Monday, September 16, 2013

At what point in her life did Joan of Arc make the following speech, "One life is all we have to live"? Is it historical?Full quote: "One life is...

I'm not sure whether the real Joan of Arc ever actually said these words. They are from Maxwell Anderson's play Joan of Lorraine. In Act 3 of the play, just before her execution, Joan says to Cauchon:

Each must believe for himself. Each soul chooses for itself. No other can choose for it; in all the world there is no authority for anyone save his own soul....Every man gives his life for what he believes. Every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing: One life is all we have, and we live it as we believe in living it, and then it's gone. But to surrender what you are, and live without belief--that's more terrible than dying--more terrible than dying young.

This play, starring Ingrid Bergman, was very successful, and Anderson later adapted it into a screenplay, again starring Bergman but retitled Joan of Arc.

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In Act III, scene 2, why may the establishment of Claudius's guilt be considered the crisis of the revenge plot?

The crisis of a drama usually proceeds and leads to the climax.  In Shakespeare's Hamlet , the proof that Claudius is guilty...