to be in the spotlight, as though, perhaps, it knew it was being watched. It makes it sound as though, maybe, it is a bit scared, nervous- contrasting the earlier description which made us think of the dinosaur as cruel and unfeeling- as though it were scared of what might happen to it if it edged into the light. It really helps you to feel sympathy and perhaps even pity for the dinosaur.

He then describes how the dinosaur’s hands are “beautifully reptile”, once again beautifying the dinosaur and making us wonder why anyone would want to harm it.

To finish his exquisite description, Bradbury tells us how, when the dinosaur exhaled, “the stink of raw flesh blew down the wilderness”. This is a final reminder of how this beast eats meat, and would happily munch up one of us any day. Describing how it “blew down the wilderness” gives a last impression of the immense power within the dinosaur, its breath strong as a wind, blowing back trees and plants. This phrase turns the dinosaur into a terrible monster for one, last time.

Saint Joan scenes 1,2

The Sound of Thunder

The sound of thunder (part 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkLT57mVnGE

The sound of thunder (part 2)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqd4Ol8FlGc&feature=related

The sound of thunder (part 3)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xuq3kOwGGw&feature=related