St. Joan — George B. Shaw

Picture an institution that insists, loudly and sincerely, that it only wants to save the person it is about to destroy. That exact contradiction is the trial scene George Bernard Shaw built in 1923 around the real trial of Joan of Arc, executed for heresy in 1431 at nineteen. The exam does not ask you about the war she won. It asks whether you can see the politics hiding inside the piety of her judges.

In two minutes

Saint Joan (1923) turns the historical heresy trial of Joan of Arc into an argument that the Church's stated concern for her soul concealed a political need to silence her private conscience — and almost every recurring question on this topic asks you to prove that.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of English – II on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.