11. Saint Joan. (1923)- for APPSC TGPSC TREIRB JL/DL

 

11. Saint Joan. (1923)

for APPSC TGPSC TREIRB JL/DL

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George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950)

Famous dramatist and critic, G. B. Shaw was Born on July 26, 1856, in Dublin, Ireland, Shaw survived until November 2,1950.

Archibald Henderson, official biographer of his subject, entitled his work George Bernard Shaw: Man of the Century, well before Shaw's death at the age of ninety-four.

His ninetieth birthday in 1946 was the occasion for an international celebration, the grand old man being presented with a festschrift, entitled GBS 90, to which many distinguished writers contributed. A London publishing firm bought space in the Times to voice its greetings:

Shaw was the third child and only son in a family which he once described as "shabby but genteel." His father, George Carr Shaw, was employed as a civil servant and later became a not too successful merchant. Shaw remembered especially his father's "alcoholic antics"; the old man was a remorseful, yet an unregenerate drinker. It was from his father that Shaw inherited his superb comic gift. Lucinda Gurley Shaw, the mother, was a gifted singer and music teacher; she led her son to develop a passion for music, particularly operatic music. At an early age, Shaw had memorized many of the works of Mozart, whose fine workmanship he never ceased to admire. Somewhat later, he taught himself to play the piano — in the Shavian manner.

One of the maxims in The Revolutionist's Handbook, appended to Man and Superman, reads: "He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches." Shaw, who was to insist that all art should be didactic, viewed himself as a kind of teacher, yet he himself had little respect for schoolmasters and formal education. First, his uncle, the Reverend George Carroll, tutored him. Then at the age of ten, Shaw became a pupil at Wesleyan Connexional School in Dublin and later attended two other schools for short periods of time. He hated them all and declared that he had learned absolutely nothing. But Shaw possessed certain qualities which are not always developed in a classroom — for example, an inquisitive mind and a boundless capacity for independent study. Once asked about his early education, he replied: "I can remember no time at which a page of print was not intelligible to me and can only suppose I was born literate." He went on to add that by the age of ten, he had saturated himself in the works of Shakespeare and also in the Bible.

A depleted family bank account led Shaw to accept employment as a clerk in a land agency office when he was sixteen. He was unhappy and, determined to become a professional writer, resigned after five years of service and joined his mother, who was then teaching music in London. The year was 1876. During the next three years, he allowed his mother to support him, and he concentrated largely on trying to support himself as an author. No less than five novels came from his pen between the years 1879 and 1883, but it was soon evident that Shaw's genius would not be fully revealed as a novelist, but as a playwright.

In 1879, Shaw was induced to accept employment in a firm promoting the new Edison telephone, his duties being those of a right-of-way agent. He detested the task of interviewing residents in the East End of London and endeavoring to get their permission for the installation of telephone poles and equipment. A few months of such work was enough for him. In his own words, this was the last time that he "sinned against his nature" by seeking to earn an honest living.

The year 1879 had greater significance for Shaw. He joined the Zetetical Society, a debating club, the members of which held lengthy discussions on such subjects as economics, science, and religion. Soon he found himself in demand as a speaker, and thus he became a regular participant at public meetings. At one such meeting held in September 1882, he listened spellbound to Henry George, an apostle of Land Nationalization and the Single Tax. Shaw credits the American lecturer and author with having aroused his interest in economics and social theory; previously, Shaw had chiefly concerned himself with the conflict between science and religion. When Shaw was told that no one could do justice to George's theories without being familiar with the theories of Karl Marx, Shaw promptly read a French translation of Das Kapital, no English translation then being available. He was immediately converted to socialism.

The year 1884 is also a notable one in the life of Bernard Shaw (as he preferred to be called). After reading a tract entitled Why Are the Many Poor? and learning that it was published by the Fabian Society, he appeared at the society's next meeting. The intellectual temper of this group, which included such distinguished men as Havelock Ellis, immediately attracted him. He was accepted as a member on September 5 and was elected to the Executive Committee in January. Among the debaters at Zetetical Society was Sidney Webb, a man whom Shaw recognized as his "natural complement." He easily persuaded Webb to become a Fabian. The two, along with the gifted Mrs. Webb, became the pillars of the society which preached the gospel of constitutional and evolutionary socialism. Shaw's views, voiced in public parks and meeting halls, are expounded at length in The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism (1928); many of his ideas also find a place in his dramas.

In the next stage of his career, Shaw emerged as a literary, music, and art critic. Largely because of the influence of William Archer, the distinguished dramatic critic now best remembered as the editor and translator of Ibsen, Shaw became a member of the reviewing staff of the Pall Mall Gazette in 1885. Earlier, he had ghostwritten some music reviews for G. L. Lee, with whom his mother had long been associated as a singer and as a music teacher. But this new assignment provided Shaw with his first real experience as a critic. Not long afterward, and again through the assistance of William Archer, Shaw added to these duties those of an art critic on the widely influential World. Archer insisted that Shaw knew very little about art but realized that Shaw thought that he did — which was what mattered. As for Shaw, he blandly explained that the way to learn about art was to look at pictures; he had begun doing so years earlier in the Dublin National Gallery.

Shaw's close association with William Archer was paramount in his championing the dramas of Henrik Ibsen as new, highly original dramatic works which represented a complete break with the popular theater of the day. "When Ibsen came from Norway," Shaw was to write, "with his characters who thought and discussed as well as acted, the theatrical heaven rolled up like a scroll." Whereas the general public, nurtured on "well-made" romantic and melodramatic plays, denounced Ibsen as a "muck-ferreting dog," Shaw recognized that Ibsen was a great ethical philosopher and a social critic — a role which recommended itself to Shaw immediately. On July 18, 1890, Shaw read a paper on Ibsen at a meeting of the Fabian Society. Amplified, this became The Quintessence of Ibsen (1891). Sometimes called The Quintessence of Shaw, it sets forth the author's profoundest views on the function of the dramatist, who, Shaw believed, should concern himself foremost with how his characters react to various social forces, and who should concern himself further with a new morality based upon an examination and challenge of conventional mores.

