Joan of Arc Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Joan of curtain call - Research Paper ExampleThey again tangle that they would be able to hold on to the s everyplaceeignty of their nation and have their own king on the throne. Joan of Arc lived her life according to what she felt was the dictate of God. What she did was based on the visions that she had when she was a child nourishment in a village of France. Her rise to power in France was thus meteoric. Her death however, was equally tragic. A gruesome death at the hands of the English Church was hardly what she deserved after the line that she took for the sake of her motherland, France. Following her death, her memory was recovered and she has now entered into public consciousness through literature and diverse other sources. This paper shall seek to understand her position as a woman in the 15th century and attempt to answer the question as to whether this position affected the different choices that Joan of Arc took. Joan of Arcs entry into cut politics is looked upon with great surprise by m any who be old(prenominal) with the condition that women lay out themselves during the fifteenth century in France and for that matter, anywhere in the world. This is not a arrow to the immense clout that Joan of Arc wielded at this tear, right at the beginning of her career, but to the condition that France found herself in. ... She however, looked at the situation where the Count of Dunois had led France to and sought to reverse it. The siege of Orleans had started to look alike a hopeless affair as far as the French were concerned. The siege which had continued for over seven months had started to look ominous from the French point of view. This condition was changed to a large extent with the point where Joan of Arc enters the history of the Hundred Years War. Her journey to meet the Dauphin was the catalyst behind the revival of the French hopes as far as the continuance of their resistance was concerned (Pernoud 1999, 9-11)1. This journey was an uncommon one for any woman to undertake and this was the beginning of her suspension various stereotypes that are often assigned to women. This was a breaking of a barrier of customs that did not have such a precedent. Joan of Arc thus posture an example for those who were to follow her, providing them with an example of initiative. In the twenty first century, there are many women who are lauded for their political initiative and courage. One needs to remember that Joan of Arcs actions were taken in a conservative society where women were given much less freedom than they are in todays society. This makes her achievement all the more praiseworthy. Calling her the Ideal Androgyne, Marina Warner talks of Joans transvestism2 (1981, 140). Wearing vestments that were traditionally worn by men was something that Joan had to resort to so as to protect herself from sexual advances by male soldiers of both camps. This points to the condition that women had to face in society at the poin t of time when Joan was active. The grandness of this lies in the fact that even a person who was powerful in the larger 1. Pernoud