Play Saint Joan example essay topic

Rebellion is open resistance against or defiance of any authority or control. It is portrayed in a variety of texts using many techniques, such as costume, hairstyle, contrast, time-lapse photography and battle imagery, to highlight the rebellion. Some texts containing rebellion include the play by George Bernard Shaw titled 'Saint Joan', Luc Besson's movie 'Joan of Arc', Alfred Noyes' romantic ballad named 'The Highwayman', a speech of Dr. Martin Luther and a newspaper article titled 'City throbs to drumbeat of peace'. The play named Saint Joan by Bernard Shaw is set in the early 15th century in France when it was being invaded by the English, from the north. The Dauphin, later to be Charles VII, was to be crowned King at Reims Cathedral in north-eastern France, but that part of France was in English hands and the French were powerless to do anything about this. Joan is a girl from the small town of Door " my, who rebels against the English and then the Church.

She is inspired by her celestial voices, which she believes are from God. At the commencement of the play, she tells the local lord about these voices. The voices exhort her to request the Dauphin for an army that she can use to attack the English. Despite her military successes, Joan is captured by the Burgundians, who sell her to their allies, the English.

At the end of the play, she is burnt at the stake for rebelling against the church, which is a convenient way to get rid of her. In fact, Joan's claims are embarrassing the Church, and it is an embarrassment to the French that a woman, not a man, led the military successes that helped remove the English from French soil. Joan's rebellion is portrayed by her costumes, hairstyle and convincing dialogues. She does not dress or acts like other women of those days. She is determined to fight in the battles against Britain, wearing armour and men's clothes. Joan also cuts her hair to reduce the disparity between her and the rest of the men in her army, a very rebellious act against society's codes for the appearance of women.

When she is being tried by the Church, she states that she does not need to be forgiven by the Church as long as God knows she is innocent, she will go to heaven. Her strong dialogues surprise and infuriate the leaders of the church, who see her as a threat to their control, and to their manhood. This is ultimately what leads to Joan's downfall. Luc Besson's film Joan of Arc is based on the Shaw's play, In the movie, Joan's rebellion is caused by a combination of factors. Firstly, Joan's hatred and fear of the English due to her witnessing her sister's rape and murder, provides motivation for her to rebel against the authority of the English.

This adds information that the play does not have. Secondly, Joan's voices and visions that she believes are from God tell her to rebel. Thirdly, the Dauphine and the Church each support Joan and encourage her to rebel for their own political gain. In the end, in an ironic twist, Joan is betrayed by her church and her prince so she is forced into either rebelling against them or compromising her values. Joan's costume portrays her rebellion against society. As in the play 'Saint Joan', she wears men's clothes and cuts her hair.

She also does not wear any makeup, which was considered rebellious in those times, as it was considered in society that women had to wear make-up and look beautiful. Of course, Joan is a peasant girl, and is not really part of high society, but once she begins to mix in that company, she is expected to conform to the values and attitudes of the nobility. Time-lapse photography is used during Joan's visions, which were either slowed down or speeded up to illustrate the emphasis of her visions, which are a significant motivating factor in her rebellion. Joan is very confident and inspires the soldiers to fight and defeat the English. The contrast in character, of Joan from other women, emphasises her rebellion. Joan's rebellion is also illustrated in the battle scenes where she is filmed fighting and killing the English.

Her hatred of the English can be viewed in these scenes where the director has not censored the brutality. Many newspaper articles also portray rebellion. On 17th February 2003 in the Sydney Morning Herald, an article was published, about the demonstrations in Sydney, with the heading 'City throbs to drumbeat of peace'. The rebellion portrayed in this text is the organised rally in Sydney against Australia's involvement in the American-led war on Iraq.

It uses facts and figures, vignettes, pictures, emotive and descriptive words to illustrate rebellion. The people demonstrating are doing so against the actions of the Australian Federal Government. The article says, that there are '250,000 Sydney protestors', which make the article and the march more persuasive because of the large number of people rebelling together. This idea contrasts with Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, because in the play there is only a sole rebel, Joan. The article uses vignettes, which are the comments and stories of some protesters. An example would be the story of Mr. Wright who is described in the article as a 'retired electrician in his 70s'.

He said 'he was marching alone because his wife is a Howard supporter. ' The effect of this device is to make the article more personal and persuasive because the readers can see the protester's point of view. Pictures are included of the protesters whose stories are told. This graphic makes it easier for the readers to relate to them.

The speech of Dr. Martin Luther was given for Emperor Charles and the Princess at Worms on April 18. The speech was written against the Church of the time, which laid claim to being the only body that could understand and interpret the Bible. The Church was in fact very corrupt and its members swindled the public by making people pay for various blessings. In his speech, Dr. Martin Luther rebels against and criticises the Church. The speech portrays rebellion and gets its point of view across effectively because Dr. Luther has very strong self-belief and backs-up his arguments very effectively. The speech Is very powerful and persuasive because Martin Luther had utter belief that God was on his side.

He states '... from the proof of such a revocation on my part, their wholly lawless and unrestrained kingdom of wickedness would become still more intolerable for the already wrenched people' because he believed he was right. This attack on the Catholic Church effectively made him a rebel. Joan in the play 'Saint Joan' also believed in her self, and that God was on her side. Martin Luther, unlike Joan, has the advantage of a strong education, so he is able to back all his arguments with references from the Bible, which was considered the word of God.

He accuses the Church of interpreting the Bible for its advantage and says that this is very different to his understanding of how God wants the Bible interpreted. Dr. Martin Luther's speech is effective because it is passionate, but honest and very well researched. "The Highwayman" is a romantic ballad by Alfred Noyes. It is about a man who is a colourful robber that holds up coaches to make a living. He is in love with Bess, the daughter of a tavern landlord. However, so is the young man who cleans the stables and this causes him to inform on the highwayman whom he overhears telling Bess, "One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize tonight, / But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light".

It is a tale about two lovers who both rebel against authority. The highwayman chooses his romantic way of life over the constraints placed on him by society. He knows that what he does can bring about his death. This idea of rebellion contrasts dramatically with George Shaw's 'Saint Joan'. Instead of romantic costumes and a saucy image, St Joan suffers the blood and pain of war. She is driven by voices she believes are from God, and martyrs herself for her beliefs.

The highwayman just wants adventure and cash. However, like Joan, the authorities kill the highwayman. Unlike Joan he does not have the privilege of a trial for he is "shot... like a dog on the highway" an image that dehumanizes him and suggests that society is totally intolerant of rebels. Rebellion is thus portrayed in many texts, through the use of a variety of techniques, showing that it occurs everywhere on different scales, and for different reasons.

It can range from something as simple as not doing homework intentionally to the armed resistance of an established government. Everyone rebels! by Hemant Vaswani.