In view of what Shaw had written about Ibsen (and about himself) and because of Shaw's dedicated activities as a socialist exhorter, Widowers' Houses, his first play, may be called characteristic. Structurally, it represents no departure from the tradition of the well-made play; that is, the action is plotted so that the key situation is exposed in the second act, and the third act is devoted to its resolution. But, thematically, the play was revolutionary in England. It dealt with the evils of slum-landlordism, a subject hardly calculated to regale the typical Victorian audience. Produced at J. T. Grein's Independent Theater in London, it became a sensation because of its "daring" theme, but it was never a theatrical success. Shaw, however, was not at all discouraged. The furor delighted him. No one knew better than he the value of attracting attention. He was already at work on The Philanderer, an amusing but rather slight comedy of manners.

In 1894, Shaw's Arms and the Man enjoyed a good run at the Avenue Theater from April 21 to July 7, and it has been revived from time to time to this very day. At last, the real Shaw had emerged — the dramatist who united irrepressible gaiety and complete seriousness of purpose. The play has been described as "a satire on the prevailing bravura style," and it sets forth the "view of romance as the great heresy to be swept from art and life."

In the same year, Shaw wrote Mrs. Warren's Profession, which became a cause célèbre. Shaw himself grouped it with his so-called "Unpleasant Plays." Dealing with the economic causes of prostitution and the conflict between the prostitute mother and her daughter, it created a tumult which was kept alive for several years on both sides of the Atlantic. It may well be argued that in this play, Shaw was far more the polemicist than the artist, but the play still has its place among the provocative dramas of ideas.

The indefatigable Shaw was already at work on his first unquestionably superior play, Candida. First produced in 1895, it has been popular ever since and has found its place in anthologies. Notable for effective character portrayal and the adroit use of inversions, it tells how Candida and the Reverend Morell, widely in public demand as an advanced thinker, reached an honest and sound basis for a lasting marriage.

While working with the Fabians, Shaw met the personable Charlotte Payne-Townshend, an Irish heiress deeply concerned with the many problems of social justice. He was immediately attracted to her. After she had helped him through a long illness, the two were married in 1898, and she became his modest but capable critic and assistant throughout the years of their marriage.

During this period, there was no surcease of playwriting on Shaw's part. He completed You Never Can Tell, The Man of Destiny, and The Devil's Disciple. This last play, an inverted Victorian-type melodrama was first acted in the United States, where it was an immediate success, financially and otherwise. By the turn of the century, Shaw had written Caesar and Cleopatra and The Admirable Bashville. He was now the acknowledged major force in the new drama of the twentieth century.

The year 1903 is especially memorable for the completion and publication of Man and Superman. It was first acted (without the Don Juan In Hell intermezzo, which constitutes Act III) in 1905. Then, some twenty-three other plays were added to the Shavian canon as the century advanced toward the halfway mark. Best known among these are Major Barbara (1905), Androcles and the Lion (1912), Pygmalion (1913), Heartbreak House (1919), Back to Methuselah (1920), and Saint Joan (1923). During the years 1930-32, the Ayot St. Lawrence Edition of his collected plays was published. Shaw's literary preeminence had found world-wide recognition. He refused, however, to accept either a knighthood or the Order of Merit offered by the Crown, but in 1926, he did accept the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was quite typical of him to state that the award was given to him by a grateful public because he had not published anything during that year.

Shaw persistently rejected offers from filmmakers. According to one story, when importuned by Samuel Goldwyn, the well-known Hollywood producer, he replied: "The difficulty, Mr. Goldwyn, is that you are an artist and I am a businessman." Later, however, the ardor and ability of Gabriel Pascal impressed him, and Shaw agreed to prepare the scenario of Pygmalion for production. The film, released in 1938, was a notable success. Major Barbara and Androcles and the Lion followed, and the Irish-born dramatist had now won a much larger audience. My Fair Lady, a musical adapted from Pygmalion, opened in New Haven, Connecticut, on February 4, 1956, starring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, and it was and remains a spectacular success. A film version won an Academy Award in 1964 as Best Picture.

Discussing Macbeth, Shaw once wrote: "I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no 'brief candle' for me. It is a sort of splendid torch, which I have got hold of for the moment; and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." Life indeed was a bright torch which burned long for Bernard Shaw. Almost to the very end, although he was bedridden with a broken hip, he lived up to his credo. He was ninety-two years old in 1949, when Buoyant Billions was produced at the Malvern Festival. In the same year, his highly readable Sixteen Self Sketches was published. He was planning on writing still another play when he died on November 2, 1950.

 

George Bernard Shaw: (1856-1950)- Anti-Romantic, Critic and playwright. Born in Dublin, Ireland. “I write plays with the deliberate purpose to convert the nation to my opinion.” Began his career by writing novels, but all 5 of his novels proved unsuccessful.

He became the first person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize (1925) and an Oscar.

 

Shaw was the only winner of both awards until 2016, when the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Bob Dylan. Dylan had previously won an Oscar in 2001 for Best Original Song - his song ‘Things have Changed’ featured in the film ‘The Wonder Boys’.

       

    

He wrote more than sixty plays. His plays are known as “Shavian Plays”. It is a play by G. B. Shaw (or) with characteristics of writings of GB Shaw. It has smart, quick, witty, funny and sharp dialogues. His plays are of ideas, debate and discussion rather than dramas of character, action and passion. Drama of Ideas is a type of discussion play in which clash of ideas, reveals the most acute problems of social, personal morality.

He generally writes long prologues to his plays. Shaw’s plays employs surprise endings. His characters are laughable, provincial, bucolic, and ridiculous, don't have politeness. The situation of the story is accentuated by references to classics. He uses humour to make serious arguments about social issues.

"Life force - Concept" women must choose better mate for better children

 

He became vegetarian at the age of 25 and claimed “a man of my spiritual intensity does not eat corpses”. Apart from shunning meat, he didn’t drink alcohol or smoke, and he drank neither tea nor coffee!

 

The term “Bardolatry” (=worship of Shakespeare) derived from Shakespeare's sobriquet (=nickname) "the Bard of Avon" and the Greek word latria "worship", was coined by G. B. Shaw in the preface to his collection Three Plays for Puritans (1901). Shaw disliked Shakespeare as a thinker and philosopher because Shaw believed that Shakespeare did not engage with social problems as Shaw did in his own plays. 

1.   Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant 1898 –collection of 4 pleasant and 3 unpleasant plays.

