 Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Table of Contents Conflict Protagonist The Protagonist of the play is the nation of England. It is represented in the person of Lord Talbot. Talbot, with his heroic ideals, stands for everything good and noble that the nation holds close to its heart. The portrayal of Talbot depends on an ideal of aristocratic conduct that is indigenous to sixteenth-century England. The focus is on English chivalry and all those attributes that reveal why the English have traditionally been rulers of the French. Talbot is the last of the great English peers who made England what it is. Antagonists There are two main antagonists in the play that threaten and destroy the protagonist. Joan, who personifies all, that is evil, treacherous and unworthy about France, is the first of these. She is a direct contrast to the noble heroism of Talbot. She wins, not by valor, but by deceit and witchcraft, thereby achieving a tainted victory. The second antagonist is the rivalry and dispute that spring up between the English noblemen and rocks the English solidarity to its very care. It is this internal dissension that leads to the defeat and death of Talbot. Selfish concern for personal interest seen in the English noblemen causes England to lose hard-won French territories. One powerful instance of this is the marriage arrangement of Henry VI make by Suffolk, causing the King to ignobly break off a previous engagement and also lose Maine and Anjou in the bargain. Climax From her very first appearance, Joan succeeds in leading the French to victory against the English. But the true moment of climax arrives when the French forces trap Talbot. Both the antagonists contribute to his entrapment: Joan by her clever military advice that guides the Dauphin’s military maneuvers and the factious English noblemen, York and Somerset, whose antagonism results in the delay of aid that would have saved Talbot from entrapment. Outcome Talbot dies and with his death passes away all the glory and idealism of the great English warrior. The French succeed in killing Talbot, aided by devious planning and the forces of evil. Talbot was the greatest and mightiest of all English warriors. The French feared him greatly and the English depended on him immensely to lead them to success. With him die the greatest terror of the French and the only hope of English victory in France. His death takes away the advantage of the English leaving them at an equal footing with the French. It is this standoff, with no chance of a decisive victory for either side that finally leads up to an agreement of peace on both sides. Table of Contents | |
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