Saint Joan (1923) and Shaw's Feminist ‘Vision(s)’
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63635/mrj.v2i1.253Keywords:
George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan, Gender, Feminism, Discourse AnalysisAbstract
This paper examines the literary contribution of the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) to the contemporary discourse on gender by analysing the female protagonist Saint Joan (1923). The researcher analyses the debates during First Wave Feminism and Second-wave Feminism on one hand and Shaw’s literary output on the other hand to argue that Shaw not only remained a strong advocate of First Wave concerns but anticipated the Second Wave concerns ahead of their emergence in the second half of the twentieth century. The paper engages in critical discourse analysis and examination of Saint Joan’s character in the context of key theories and arguments of Second-wave Feminism. Through such a critical examination, the paper seeks to argue that Shaw may be viewed as one of the precursors to the complex development of feminist theories that constituted Second-wave Feminism.
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References
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