With Saint Joan, Shaw reached the height of his fame as a dramatist. Fascinated by the story of Joan of Arc (canonized in 1920), but unhappy with "...
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May 31, 2010
AB
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The first scene of this play is one of the most perfect, most hilarious things I've ever read; it's probably my favourite single scene of any play, or at least my favourite comedic scene. The interplay between de Baudricourt and his squire -- "Positive! Now see here. I am going to throw you downstairs," -- never stops being funny.
I was hesitant to actually read through the whole play, lest it somehow disappoint me and tarnish my love for Scene I, but I did, and it didn't.
I was hesitant to actually read through the whole play, lest it somehow disappoint me and tarnish my love for Scene I, but I did, and it didn't.
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Jul 22, 2011
David
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Joan of Arc was a hero of the French during the Hundred Years War against England and she is seen as being the crucial turning point that delivered the French from domination by the English. Even though it was only a couple of battles that she won, and that her life ended at the stake, it was enough to turn the tide of the war and over the next twenty years (though they still retained a foothold in Calais). At the time the play was written Joan had just been canonised by the church, and the pla
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Jul 30, 2009
Matt
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While listening to the discussion, it occurred to me about three-quarters of the way through our monthly book club meeting that Saint Joan really doesn't seem to be about Joan of Arc at all. As Shaw states in his (lengthy) preface
A villain in a play can never be anything more than a diabolus ex machina, possibly a more exciting expedient than a deus ex machina, but both equally mechanical, and therefore interesting only as a mechanism. It is, I repeat, what normally innocent people do that coMore...
Oct 13, 2011
Bettie
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Oct 21, 2011
Arcadius
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An interesting and entertaining take on Joan of Arc – historically very controversial (especially Shaw's insistence on Cauchon's political impartiality), but that needn't worry us. Historically justifiable or not, the acid exchanges we get between this Cauchon, principled upholder of canon law, and Warwick, who simply needs whatever PR cover he can get for Joan's politically imperative disposal, are one of the best things in the play.
There are many other good things too - notab More...
Oct 27, 2011
Shriya
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A question for everyone: How could anyone NOT like Saint Joan ? That it is 'beautifully well-written' goes without saying! (I mean, it's Bernard Shaw , guys? How can you find faults with him? He's the modern day combination of Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, though he probably would have taken a turn in his grave right now just because I called him that!) But what's beautiful about this play is, not only is it well-written but also, it is one of those rare tragedies which move you to tears and
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May 08, 2010
Charles
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Shaw has often tried my patience as a reader: Not only are the plays talky, but there are also those windy prefaces. And I once had a grad school roommate who was both a devout Shavian and bipolar: When he was manic and off his meds, he would deliver harangues on the greatness of GBS. This is just to say where I'm coming from in this attempt to read Saint Joan. To be fair, I don't think Saint Joan is a great play, but it's certainly a well-made one, efficient in exposition and full of witty spee
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Oct 09, 2011
Laura
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Aug 04, 2009
Noreen
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Unlike most of my friends in our bookclub I really enjoyed the play, but even more than the play I enjoyed Shaw's introduction to the play. Shaw's Joan is very black and white but then again sois every teeneager who has any belief system it may change over time but during those teenage years..... Thank God I'm 50 and don't have to deal with all the drama Opps I teach middle school yes I do deal with the drama every day.
Gratefully none of my students want to save France. But back to the pla More...
Gratefully none of my students want to save France. But back to the pla More...
