Working on George Bernard Shaw Monologues

7/30/2019 Working on George Bernard Shaw Monologues

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Working on

George Bernard Shaw

Monologues

The Art of Rhetoric Argument


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SAINT

JOAN


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Before

JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them. You

have not sat in the field in the evening listening for them.When the angelus rings you cross yourself and have done

with it; but if you prayed from your heart, and listened to the

thrilling of the bells in the air after they stop ringing, you

would hear the voices as well as I do. (Turning brusquelyfrom him) But what voices do you need to tell you what the

blacksmith can tell you: that you must strike while the iron is

hot? I tell you we must make a dash at Compigne and

relieve it as we relieved Orleans. Then Paris will open its

gates; or if not, we will break through them. What is yourcrown worth without your capital?

Saint Jo an


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Beginnings, Middles and Ends

JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them.

You have not sat in the field in the evening listening forthem. When the angelus rings you cross yourself andhave done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, andlistened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after theystop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.

(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do youneed to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: thatyou must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we mustmake a dash at Compigne and relieve it as we relievedOrleans. Then Paris will open its gates; or if not, we will

break through them. What is your crown worth withoutyour capital?

Beginning is a response. Middle is one argument in two parts. End is a

final rhetorical question.


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Looking For Lists:

Verb Action

JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them.You have not sat in the field in the evening listening forthem. When the angelus rings you cross yourself andhave done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, andlistened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after theystop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do youneed to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: thatyou must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we mustmake a dash at Compigne and relieve it as werelieved Orleans. Then Paris will open its gates; or if

not, we will break4

through them. What is your crownworth without your capital?

123: verb action drives the idea forward. Notice past, present, future verb

progression in the 1st example. Whenever you see a list, use it to your advantage:

forward momentum, rhythm.


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Looking For Parallel Structures:

Compare/Contrast or Antithesis


You have not sat in the field in the evening listening forthem. When the angelus rings you cross yourself andhave done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, andlistened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after theystop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.

(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do youneed to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: thatyou must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we mustmake a dash at Compigne and relieve it as we relievedOrleans. Then Paris will open its gates; or if not, we will


Compare/contrast drives the idea forward. Whenever you see this

structure, find which words need lifting to make the point crystal clear.


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Punctuation (or Drive For Curtain)

Period. End of an idea. Drive forward to each one, then // stop.

Colon: The clause that comes after a : is dependent on the earlier clause. It is a

continuation, a modification, clarification. The : means the idea is not finished.

Drive forward:

Semi-colon; The clause that comes after a ; is a clause that could stand on its

own, but it achieves greater meaning if linked to the earlier clause.

Drive forward;

E x p a n d e d Word. Shaws italics.

Dashes. Sets off parenthetical ideas.

Ellipses. Rarely used.

Breathing: Full stops // at periods. Catch breaths # elsewhere.

Oral/Aural signal: Downward glide at periods. Upward or neutral

(sideways) glide elsewhere.


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Pronunciation

JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them.You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for

them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself andhave done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, andlistened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after theystop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do youneed to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: thatyou must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we mustmake a dash at Compigne and relieve it as we relievedOrleans. Then Paris will open its gates; or if not, we will


More often than not, choose the Anglicized pronunciations: an-je-lus,

Cohm-pyen, Or-leenz or Or-le-enz, Pa-ris.


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Web Resources

Whatever you do, look it up and be

consistent.

http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/audio/

http://www.yourdictionary.com/

www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/s (free e-texts)
http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/audio/http://www.yourdictionary.com/http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/shttp://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/shttp://www.yourdictionary.com/http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/audio/


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Tactics


You have not sat in the field in the evening listening forthem. When the angelus rings you cross yourself and

have done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, and

listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after they

stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.

(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do you

need to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: that

you must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we must

make a dash at Compigne and relieve it as we relieved

Orleans. Then Paris will open its gates; or if not, we willbreak through them. What is your crown worth without

your capital?

Tactic

change

Tactic

change

Tactic

change

Structure: With each tactic Joan compares herself to them.


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Word Quality

JOAN. They do come to you; but you do not hear them.You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for

them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself andhave done with it; but if you prayed from yourheart, andlistened to the thrilling of the bells in the airafter theystop ringing, you would hearthe voices as well as I do.(Turning brusquely from him) But what voices do you

need to tell you what the blacksmith can tell you: thatyou must strike while the iron is hot? I tell you we mustmake a dash at Compigne and relieve it as we relievedOrleans. Then Paris will open its gates; or if not, we willbreak through them. What is yourcrown worth without

yourcapital?

Note change in weight and feel and sound. Crown/capital- hard k

sounds, alliterative.


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GBS-In his own voice


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I am old. Over eighty, in fact. Also, I have a white beard;and these two facts are somehow associated in peoplesminds with wisdom: thats a mistake. If a persons aborn fool, the folly will get worse, not better, by a long

lifes practice. By having lived four times as long as anyof you, gives me only one advantage over you: I havecarried small boys in my arms--and girls--and see themgrow into sixth form scholars; then into young men andwomen in the flower of youth and beauty; then into

brides and bridegrooms who think one another muchbetter and lovelier than they really are; then into middleage paterfamiliases and anxious mothers with elderlyspreads; and finally Ive attended their cremations(?).Well, now, you maynt think much of this, but justconsider: some of your school fellows may surprise you

by getting hanged; others of whom you have the lowestopinion who turn out to be geniuses and become one ofthe great men of your time: therefore always be nice toyoung people.


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The Four Examinations

Some of the questions can be answered whole orin part textually within the monologue alone, butnot all.

You must read the rest of the play for the otheranswers.

Dont surmise. Dont make things up. Answers

must be supported textually, book and verse.Tell me where in the text your answer issupported.


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Your Assignment

Read over the assignment carefully.

Choose your monologue.

Memorize/Prepare it thoroughly. Read the play.

Hand in a copy of your monologue with

text work. (see Instruction page) Hand in a separate page answering the

basic questions. (see Instruction page.)

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