Joan's lasting significance
The memory of Joan of Arc lives on today as a model for several different social and political movements. For the French, she has long been a national heroine. For supporters of women's rights, she is a martyr who defied brutal male oppression and insisted on doing what she thought right, even if it violated social convention. For revolutionaries, she shows the way to overcome rigid power structures. She is a particular inspiration to political prisoners suffering mental and physical torture. For most who know her story even a little, she is a supreme example of courage and honesty in the face of cruelty and deadly danger.
The works of many authors deal with the life of Joan of Arc. Friedrich Schiller, a German poet and playwright, wrote the drama The Maid of Orleans (1801). Saint Joan (1923), a famous play by Irish-born playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw, shows Joan as a woman with Protestant beliefs who opposed the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church.
Excerpt adapted from the
"Joan of Arc, Saint" article, The World Book Encyclopedia © 1999