The Pleasant Plays:

a.   Arms and the Man 1894- Deals with war, first commercial success - title comes from the opening words of Virgil's Aeneid, in Latin: Arma virumque cano ("Of arms and the man I sing") – humorous play deals with war

b.   Candida 18978 - about woman’s choice between two men. - feminist rights, women equality.

c.    You Can Never Tell 1897- four-act play, about social relations.

d.   The Man of Destiny 1895- short play about Napolean

     The Unpleasant Plays:

a.   Widower’s Houses 1892- attack on slum landlords- New Woman concept

b.   Mrs. Warren’s Profession 1893- about Prostitution-(banned), The story centres on the relationship between Mrs Kitty Warren (former prostitute and current brothel owner) and her daughter, Vivie (intelligent and pragmatic young woman who has just graduated from university). The play focuses on how their relationship changes when Vivie learns what her mother does for a living. It explains why Mrs. Warren became a prostitute, condemns the hypocrisies relating to prostitution, and criticizes the limited employment opportunities available for women in Victorian Britain.

c.    The Philanderer 1898- concept of New Woman (Julia). The play gives Reference to Ibsen.

2.   Three Plays for Puritans (1900)- collection of 3 plays- with a long preface by Shaw in three parts in which he expounds many of his thoughts on drama.

a.   The Devil's Disciple (1897)-

b.   Caesar and Cleopatra (1898)- Cleopatra is depicted as a spoiled and vicious 16-year-old child rather than the 38-year-old temptress of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra

c.    Captain Brassbound's Conversion (1900)-

3.   The Devil’s Walk

4.   Man and Superman 1903- first performed in 1905- concept of Life force. Women must choose better mate for better children. It is a comedy in which Ann is referred to as "the Life Force" and represents Shaw's view that in every culture, it is the women who force the men to marry them rather than the men who take the initiative.

5.   Major Barbara 1905- The story concerns an idealistic young woman, Barbara Undershaft, who is engaged in helping the poor as a Major in the Salvation Army in London.

The play script displays typical Shavian techniques in the omission of apostrophes from contractions and other punctuation, the inclusion of a didactic introductory essay explaining the play's themes, and the phonetic spelling of dialect English.

6.   The Doctor’s Dilemma 1904- first staged in 1906- satire upon the medical profession. a dilemma faced by a talented doctor, Sir Colenso Ridgeon, who has developed a revolutionary treatment for tuberculosis but has limited resources so, he must decide whom to save, leading to ethical and moral conflicts.

7.   Pygmalion (1913)- Based on Greek Myth Pygmalion, King of Cyprus, who fell in love with his own sculpture Galatea. Story of a cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle’s transformation into a duchess by the phonetician Professor Henry Higgins, in order to win a bet with Colonel Pickering, a rich man.  In Pygmalion, contrary to our expectation, love between the flower girl and professor doesn’t happen. He used the change of language as a means to rise to the upper-class. Higgins treats her as an object in the process of making Eliza an Upper-class woman, but she rebels against his dictatorial and thoughtless behaviour.

After the surest of his experiment Higgins suggests her 2 options:  To marry based on her beauty or to run a flower shop.  But she rejects these two and wanted to marry Freddy, a poor man

8.   Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes (1919) -Decline of Britain as power.

9.   Back to Methuselah 1922- collection of 5 plays

10.    St. Joan- 1923- historical play with 6 acts and an epilogue, set in 1429 - story of Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl who claimed divine guidance and led the French army to several victories during the Hundred Years' War. Joan faces opposition from both the English invaders and the political leaders of her own country. Despite her heroic actions, Joan is ultimately captured, tried for heresy, and burned at the stake.

11.   The Apple Cart 1928- sub title ‘a political extravaganza’

12.   The Quintessence of Ibsenism 1891: famous essay - gave the first great impetus to Ibsen's work and to the concept of Play of Ideas. Shaw wrote three sets of critical essays on Ibsen: The Quintessence of lbsenism, Our Theatres in the Nineties, and The Prefaces.

13.   The Dark Lady of the Sonnets is a 1910- set in Fin de siècle -short comedy - in which William Shakespeare, intending to meet the "Dark Lady", accidentally encounters Queen Elizabeth I and attempts to persuade her to create a national theatre. The play was written as part of a campaign to create a "Shakespeare National Theatre" by 1916.

Fin de siècle (French term= "end of century”)- It is used to refer the end of 19th century.

14.    Shakes versus Shav (1949): Shaw’s late puppet play-10 min performance- a comic argument between Shaw and Shakespeare, with the two playwrights bickering about who is the better writer. He declared "Nobody will ever write a better tragedy than Lear". However, he also wrote in a letter to Mrs Patrick Campbell, "Oh, what a damned fool Shakespeare was!"

Shavian alphabet: Shaw’s ‘Alphabet trust” has created 40 letter new-phonetic alphabet as he believed that alphabet was a barrier against literacy and therefore a barrier to the social mobility of the poor (Inconsistencies in English spelling). Shaw reproduced ‘Androcles and the Lion’ into the new phonetic alphabet.

15.    Fabian Essays in Socialism 1889- collection of essays published by Fabian society (founded in 1884), edited by G B Shaw. Fabian society is aimed to of bring about a socialist society by means of intellectual debate, the publication of books and pamphlets, and the "permeation" of socialist ideas into the universities, the press, government institutions, and political parties.

Problem plays (Drama): The development of the Problem Plays is an important factor in modern dramatic literature. It deals with the vital problems of contemporary life and society.

 

Background:

The play Saint Joan was written and published by the Irish writer, Bernard Shaw and is considered as being one of his major works. The play was published in 1923, shortly after the canonization of Saint Joan by the Church and two years before Bernard received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The play has six scenes and an epilogue, and follows Joan’s life. The story told in the play follows closely what Shaw found by studying the transcript of Joan’s trial yet he refuses to accuse anybody, saying in the preface that he believed that the men in Joan’s trial all acted in good faith.

The play was criticized after it was published, many saying that Shaw tried to redeem those who accused Joan and that he didn’t present the medieval society in which Joan lived accurately.

Despite the criticism it received, the play was a success and the role of Joan is considered as being very difficult to play because of the character’s complexity.

The play is written in almost a playful manner and it contains both dramatic and comic elements.

