Saint Joan

First published in 1923, 'Saint Joan' is a play by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist, and political activist. The tragedy outlines the life of the peasant girl who led French troops to victory over the English in the Hundred Years' War. An avid socialist, Shaw regarded his writing as a vehicle for promoting his political and humanitarian views and exposing hypocrisy. With Saint Joan, he reached the height of his fame, and it was this play that led to his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925. Shaw's heroine is unlike any previous interpretation-not a witch, saint, or madwoman but a pre-feminist icon, possessed of innate intelligence and leadership qualities that challenge the authority of church and state. She is also a real human being, warm and sincere, whose flaws include an obstinacy that leads to her undoing.