Function of Gender in Career of Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc claimed the voices of angels and saints urged her to undertake military action. Despite her subsequent condemnation and execution, Joan remains one of the wonders of history because she accomplished so much while defying most of the rules defining women's roles. The effects of her intervention were immediate and permanent. The siege of Orleans was raised, Charles VII was crowned king of France, the legitimacy of his line was accepted, and the notion of the French kings as rulers by divine right was firmly established. Within a few years of Joan's death the English were finally driven out of France. These things were achieved by a peasant girl who was directed by visions to act as if she were a male aristocrat. To achieve so much while behaving in such an anomalous fashion seems contradictory. But rather than being obstacles for her to overcome, Joan's behaviors were the specific means by which she was fitted her for her historic role. Taken as a whole, the combination of visionary claims, transvestism, intense piety, and Joan's own character gave her mission greater credibility than might have been the case if any of these elements were lacking. An analysis of the functions of gender in the career of Joan of Arc will demonstrate how a young peasant woman could achieve everything she did.

The most important aspects of Joan's complexly gendered self-presentation were her rejection of traditional female reproductive roles, her assumption of permanent vir

Related Essays

Joan of Arc Joan of was a transvestite myst .... An analysis of the functions of gender in the career of Joan of .... This non-female persona had a double function--it was essential, in a social sense, to her .... (5172 21 )

Political Importance of Joan of Arc Joan of was a transvestite .... An analysis of the functions of gender in the career of Joan of .... This non-female persona had a double function--it was essential, in a social sense, to her .... (4528 18 )

a few others) the desire to act in "imitatio Christi" may also have been a motivating force in making the choice to dress as a man (54). The analysis of the complex of reasons that lay behind Joan's choices regarding dress and behavior will demonstrate how the development of this complicated self-presentation enabled Joan to carry forward her mission. A further effect of Joan's gender was that, in combination with her low social status and her standing as a pious mystic, her sex made her, essentially, a disinterested party. Women and peasants were not involved in high-level politics (with the exception of women such as Charles VII's mother, the Queen of Sicily) and Joan's claims regarding her divine mission were the claims of a young woman who had no particular stake in the matters in which she became involved. Whether the French believed her mission to be divinely inspired or not, they were able to use her claims to support those of Charles because, as a woman and a peasant, the outcome of the battles between the English and the French really had very little bearing on her own life. Had she remained in DomrTmy, married, and led an ordinary life, the identity of the ruler of France would have had very little impact on her.

Category: Psychology - F