spaceisavacuum 's review for:

Joan of Arc by Mark Twain

5.0

adventurous inspiring fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Joan D’arc may have been a lot of things. They named her the lion heart, the standard bearer, the maid of Orleans, the Deliverer of France. it seemed nothing could be impossible to this empowered warrior that, putting aside Muliebrities, never told lies, entirely self-sacrificing and entirely antonymously self-seeking, so despite the tragedy of being burned, had to be a Buddha. More precisely, a Saint, since everything she did for the love of God and country. She embodied patriotism for beloved France; she dressed as a man and wore his armor, commanding legions of French soldiers against the encroachment of British armies. & by victory, pride had gotten the best of her, as they say that pride cometh before a fall- & at her trial, must’ve been the case of the century, she incited the Pope of Rome to speak for her; even as her beloved King did not. 

“When a person in Joan of Arc’s position tells a man he is brave, he believes it; and believing it is enough; in fact to believe yourself brave is to be brave; it is the one only essential thing.” 

Another great thing Joan reproached (Oh, Joan never reproached;} when asked why it was her standard placed at the crowning of her King, she responded the famous and, to the day probably the best translation accredited to Mark Twain; ‘Il avait ete a la peine, c’etait bien raison qu’il fut a l’honneur’ I leave it in French to preserve the sanctity of its depth. A courageous firebrand that sought merit in every action; and her name would outlast the human race, far more than her pursuers that’d soil her name and threaten to abjure; then the elocution she demonstrated at her trial depended on the prosecution cleaving their orchestrated jury; for her notoriety had been in her favor; they attempted many tactics to force the issue, that because she dressed in mens clothing, that she was a witch. & that she heard the voices of Catherine, and they designed this treachery against her, she never abjured. ‘Passez outre,” was all she said. 

“Joan of Arc was the only power in France that the English did not despise, the only power in France that they considered formidable.” 

So she’d given her life in aid of France, only to be excommunicated by the ‘powers that be’, namely the Church; that sanctimonious arbiter & prognosticator of obsolete mendacity. But for Joan, nothing could dull her faith in God; & for that steadfast loyalty of Goodness, May 8th is honored to Joan D’arc.