 

Plot/Narrative structure:

Scene & Setting	Plot / Narrative Summary
Scene I – Castle of Vaucouleurs	Joan persuades Robert de Baudricourt to let her go to the Dauphin. She claims divine guidance to save France. Though skeptical at first, Robert is moved by her confidence and agrees.
Scene II – Castle of Chinon	Joan meets Charles, the Dauphin. She convinces him of her divine mission to liberate France. He grants her command of the army.
Scene III – Military camp near Orléans	Joan leads the French troops to victory over the English. Her strategic insight surprises the commanders and bolsters French morale.
Scene IV – Cathedral at Reims	Charles is crowned king, fulfilling Joan's mission. However, political and religious figures begin to see Joan as a threat to the established order.
Scene V – Archbishop's palace	Joan is cautioned by the Church and political leaders. They urge her to be submissive and stop acting independently. Joan insists on following God’s command, not the Church or monarchy.
Scene VI – Trial chamber in Rouen	Joan is tried for heresy. She defends her visions and her choice to dress as a soldier. She refuses to fully recant, even under threat of execution.
Epilogue – Charles VII’s bedroom (25 years later)	Charles learns Joan has been declared innocent posthumously. Joan’s ghost appears with other historical figures. Though she is now revered, no one is willing to accept her while alive. Her legacy remains powerful but unresolved.

 

Opening line:

ROBERT. No eggs! No eggs!! Thousand thunders, man, what do you mean by no eggs?

STEWARD. Sir: it is not my fault. It is the act of God.

 

Closing line:

JOAN. O God that madest this beautiful earth, when will it be ready to receive Thy saints? How long, O Lord, how long?

 

Saint Joan Summary

The play starts with Robert de Baudricourt talking with his steward about the fact that the hens stopped laying eggs. Robert accuses his steward of stealing them but he assures his lord that he had nothing to do with them. The steward then tells Robert that the girl who came to see him a few days again was still there and was waiting to be heard. The steward began to believe what she was telling and he tells Robert that she is sent from God to raise the siege of Orleans.

Robert finds that the girl convinced some of his men and two of his noblemen so he called them to him to hear what they have to say about the girl. They expressed their faith in her and after that, Robert called the girl to hear what she had to say. Joan told him that she hears voices from god telling her that she will save France from the Englishmen and Robert decides to send her to the King.

After Joan leaves, the hens start to lay eggs and Robert sees this as a sign that she was indeed who she said she was.At the court, King Charles is exited to hear that an angel wants to speak with him. despite the archbishop’s protests, the king agrees to speak with Joan and he is surprised when she knows that he tried to tick her by putting someone else sit on the throne. He speaks with her and she convinces him to give her command to his army, to Lord Chamberlain’s displeasure.Joan arrives to the battlefield and there she encounters Dunois. As soon as Joan arrives, the wind changes and Dunois sees this as a sign that they can beat the Frenchmen so he gives the command of the army to Joan.

The Englishmen plan to have Joan killed after they suffer defeats lead by her and believe that if they offer the right price, she will be sold to them by her own country and then they will accuse her of heresy. This comes to pass as Joan is sold after the coronation and then is judged as a heretic. It is decided that she must be burnt as a witch but her heart refused to burn.The play ends with an epilogue, in which king Charles is visited by Ladvenu who tells him about what happened with Joan and that after 25 years, her name has been cleared. Charles dreams about Joan and tells her about the new trial but she concludes sadly that the trial won’t bring her back.

 

Saint Joan Themes

Pride

Something that we find to be common in almost every character in this book is an excessive sense of pride. Even the main character, the pious and pure Joan, is accused of being too proud and this proves to be almost a capital sin for her as it eventually proves to lead to her downfall. The reason why pride is presented as a major sin is because the play is supposed to take place in the medieval times when the major power in a country was represented by the church. If we look at other pieces of literature written in that time or whose plot is set in those centuries, we discover that almost all character who manifest a sense of excessive pride are in the end punished.

Power

The whole play presents the struggle for power and the fight between the French and the Englishmen. But aside from the most obvious conflict, and that is the military one, we find that inside the country too there is a struggle for power. We are presented with the King, naïve and manipulated by those who have more money than him and then we see Joan, a peasant girl, a woman in a society that gave women no rights who somehow became the most feared and powerful character because she had not political power behind her but rather divine power.

Feminism

Joan is a very strange character for her age. She is a woman yet she acts like she is a soldier and refuses to do the things that are expected from her such as to get married and listen to what men say to her. Instead, she rebels against the conventions of her time and chooses to pick her own path and do what she thinks that is right. From this point of view, Joan is powerful because she has the courage to stand for herself and be different in a male dominated society.

 

Quotes

‘’No sir: we are afraid of you: but she puts courage into us.’’         -Scene 1, The steward

Since from the first scene, we find that this idea becomes a recurrent motif throughout the play. Joan is seen as a courageous girl, almost excessively courageous, who somehow manages to influence the others around her and make them feel courage too. Her bravery comes from her belief in God while the others take their strength by believing in her and in her being sent by God and by other saints.

‘’You must not think about your duty to your feudal lord, but about your duty to God.’’  -Joan

Here we see that even if Joan may fear war, she believes that it is more important to listen to God than to listen to what the others have to say. This idea is actually taken from the Holy Bible where it is stressed the importance of being loyal to God instead of listening to other people or Public institutions if what the public institutions or what those people say goes against God’s will. It seems that Joan listens to this advice completely as she constantly seems to go against what she is told to do by her superiors and chooses to listen to what God and the voices tell her to do.

‘’Our soldiers are always beaten because they are fighting only to save their skins: and the shortest way to save your skin is to run away.’’     --Joan

Here Joan identifies the main problem regarding why the French always seem to lose and that is because they are fighting motivated by the desire to survive individually and not as a nation. The soldiers only cared about their own life or the profit they will get so they didn’t fought with all they had. This is in Joan’s mind the main reason why the French always lost to the Englishmen.

 

Saint Joan Symbols, Allegory and Motifs

Talking with God

A recurrent motif that appears in every scene is the link Joan has with divinity through the voices she hears and her belief that they are from God. There is a pattern regarding how this idea is received by the other: at first, they refuse to believe her, thinking that everything is a result of her imagination but after a short time, they acknowledge that she may be who she says she is and then the other characters trust her completely.

Pride

Another motif is pride. Almost every character in the book who holds some degree of authority has an excessive pride and it seems that despite her holiness, Joan is the character who exhibits this sin the most.

Signs

The majority of the characters in the book believe in Joan only after some type of miracle happens. In Robert’s case, he starts trusting Joan after the hens starts laying eggs again and Dunois believe in her only after the wind changes in their favor.