Apr 08, 2010
Carly
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I didn't enjoy this as much as I had hoped to. Outside of Pygmalion, I was unfamiliar with Shaw's work although I did have a sense of him as a public personality. I felt that Joan was made too ancillary a character for a play that was about her; it seemed that long stretches of the play were of men in power discussing what to do with this uppity woman. I found Shaw's decision to set the most dramatic scenes off-stage (the battles, Joan's death) to be an inheritance from Greek drama but it didn't
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Apr 06, 2009
Sally
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I read this play many, many years ago in a wonderful seminar taught by Gavin Langmuir, in a seminar devoted to Joan of Arc. We read a long list of works about Joan of Arc -- she is one of the most written about historical figures. I remember thinking that George Bernard Shaw best captured the history and spirit of Joan of Arc, in comparison to the other authors whose works we read. I loved this play. (I have enjoyed several other plays by George Bernard Shaw over the years, which I'll have to a
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Jun 04, 2011
Alex
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Frankly i was quite disappointed, i bought this for the fact that it encased two great qualities one being Joan of Arc and the second George Bernard Shaw, now maybe it is my fault for having the expectations i had of a book that i knew was going to be more a biography of sorts than anything else but i never did expect to read something so boring. I'm not really sure what to say to prospective readers other than know that there isnt much in this play in the way of humor and prior to my reading it
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Aug 07, 2011
Amanda
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Saint Joan is a play that explores the life, death, and canonization of Joan of Arc.
Joan of Arc fascinates me and always has. She’s one of those people that I would love to go back in time to meet, even if she was probably schizophrenic and completely out of her head. She’s just so interesting, and she was so influential, to the point where she had to be killed in order to be silenced. While she fascinates me, though, I don’t believe I’ve ever read anything about her until now.
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Joan of Arc fascinates me and always has. She’s one of those people that I would love to go back in time to meet, even if she was probably schizophrenic and completely out of her head. She’s just so interesting, and she was so influential, to the point where she had to be killed in order to be silenced. While she fascinates me, though, I don’t believe I’ve ever read anything about her until now.
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Mar 14, 2009
Manny
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Shaw usually gets tagged as a liberal, progressive, left-wing type, but he was a very idiosyncratic one: you often find things that don't fit the stereotype. In particular, he thought that nationalism was a good thing, and that wars between countries were sometimes good too. This led him to support strange positions. In Major Barbara, he ends up arguing that what we would now call the military-industrial complex is positive, because it creates the wealth needed to rescue people from poverty. I t
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Jul 11, 2008
Dianna
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This is one of the most beautiful plays I've ever read. I’m so used to Shaw’s comedies that leave you giddy that I was taken by surprise when I realized it was a drama (excluding the scenes between Joan and Charles). Though G.B. Shaw likely did not believe that she spoke to angels, he must’ve been attracted to her strength and initiative. (And, hey, she essentially got a king crowned in Reims! What a maiden!)
Joan is written with such dignity and compassion that you cannot help More...
Joan is written with such dignity and compassion that you cannot help More...
Apr 14, 2009
Patty
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I don't usually enjoy reading plays, but with Saint Joan, Shaw has written a play that reads like a novel. Each of the characters has such a distinctive voice that I never lost track of the action. Shaw's Joan is a firebrand, a woman deeply in love with God, but also in love with the thrill of battle. While Joan is glorified as a saint in the final scene of the play, she is still embraced only at a distance, her holiness and blessedness appreciated best after those in authority, both in the C
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Oct 01, 2011
Chaya
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In Saint Joan, a saint is born and reborned—reborned as the symbol of hope for generations, as the Maid's tenacity inspires so much admiration it cannot be helped to call her a miracle. This was a truly inspiring and touching play, I could feel it when the wind changed on the river Loire and Joan, too, changed the history of France. It can be said that the play lacks villains, and it does; Shaw presents a sympathetic view everyone and puts Joan of Arc into a lens that shows her as a real human b
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Apr 07, 2010
Erik
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I first heard St. Joan performed on Chicago's WFMT as a radio play as a little boy. This is to say that my parents listened to it and allowed me to stay up for the whole thing. The production included the voices she claimed to hear. I had had auditions myself in feverish states and the portrayal was fascinatingly reminiscent. The whole while a spider was building her web on the lamp at my right hand, a web finished and already catching moths by the time of the play's conclusion.
I More...
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Nov 04, 2010
Paula
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This was the first time I've read anything about St. Joan since grade school. Reading Shaw's preface where he reminded the reader that she was just a teenager and how and why the church and politicans of that time period acted the way they did gave new meaning to the play for me. Shaw's opinion seemed quite honest about her life and made her real, not some over the top miracle worker.
