:86 THE MODERN STAGE

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Which speech expresses the attitude of the audience towards Joan's
eccentricities ?

2. It is a commonplace to say that long speeches in plays are cun-
dramatic*. What is meant by this statement?

3.' The Inquisitor's speech at the beginning of the extract is one of the
longest in modern drama., and yet it is intensely interesting, on the
stage3 as well as in the study. Why is this?

4. Compare the Inquisitor's speech with that of John Antony in Strife
(p. 147). What is the chief difference between the attitudes of the
two men as they speak?

5. Imagine that you are producing Saint Jo an, and complete the following
statement^ addressed to the actors. *No matter how well the Inquisi-
tor's speech is delivered^ it will lose the greater part of its effect if-----'

6. How is the scrupulous fairness of the Inquisitor and Cauchon towards
Joan emphasized^ apart from what they say in their speeches ?

7. What is the dramatic purpose of the talk about the carp when Joan
enters, and of her display of vanity when the Inquisitor calls her a
shepherd lass?

8. To what class of person does Courcelles belong?

9. Which character is it whose presence on the stage shows the funda-
mental difference between the outlook of the Inquisitor and that of
the modern church? What is the difference?

10. What was Joan's heresy? Which speech in the play puts it most
clearly?