From "Sorceress" To "Saintess"

Joan of arc has important functions in the history of France, As a medieval character, shewas one of the persons that studied most frequent and extensive. As an unusual historicalfigure, she has too much controversy. Her image changes constantly as the replacement of theera. From her death, she became a role that is closely linked with the politic, in the politicalgame, her image is always adapt to new ideas, and at the same time, her image also reflectsthe changes of political power. Finally, in the middle of the nineteenth century her image ofnational hero was established, at the beginning of the twentieth century, she became a saintess.This paper tries to interpret the shaping process of Joan of arc’s image and the narrativefactors, through analysis of the literature materials.This paper is divided into four parts, first of all, to introduce Joan of arc in the historyfrom the background and her life story; The second part and the third part take the nineteenthcentury for watershed, through the analysis of the text and the historical facts, trying toaccount for the changing process of Joan of arc’s image. Before the nineteenth century, she isa witch under the British speech; In France, the government neglects her, Voltaire slandersher and the folk writers praise her; the Burgundians see her as nothing but the edge. InNineteenth century, it is a German writer, Schiller, found the tragedy strength of Joan of arc,he made her a heroine, which changed people’s usual view. As a history figure that had anoutstanding contribution to the French, after the outbreak of the French revolution, Napoleonmade her as the excellent representative of French national, and the embodiment of patriotism,after that, all the parties found her irreplaceable values on their own purpose, they started towhitewash her image across-the-board from different angles. The church also had her blessed,made her a saint, she has become a national hero and a catholic saint. Finally, the authoranalyzes the influence factors behind Joan of arc’s image, mainly from “the otherness”concept, the ethnic identity and the aesthetic philosophy.