Influence

What becomes obvious quite early is that Joan can easily influence those around her. Weather this is a gift from God or her own charm, Joan can easily control those around her.

West wind

The idea of bad omens is what stops the French from attacking and the west wind is one of them. Since the first scene, it becomes clear that the French will start their attack only when the wind will be in their favor.

 

Saint Joan Metaphors and Similes

West wind

In the play, the west wind is used as a symbol for the unfavorable situations which kept the French from winning the war against the English. The French were unable to act against the English because of the west wind that prevented them from getting the help they needed. When Joan appeared, the west wind changed and thus the French started fighting against the English.

Throne

The throne it is usually a symbol for regal power used in literature. In Saint Joan however, King Charles admits that even though he sits on the throne, others rule in his place. For Charles, his throne is not a visible symbol of the absolute power he is supposed to have, but of his incapacity of being a true king.

False faith

Milton uses the Archbishop to symbolize those who have a false faith. The archbishop was supposed to be the most pious man but yet he refuses to believe in Joan and in her powers. He questions how true the miracles that happen in her presence are and says that she is a fraud, nothing more than a talented woman who can influence the others.

Unworthy king

King Charles is the type of king who got his position only because he had the right blood and nothing more. He is inadequate to be a king and those around him see this but they are unable to do anything about it. King Charles can be considered as a symbol of all those kings who ended up doing nothing good but continued to rule all their life only because they were born in the royal family.

Perfect model

Joan is more than just a girl: she is a model, the perfect mold and example of how faith should work in a person. She is a saint and probably she doesn’t know it. Joan is used to symbolize the pure faith and how powerful God can be, Joan proving that with God’s help, everything is possible.

Saint Joan Imagery

The most incompetent servant

In the beginning of the play, Robert describes his steward as being the most incompetent type of person, unable to perform what he was asked to do. This image only amplifies as the play continues and we are presented with the complete image of the steward, despised by his master.

Cowards

When Joan talks about the French army and why they always lose, she creates a dismal image of an army that is disorganized and loyal only to them. We are presented with the image of coward soldiers, who only care about their own skin and who care only about profit.

Incompetent King

When King Charles appears for the first time in the play, we are described a child rather than a King. He hides behind the archbishop and fears Bluebeard and is treated as a child. Instead of portraying him as a powerful king, Charles is presented as the most incompetent king who could rule over France.

Uncomfortable clothes

The image of the incompetent king only gets more accentuated at the end of the play, when the King is coronated. Instead of feeling confident and powerful, he detests the cloths he was forced to wear in order to look like a king and we are left to know that even if Charles looks like a king, it is just a false image and he is still the child-like man presented in the beginning of the play.

Bluebeard

Bluebeard is the type of political man that would like to sit on the throne instead of King Charles. He offers himself to pretend to be the King when Joan first came to the court and we are presented with a cunning man, the perfect image of the ambitious politician who desires more power than he has.

 

Saint Joan Literary Elements

Genre                          Drama

Language                    English

Setting and Context

The action starts in 1429 AD and it is based in different locations in France, such as the royal palace, on the River Meuse and in Robert’s castle.

Narrator and Point of View

Because this is a play, we can’t speak about a narrator or a sent point of view like in novels. Each individual character says his or her lines and the narrator is present only through the brief characterizations he makes regarding the characters.

Tone and Mood                     Ironic, tragic

Protagonist and Antagonist

Even if the play is sometimes referred to as a play without a villain, we could consider Joan as being the protagonist and those who sentenced her to death the antagonists.

Major Conflict            The major conflict is the war between France and England.

Climax                         Joan is accused of being a heretic and sentenced to death.

Foreshadowing

Joan prophesies her own death when she says that France will get to the point when all the English will be gone but that she won’t be alive to see it.

Understatement

When Joan says that she will make sure that only the French will live in her country proves to be a lie as she will die before that could happen completely.

Allusions

When the Englishman and the bishop talk about how they could catch Joan, an allusion is made to what her end will be, and that is burned as a witch.

Imagery

Probably the most predominant image in the play is that of Joan as a saint, a pure maid capable of doing miracles.

Paradox

The was Joan dies is a paradox in the book in the sense that she is killed by the institution she loves the most.

Parallelism

There are many similarities between the life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria who was sending Joan visions and Joan’s own life. They converted to Christianity at an early age, convinced many to follow their examples and died as martyrs at about the age of 18.

Personification

I, God forgive me, am a little in love with war myself, the ugly devil!

Use of Dramatic Devices

There are almost no stage directions in the play, but the narrator chooses to characterize the characters in a direct manner at the beginning of every Scene. Through those descriptions, we are presented with the full picture of a character, including his or her social status, appearance and personal traits.

 

St. Joan  Summary ( CLIFF NOTES)

In 1429 A.D., a young country girl known simply as Joan of Arc, or sometimes simply as The Maid, is given an interview by Robert de Baudricourt since she will not leave until she speaks with him. She tells him that she needs horses and armor to go to the Dauphin of France and to raise the siege of Orleans, a city held captive by the English forces. She knows that a siege would be possible because the voices of Saints Margaret and Catherine have told her what to do. Upon being convinced by The Maid's simplicity, Captain de Baudricourt grants her request.

Upon arriving at the Dauphin's castle, The Maid encounters all sorts of difficulties, especially with the Dauphin, who wants nothing to do with wars and fighting. When France's military fortunes and predicament are reviewed, Joan's demands that something be done to improve France's condition fall on deaf ears, but when she is alone with the Dauphin, she is able to instill enough courage in him so that he finally consents to let her lead the army, knowing full well that she can't make France's condition worse.

Joan then goes to the Loire River near Orleans, where she encounters Dunois, the commander of the French forces; he explains the necessity of waiting until the wind changes, but Joan is determined to lead her forces against the English stronghold without waiting; suddenly, the wind does change favorably, and Dunois pledges his allegiance to The Maid.

Sometime later, in the English camp, Warwick, the leader of the English forces, and his chaplain, de Stogumber, are maintaining that The Maid must be a witch because there is no other way of accounting for the heavy English losses and defeats except by sorcery.

