The Greater Good
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4 word format
document in English
ancient history
school essay
published 19/10/2007
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level : Advanced
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SummaryJoan of Arc never lived to hear her own name; she never lived to see her own deliverance. Jeanne la Pucelle (Joan the Maid) died a heretic. Redeemed twenty-five years later at the nullification of the Rouen trial that sentenced her to the stake, Joan finally earned the honor behind the surname D’Arc, but not before cementing a dichotomy larger than the split between England and France. Was Joan of Arc truly a messenger of God, or merely a girl spawned by satanic delusions or personal vendettas? History fails Joan; it is not even known for sure her date of birth or her exact age at death. Régine Pernoud, in her book Joan of Arc: Her Story, paints a portrait of Jeanne left incomplete by lack of fact and verification. Even her accompanying collection of interviews and transcripts, Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses, presents a one-dimensional Joan void of any emotion beyond her devotion to God. Such reckless piousness is hard to believe. Most fictional accounts of the Maid sacrifice spirituality in the name of humanity. Even William Shakespeare in his theatrical representation of King Henry VI presents Joan as the basest of villains, weak to the point of embracing Satan to save her own life. This English propaganda, common in decades following the end of the 100 Years War, presents a strikingly human Joan in comparison to the French obsession with her as icon alone: it is easier to sympathize with Joan as a lost girl torn on the eve of her death than as a devout Christian unbreakable even by the thought of fire and damnation. In his film The Messenger, Luc Besson attempts to find understanding in the story of Jeanne la Pucelle, a kind of humanity disallowed by history and Joan herself.
Table of Contents
- Joan of Arc never lived to hear her own name; she never lived to see her own deliverance.
- Aside from information gathered at Domrémy during both the original Rouen trial and its subsequent nullification trial, Joan the Maid's childhood is for the most part an empty slate.
- Besson also introduces a sister of Jeanne, Catherine, who is killed and raped by the advancing English army while saving Joan in Domrémy.
- For the most part, Joan of Arc was an onlooker.
- Most attempts to view Joan of Arc beyond a simply religious context, and consequently, as a person instead of as a spiritual icon, revolve around her military campaigns.
- Miracles, visions and voices are things most people do not believe in.
- When asked, she admitted to the voice of God having told her to carry this sword alongside the banner He designed in greatest detail.
- Simply stated, Luc Besson presents a Joan who does not even believe herself.
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