 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 Act III, Scene II Summary Joan and some of her soldiers disguised as peasants enter the city of power. At her signal, the French, led by Dauphin attack the city. The leaders of the two sides encounter each other in a parley (conference). Talbot invites them to a battle but the French refuse his offer. Talbot and Burgundy vow to win Rouen back. The dying Duke of Bedford elects to stay in the field and watch the English fight. Fastolfe, fearing the coming battle, flees from the scene. After witnessing the defeat of the French, Bedford dies a happy man. After giving the Duke of Bedford a noble funeral, the English leave for Paris, where Henry VI lies with his noblemen. Notes The entire tilt of the scene is on the glory and greatness of the English. Even the victory that the French win is a disgrace because they will by deceit. Then they compound their disgrace by refusing to fight in the field like real warriors. This is a scene of contrasts. The first is between Talbot and Joan. He treats her with disgust and whenever he addresses her or refers to her he uses strong language. She, on the other hand, refuses to respond to his angry taunts. Her whole attitude is tinted by pragmatic common sense and Talbot’s threats do not intimidate her. In fact, she ridicules his angry outburst by saying," If Talbot do but thunder, rain will follow." The second contrast is between the two English noblemen: Bedford and Fastolfe. The older one, even though he is dying, he refuses to have the field. The other can think of nothing except to save his own neck. Whereas Bedford personifies every virtue of a noble English warrior, Fastolfe is the epitome of disgrace and as the captain says, he is a "Cowardly Knight." As Talbot says, this scene shows the "double honor" of the English losing and then recovering Rouen in one day. After recovering Rouen and once again installing the English there, Talbot is ready to depart for Paris to pay his respects to the young Henry VI. Table of Contents | |
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