Portrait of a Leader? George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan

Abstract

Characteristics of leadership, as they are discovered—or created—in scholarly research on the subject, will sometimes turn upon themselves. That is, positive qualities lead somewhat readily to negative qualities. An arena in which one might find this illustrated, surprisingly perhaps, is that of dramatic literature.

Looked at one way, this is not so surprising, as drama depends upon conflict, and conflict is inevitable when any leader's positive qualities take that negative turn. This essay chooses to pursue these ideas by looking at the treatment of one of history's most controversial “leaders,” Joan of Arc, by one of literature's most controversy-loving playwrights, George Bernard Shaw. Toward that end, the essay will put together a composite of the most widely acknowledged characteristics of a “leader,” then investigate the ways in which Shaw attributes those characteristics—and their negative corollaries—to his compelling and tragic portrait of Saint Joan.