The Bishop of Beauvais, Peter Cauchon, enters and discusses the fate of Joan of Arc. Cauchon's principal intellectual concern is that Joan is setting up her own private conscience in place of the authority of the Church. Warwick, who is not influenced by the concerns of the Church, is, instead, concerned that Joan is telling the common people and the serfs to pledge their allegiance directly to the king, whereas the entire feudal system is based upon the lower classes pledging their allegiance to their immediate lords and masters. Joan's simple pleas can possibly destroy the entire feudal system. Cauchon also adds that Joan is trying to get the common people to pledge further allegiance to their native countries (France and England) instead of to the Universal Catholic Church, an act which would further lessen the power of the Church. Thus, for different reasons, both agree that The Maid must be put to death.

After more victories, Joan has finally been able to fulfill her promise to drive the English back and have the Dauphin crowned king in the Cathedral at Rheims. After the ceremony, Joan is anxious to move on and capture Paris and drive the English from the city. The Dauphin, however, is content now with what he has recaptured, Commander Dunois is hesitant to start another campaign after all of the recent successes, and the Archbishop is beginning to find Joan to be too proud and defiant. Joan then realizes that she must stand alone in the same way that "saints have always stood alone," and in spite of the warning that if she falls into the enemy's hands, neither the military, nor the state, nor the Church will lift a hand to rescue her.

Some nine months later, Joan is standing trial for heresy. She has been imprisoned and in chains for these nine months and has been questioned many times about the validity of her "voices." After many complicated theological questions, her accusers force Joan to admit that her voices were not heavenly sent voices but, instead, came from Satan. After her recantation of the voices, her judges then sentence her to perpetual imprisonment and isolation, living off only bread and water. Joan rejects this horrid punishment and tears up her recantation. She is immediately carried to the stake and burnt as a witch; afterward, the Executioner enters and announces that Joan's heart would not burn.

Some twenty-five years later, in an Epilogue, Joan reappears before the king (the former Dauphin) and her chief accusers, who have now been condemned by a subsequent court, which has pronounced Joan innocent of all charges and her judges guilty of all sorts of crimes.

The time then moves to 1920, when Joan is declared to be a saint by the Church. As such, she now has the power to return as a living woman, and she asks everyone present if she should return. This is a horrifying prospect for them all, and they all confess that they wish her to remain dead. Joan then asks of God, "O Lord, how long before the world will be ready to accept its saints?"

 

Character List

Joan of Arc- often referred to as The Maid Joan is, of course, the central character of the play. Based upon the historical character, Shaw presents her as a simple country girl who is uneducated but not unintelligent. For the public, Joan, according to Shaw's Preface, offers her brilliant ideas in terms of voices from heaven which speak to her. Early in the play, she establishes her superiority in terms of military tactics and strategy, always knowing where to place the cannons and other artillery. Until her capture, she proves that her military strategy is flawless. Throughout the play, in all sorts of situations, Joan's basic honesty and her innocence shine through all of the hypocrisy of the others, and when her judges use complicated ecclesiastical terms to trap her, her basic common sense makes them look stupid. She is, however, inexperienced in the ways of the medieval society and ignorant of the jealousies of the feudal system. Her belief in the rightness of her own conscience and her refusal to yield to the authority of the Church have caused Shaw and others to refer to her as the first Protestant to be martyred by the Catholic Church.

 

Robert de Baudricourt- A gentlemanly squire from Joan's district, Lorraine; he is the first person of position or rank to back The Maid's plans. Through him, Joan is able to obtain her first armor and her first chance to show her military skills.

 

Bertrand de Poulengey (Polly)- One of Joan's first converts, he aids Joan in getting an audience with Robert de Baudricourt, and he later rides with her in the Battle of Orleans.

 

The Archbishop of Rheims- The churchman who, at first, sees Joan as a pious and innocent girl, one who is in close service with God. As Joan proves to be constantly right, however, and, later, when Joan is responsible for crowning the Dauphin king, the Archbishop becomes disheartened with The Maid and, ultimately, sides against her.

 

Monseigneur de la Trémouille- The Lord Chamberlain in the court of the Dauphin and also the "commander-in-chief" of the French forces. He has been accustomed to bullying the Dauphin, and, therefore, he deeply resents Joan when she is given command of the French forces.

 

Gilles de Rais (Bluebeard)- A captain in the army and a devoted follower of The Maid even though he is not a religious person.

 

The Dauphin- Later to be crowned Charles VII in the Rheims cathedral, the Dauphin is portrayed as weak, sniveling, and unconcerned about matters of the court or of the country. He is forced by The Maid to become more manly and to assume an authority that he does not want.

 

Dunois (The Bastard)- The young, popular, and efficient leader of the French forces who recognizes Joan's military genius but in the final battle is not convinced that she should be saved.

 

The Earl of Warwick- The English earl in charge of the English forces and Joan's most bitter and avid secular opponent. He sees Joan's simple opinions that the people should give their allegiance directly to the king as being a threat to the loyalty that the feudal lords demand from their serfs. He demands Joan's death as a way of retaining the status quo of the feudal system.

 

John de Stogumber-  The Earl of Warwick's chaplain. At first, he is seen as a vicious and ferocious accuser of Joan's. He sees her in the most simplistic terms as a witch who should be burned without delay. He does not understand either the most complicated or the most subtle arguments concerning Joan's threat to the Church and to the aristocracy. However, the most dramatic change of the entire drama occurs in the person of de Stogumber; after he has witnessed the burning of The Maid, he becomes a weak, broken man who spends the rest of his life trying to do good deeds for others in order to alleviate his guilt for his vicious attacks against The Maid.

 

Peter Cauchon- The academic theologian who represents the "considered wisdom of the Church." For him, Joan represents a direct threat to the historical power invested in the Church, and he is proud that he has never asserted his own individuality and has always yielded to the opinion of the Church. For Joan to assert her own private conscience, to rely upon her own judgments, and to commune directly with God without the intervention of the Church is, to Cauchon, heresy in its highest form.

 

The Inquisitor- Physically, the Inquisitor should look like a kindly and sweet elderly gentleman. However, he represents the institutions of the Church in their most iron-clad disciplines. He believes strongly in the rightness of these institutions and in the collected wisdom of the Church. The individual conscience must be subjected to the authority of the Church, not just in this particular instance but throughout all time. His long rambling speech on heresy shows him to be a defender of these institutions and one who rejects any type of individualism.

 

D'Estivet- The prosecutor against Joan; he is often impatient with the subtle questions of the court, and his case is based on pure legalism.

