 Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Table of Contents Act I, Scene IV Summary A few English noblemen including Talbot are gathered on the turrets around the city of Orleans. They can look into the city through a grate of iron bars. As they are surveying the French defense through the grate a young boy shoots them. Lord Salisbury and Sir Gargrave are badly wounded. Talbot promises to avenge them against the French. Soon he is informed that the Dauphin, along with Joan La Lucelle, is attacking the English who have laid siege to Orleans. Talbot conveys the dying Salisbury to his tent and gets ready to do battle with the French. Notes English chivalry and heroism is personified in the forms of Talbot and Salisbury. They are possessed of virtues that have made England great and led to the defeat of France. Honor is an integral part of their conduct. The extent to which it is cherished is shown by Talbot’s declaration that he preferred death rather than be exchanged " with a laser man." This is a scene of tragic irony that leads to the death of Salisbury and Gargrave. Its irony lies in the fortuitous nature of the affair, the unwarranted complacency of the victims and the destruction of Salisbury by a mere child. Talbot, not knowing who has fired the gun, compounds the irony by cursing the hand that destroyed him. Only the spectator know how fortuitously the tragedy has occurred. Even as he is grieving for his dying friend Talbot has to prepare to fight the French. The violence of his feelings and the gruesome aspects of war are highlighted by his words, "Your hearts I’ll stamp out ... and made a quagmire if your mingled brains." Table of Contents | |
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