Sep 19, 2007
Chris
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Interesting take on Joan. Shaw has clearly formed a very clear idea of her for himself, as his Introduction (also worth reading) took me longer than the play itself. It's not hagiography, but Joan is presented as a heroic, larger-than-life figure, but not one without flaws. She's also got a pretty great sense of humor as well. His depiction of Joan's inquisitors -- as faithful churchmen doing their job fairly and without cynicism -- makes for an interesting comparison with, for example, The
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Jun 19, 2011
Judy
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I listened to the audio version on my ipod. Excellent -- very funny and enlightening at the same time. I really did not know that much about Joan of Arc. I can see why some people don't care for Shaw's plays, lots of talking. But this was really amusing and not dull at all. I enjoyed it very much. The ending was especially original and interesting.
Feb 21, 2010
Etta
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Shaw's approach of Joan of Arc is somewhat different than most plays. He did a lot of research an sees her persecutors as men who are not evil and mean but who attempted to look at her situation in as fair a way as possible but according to the thining of the Middle Ages, in which indeed they lived. I would like to see the play on stage.
Jul 31, 2009
Jessi
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I wasn't really struck by this play. I leave with no lasting impressions or recommendations for other people to read it. I also discovered that my dislike of Shakespeare in high school was only due to the archaic language and stupid plot lines....seriously.....14 year olds killing themselves over a boyfriend....like we need to give kids that idea.
Anyways, back to my point. I discovered I don't really like the format. It's hard for me to connect and keep track of characters in way More...
Anyways, back to my point. I discovered I don't really like the format. It's hard for me to connect and keep track of characters in way More...
Nov 02, 2008
Jacqueline
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I remember reading this play in 7th grade, and I remember being really confused. After reading Romeo and Juliet in 9th grade and Death of a Salesman in 10th grade, I thought it would be nice to give Saint Joan another try, and I realized that I really liked it.
The play is about Joan of Arc, who is accused of heresy after attempting to help the French win the Hundred Years War. In 7th grade, I thought the storyline had been really confusing and dumb, but when I read the play again thi More...
The play is about Joan of Arc, who is accused of heresy after attempting to help the French win the Hundred Years War. In 7th grade, I thought the storyline had been really confusing and dumb, but when I read the play again thi More...
Sep 23, 2010
Laura
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In my opinion, this was one of G. B. Shaw's more serious/philosophical plays, though it still had quite a bit of humor in it. It is the story of Joan of Arc, dramatized and modernized. I found it quite hilarious when the characters would be speaking in Old English and then a very modern phrase would just pop out, and that out of nowhere.
Feb 11, 2012
Harjeet Inder Singh
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It is a stupendous critique of the shoddy justice system of the times of Joan of Arc, who was at first burnt at the stake, then rehabilitated in the Church and finally beatified and canonized several centuries later. Joan of Arc was a courageous and bold woman who helped drive the English off French soil.
Oct 21, 2011
Donna
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I listened to Hollywood Theater of the Ear's production and it was great fun. I could pick out several voices of audiobook performers that I instantly recognized. Shaw had some fun with putting his own spin on the life and death of Joan, and the epiloge is the best part of the production!
Dec 17, 2009
Slightly
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Most Joan of Arc stories are rather one sided. They clothe Joan in a white hat and the Inquisitors in black hats. the plot turns into a rather bland "hero's journey". Shaw doesn't do that.
He looked at the story through a sympathetic lens. It was refreshing to catch myself agreeing with the "bad guys". When Joan came face to face with her judge and jury, I could feel the conflict within some of the jury members regarding Joan's status as Saint or Witch.
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He looked at the story through a sympathetic lens. It was refreshing to catch myself agreeing with the "bad guys". When Joan came face to face with her judge and jury, I could feel the conflict within some of the jury members regarding Joan's status as Saint or Witch.
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Nov 11, 2011
"St. Joan contains not only some of the playwright's most acerbic writing but also his most poetic." - New York Times
Listen to Saint Joan on your smartphone.
Listen to Saint Joan on your smartphone.
Sep 07, 2009
Tucker
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I think I liked Shaw's lengthy 1924 preface at least as much as the play! The preface provides a biography of Joan of Arc, explains Shaw's opinions on similar works, and contributes enormously to the understanding of the short play.
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