 

Courcelles- A young priest who has been of help in compiling some sixty-four charges against The Maid; he is incensed that many of the charges ("She stole the Bishop's horse") have been dismissed by the court.

 

Brother Martin Ladvenu- A sympathetic young priest who wants to save Joan's life and who is seemingly deeply concerned about Joan's inability to intellectually distinguish or understand the charges made against her. He feels her only sin is her ignorance, but once she is sentenced, he declares her imprisonment to be just. However, he holds up the cross for Joan to see while she is on her funeral stake, and he is instrumental in Joan's rehabilitation.

 

The Executioner- He represents the horrors of the stake. His other importance is that he reports that The Maid's heart would not burn.

 

An English Soldier He is the common soldier who makes a cross out of two sticks and gives it to Joan. For this deed, he receives one day a year out of Hell.

 

Summary and Analysis The Preface

Shaw often writes a lengthy preface to his plays for his readers in which he will comment on matters in the play or matters relevant to it. The Preface to Saint Joan is one of Shaw's longer ones and presents again many of his views of the personage of Joan from a more objective point of view. The Preface is divided into forty-one sub-sections, which could be loosely divided into the following categories for discussion:

(A) Sections 1-16: Various Views of the Historical Joan: Shaw sees Joan, ironically, as one of the first Protestant martyrs and as a forerunner of equality for women; Joan was burned as a heretic, thus martyred, for two primary reasons: (1) even though Joan never denied the Church and she was, in essence, the "first Protestant" because she listened to the dictates of her own conscience and her own reasoning rather than to the authority of the Church; (2) she was "the pioneer of rational dressing for women," yet for this so-called unwomanly and, thus, unnatural act, she was burnt at the stake.

Joan was innocent in all things. She was like Socrates in that she was able to humiliate, without intending to do so, all kinds of people in high authority. It is extremely dangerous to publicly expose the ignorance of people in authority, and, for this, Joan and Socrates were put to death.

(B) Sections 17-21: Misrepresentations of Joan in Literature and in Relation to Medieval Society and the Medieval Church: Joan has inspired others to write about her and to ascribe to her all sorts of qualities which are not always historically true, and also to interpret her actions in various ways throughout the centuries. From Shakespeare through Voltaire, from Schiller to Mark Twain, and from Anatole France and others, Joan and her trials have been the source for writers to interpret her fate, according to the age in which the writer lived. None, however, have depicted her accurately; all writers are victims of their own prejudices as Shaw says: "… to see her in her proper perspective, you must understand Christendom and the Catholic Church, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Feudal System as they existed and were understood in the Middle Ages."

(C) Sections 22-34: The Nature of Joan's Death in Relation to Modern Acts of Inhumanity: Joan's burning at the stake was "just as dozens of less interesting heretics were burnt in her time." Shaw then cites several examples of inhumane and cruel punishments being practiced today. The world today is no closer to accepting a genius — or a saint — than was Joan's world.

(D) Sections 35-41: The Nature of Historical Drama and Saint Joan viewed as a Tragedy: The problems and the "stage limits" of writing a historical play and compares Shakespeare's historical dramas with his own. Actually, Shakespeare never attempted to deal with the larger forces of the law and religion and patriotism that cause people to act as they do. Shaw has one advantage over other, earlier writers: He is, chronologically, further away and, therefore, is able to have a more complete view of the Middle Ages. Shaw also maintains that his play is a tragedy, not a melodrama; there are no villains in Saint Joan, only characters caught in their historical period. If the play showed Joan burned at the stake, then an Epilogue is needed to show her canonized.

 

Act wise/scene wise Summary

Scene I

The scene takes place in the spring of the year 1429 A.D. in the castle of Captain Robert de Baudricourt, a "handsome and physically energetic" man with "no will of his own." Sir Robert is blustering about because there are no eggs. His steward maintains that it is an "act of God" and that the hens will not lay because "there is a spell on us: we are bewitched . . . as long as The Maid is at the door." Sir Robert is thunderstruck that The Maid from Lorraine is still outside because he dismissed her two days ago, but we hear that she will not leave until Sir Robert grants her an interview. In a blustering manner, he goes to the window and orders her to come up.

When Joan enters, she is seen to be a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old able-bodied country girl. She immediately informs Sir Robert that he is ordered to give her a horse, armor, and some soldiers, and that he must send her to the Dauphin. Sir Robert is offended that anyone would dare to give him orders, and he is astonished to find out that the "lord" who sent the orders is the "Lord of Heaven."

He immediately assumes that the girl is mad. She then tells him exactly the costs of the armor and the horses and that she will not need many soldiers because the Dauphin will provide her with enough soldiers to "raise the siege of Orleans." The voices of Saints Catherine and Margaret have spoken to her and told her that this is to be so. Furthermore, she lets Sir Robert know that some of his noblemen, such as Bertrand de Poulengey (Polly) is anxious to go with her. Hearing this, Sir Robert dismisses The Maid and sends for "Polly."

Sir Robert first chastises Polly about a possible sexual liaison, but he is completely assured that nothing of the sort exists. Nevertheless, The Maid, states Sir Robert, is a "country girl," a "bourgeoise," and is apparently mad. Poulengey, however, reviews the military position: The English (along with their French allies, the Burgundians) hold over half of France; the Dauphin is trapped "like a rat in a corner" and does nothing; even The Bastard (Dunois) cannot save Orleans; thus, what is needed is a miracle: As Poulengey says, "We want a few mad people now. See where the sane ones have landed us!" When Poulengey volunteers to pay for the horse, Sir Robert begins to waver and thus sends once more for The Maid.

 

Robert is skeptical about her voices:

JOAN: …you must not talk to me about my voices.

ROBERT: …How do you mean? Voices?

JOAN: I hear voices telling me what to do. They come from God.

ROBERT: They come from your imagination.

 

When questioned, Joan maintains that she is following the instructions of her "voices"which tell her that the English "are only men" and that they must be forced to return to "their own country and their own language." She asserts that Sir Robert will live to see the day "when there will not be an English soldier on the soil of France" and when there will be one king — "God's French one."

Sir Robert is finally convinced; he believes that the troops and, ultimately, the Dauphin "might swallow" Joan's conviction and her dedication; maybe even the Dauphin might take courage from Joan's determination. At least, it is worth a try. He thus orders Joan to go to Chinon under Poulengey's escort; she is given a soldier's armor, and she dashes off ecstatically. Sir Robert then admits that "There is something about her." The scene ends with the ”hens laying like mad."

