Working on
George Bernard Shaw
Monologues
The Art of Rhetoric Argument
SAINT
JOAN
Before
JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them. You
have not sat in the field in the evening listening for them.
When the angelus rings you cross yourself and have done
with it; but if you prayed from your heart, and listened to the
thrilling of the bells in the air after they stop ringing, you
would hear the voices as well as I do. (Turning brusquely
from him) But what voices do you need to tell you what the
blacksmith can tell you: that you must strike while the iron is
hot? I tell you we must make a dash at Compiègne and
relieve it as we relieved Orleans. Then Paris will open its
gates; or if not, we will break through them. What is your
crown worth without your capital?
Saint Joan
Beginnings, Middles and Ends
JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them.
You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for
them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself and
have done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, and
listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after they
stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.
(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do you
need to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: that
you must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we must
make a dash at Compiègne and relieve it as we relieved
Orleans. Then Paris will open its gates; or if not, we will
break through them. What is your crown worth without
your capital?
Beginning is a response. Middle is one argument in two parts. End is a
final rhetorical question.
Looking For Lists:
Verb Action
JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them.
You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for
them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself and
have done with it; but if you prayed¹ from your heart, and
listened to the thrilling² of the bells in the air after they
stop ringing, you would hear³ the voices as well as I do.
(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do you
need to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: that
you must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we must
make a dash¹ at Compiègne and relieve² it as we
relieved Orleans. Then Paris will open³ its gates; or if
not, we will break4 through them. What is your crown
worth without your capital?
1→2→3: verb action drives the idea forward. Notice past, present, future verb
progression in the 1st example. Whenever you see a list, use it to your advantage:
forward momentum, rhythm.
Looking For Parallel Structures:
Compare/Contrast or Antithesis
JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them.
You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for
them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself and
have done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, and
listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after they
stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.
(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do you
need to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: that
you must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we must
make a dash at Compiègne and relieve it as we relieved
Orleans. Then Paris will open its gates; or if not, we will
break through them. What is your crown worth without
your capital?
Compare/contrast drives the idea forward. Whenever you see this
structure, find which words need lifting to make the point crystal clear.
Punctuation (or Drive For Curtain)
Period. End of an idea. Drive forward → to each one, then // stop.
Colon: The clause that comes after a : is dependent on the earlier clause. It is a
continuation, a modification, clarification. The : means the idea is not finished.
Drive forward: →
Semi-colon; The clause that comes after a ; is a clause that could stand on its
own, but it achieves greater meaning if linked to the earlier clause.
Drive forward; →
E x p a n d e d Word. Shaw’s italics.
Dashes. Sets off parenthetical ideas.
Ellipses. Rarely used.
Breathing: Full stops // at periods. Catch breaths # elsewhere.
Oral/Aural signal: Downward glide↓ at periods. Upward↑ or neutral→
(sideways) glide elsewhere.
Pronunciation
JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them.
You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for
them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself and
have done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, and
listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after they
stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.
(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do you
need to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: that
you must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we must
make a dash at Compiègne and relieve it as we relieved
Orleans. Then Paris will open its gates; or if not, we will
break through them. What is your crown worth without
your capital?
More often than not, choose the Anglicized pronunciations: an’-je-lus,
Cohm-pyen’, Or-leenz’ or Or’-le-enz, Pa’-ris.
Web Resources
Whatever you do, look it up and be
consistent.
http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/audio/
http://www.yourdictionary.com/
www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/s (free e-texts)
Tactics
JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them.
You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for
them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself and
Tactic
change
have done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, and
listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after they Tactic
change
stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.
(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do you
need to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: that
you must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we must
make a dash at Compiègne and relieve it as we relieved
Orleans. Then Paris will open its gates; or if not, we will
Tactic
break through them. What is your crown worth without
change
your capital?
Structure: With each tactic Joan compares herself to them.
Word Quality
JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them.
You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for
them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself and
have done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, and
listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after they
stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.
(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do you
need to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: that
you must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we must
make a dash at Compiègne and relieve it as we relieved
Orleans. Then Paris will open its gates; or if not, we will
break through them. What is your crown worth without
your capital?
Note change in weight and feel and sound. Crown/capital- hard ‘k’
sounds, alliterative.
GBS-In his own voice
I am old. Over eighty, in fact. Also, I have a white beard;
and these two facts are somehow associated in people’s
minds with wisdom: that’s a mistake. If a person’s a born
fool, the folly will get worse, not better, by a long life’s
practice. By having lived four times as long as any of
you, gives me only one advantage over you: I have
carried small boys in my arms--and girls--and see them
grow into sixth form scholars; then into young men and
women in the flower of youth and beauty; then into
brides and bridegrooms who think one another much
better and lovelier than they really are; then into middle
age paterfamiliases and anxious mothers with elderly
spreads; and finally I’ve attended their cremations(?).
Well, now, you maynt think much of this, but just
consider: some of your school fellows may surprise you
by getting hanged; others of whom you have the lowest
opinion who turn out to be geniuses and become one of
the great men of your time: therefore always be nice to
young people.
The Four Examinations
Some of the questions can be answered whole or
in part textually within the monologue alone, but
not all.
You must read the rest of the play for the other
answers.
Don’t surmise. Don’t make things up. Answers
must be supported textually, book and verse. Tell
me where in the text your answer is supported.
Your Assignment
•
•
•
•
•
Read over the assignment carefully.
Choose your monologue.
Memorize/Prepare it thoroughly.
Read the play.
Hand in a copy of your monologue with
text work. (see Instruction page)
• Hand in a separate page answering the
basic questions. (see Instruction page.)