History, religion and genius in shaw’s saint joan

The distinction of G B Shaw’s works lie in their lucidity and clarity. The writer was a tireless crusader for social rights and justice. He advocated the intellectual development of the people. The importance of ideas as the basis for dramatic conflict is the central tenet of his dramatic art. He preferred to open up the minds of his audience. As a free thinker and a believer in radical nationalism, his keen interest in dialogue and verbal wit often turns the stage into a forum for propagating ideas. Saint Joan foregrounds fundamentalism and justice. This paper takes into consideration Shaw specific features of dramatic art (Greene 1984) put in practice in Saint Joan to show how Shaw remains one of the pioneers in bringing polemical discourse and its ramifications onto the stage.