Scene II

The scene is set in the antechamber of the throne room of the Dauphin's castle in Chinon. The Archbishop of Rheims and la Trémouille are discussing the huge sums of money that the Dauphin has borrowed from them, and yet the Dauphin is still on the verge of poverty when young Gilles de Rais, better known as Bluebeard, enters and reports that The Maid has had a tremendous effect on the common soldiers; this is confirmed by Captain La Hire, who believes that Joan must be "an angel dressed as a soldier," especially since she has overcome impossible odds even to get to Chinon.

The Dauphin, twenty-six years old, enters with a letter about Joan from Sir Robert de Baudricourt, a letter which is bandied about as the Archbishop and the Chamberlain (la Trémouille) bully and intimidate the Dauphin, refusing to let him see The Maid especially since she is not a respectable person. After some more arguing, Bluebeard offers a challenge: He will pretend to be the Dauphin, and if The Maid cannot distinguish royalty from common blood, then she is a pretender; if she can, then she must be heaven-sent. They all then argue about the siege of Orleans and why the highly touted, respected, and beloved bastard, Dunois, cannot do anything with his military forces. It is agreed that a miracle is indeed needed. When Bluebeard and the Dauphin leave to prepare for the impersonation, the Archbishop and the Chamberlain discuss the nature of miracles. For the Archbishop, ”a miracle is any event which creates faith." Furthermore, the Archbishop asserts that the Church alone must decide what is good for the souls of men. Thus, when The Maid correctly ferrets out the hidden Dauphin, the Archbishop will know how it is done, but if the others think it is a miracle, then let that be their thrill.

The curtains to the antechamber are drawn, revealing the full depth of the throne room, with various members of the royal court assembled. Joan, dressed as a soldier and with cropped hair, is admitted, and she creates an immediate sense of hilarity among the ladies because of her attire. The Archbishop says, she is not a respectable woman because "she does not wear women's clothes," and, thus, she is "unwomanly." (This issue of Joan's clothes had become central to her trial )

Joan, however, is not at all embarrassed, and when Bluebeard tries to deceive her, she readily dismisses him and goes into the crowd to discover the Dauphin. She drags him from the crowd and tells him that she has been sent to free France of the English and to crown him king in the Cathedral at Rheims. When the Archbishop is consulted on this matter, he is soon convinced that Joan is indeed pious, and he asks everyone to leave The Maid alone with the Dauphin.

Alone, Charles (the Dauphin) confesses his fright and his miserable condition. The others enjoy fighting. On the contrary, however, Charles is "quiet and sensible," and he doesn't "want to kill people." He simply wishes to be left alone to live peacefully. Joan counters that she will "put courage into thee" even though the Dauphin doesn't want courage; he wants to sleep in a comfortable bed and not live in continual terror of being killed or wounded. Charles wants Joan to mind her own business and let him mind his. Joan, however, gradually begins to instill courage and patriotism in him as she tells him forcefully that she will crown him king in Rheims. In resounding rhetoric, Joan promises him that the English will be defeated and France will become holy and the Dauphin will rule. Suddenly, inspired by Joan's faith and enthusiasm, the Dauphin recalls the members of his court and announces that he has given command of the army to The Maid to do with as she likes. As the Chamberlain moves threateningly forward, asserting that he is the commander of the army, Joan pushes the frightened Dauphin forward. He snaps his finger in the Chamberlain's face as Joan draws her sword, kneels, and cries out: "Who is for God and His Maid? Who is for Orleans with me?" All of the knights draw their swords in support of The Maid as the Archbishop gives a sign of blessing to all gathered here.

Scene III

This scene is set on the south bank of the Loire River, near Orleans, about seven weeks later. Dunois, better known as The Bastard, is seen pacing up and down the river bank, calling on the west wind to blow in his direction, for he constantly observes his pennon (the flag on his lance) blowing the wrong way. He is described as the darling, romantic hero whose opening speech on the west wind characterizes him as a Soldier Poet. A page enters, and Dunois immediately inquires as to the whereabouts of The Maid, who suddenly arrives in full armor. Dunois thinks that Joan is "in love with war"; earlier, the Archbishop had said that Joan was “in love with religion.” In reality, Joan is in love with neither; she is simply following her dedication (or her voices). Immediately, the west wind stops blowing, but Dunois is too occupied to notice. Upon identifying Dunois as "The Bastard of Orleans," Joan wonders why they are on this side of the river when the English and Orleans are on the other side. She wants to cross the bridge immediately and attack the English forces. Dunois explains that older and wiser military experts say such a tactic simply cannot be done, but Joan dismisses the experts as "fatheads"; she is determined to take immediate, decisive action. When Dunois mentions that her soldiers will not follow her into the mouth of almost certain death, she asserts: "I will not look back to see whether anyone is following me." She then informs Dunois that she will charge the fort and will be the first up the ladder, and she dares him to follow her. Dunois responds that they must sail up river and attack the English from the rear, but, first, they "must wait until God changes the wind." He then asks Joan to go to church and pray for an east wind. They leave to find a church, but, suddenly, the page notices that the wind has changed, and he calls The Maid and The Bastard back. Dunois thinks that God has indeed spoken, and thus he says that if Joan will lead the armies, he will pledge his allegiance to her.

Scene IV

This scene is set in the English camp, as the nobleman Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (called simply Warwick) discusses the recent series of unbelievable French victories with his chaplain, de Stogumber. The defeats can be accounted for only by "witchcraft and sorcery." No simple girl could possibly have defeated the English forces unless she were "an accursed witch." Warwick reveals that he is ready to pay a large ransom for the witch so as to burn her.

A page announces the arrival of the Bishop of Beauvais, Peter Cauchon. After Warwick acknowledges that The Maid has now arranged to have Charles crowned at Rheims and that the English are helpless, Warwick offers his view that The Maid is a sorceress who should be denounced to the Inquisition.

De Stogumber is more adamant in his condemnation, citing the numerous victories which Joan has had over the English and her miraculous survivals on the battlefield. Cauchon is not wholly convinced that the French victories were caused by witchcraft: He subtly suggests that some "little of the credit" be given to French leadership, and he cites examples. However, he agrees that The Maid has supernatural powers, but he attributes these powers to the Devil; the Devil, he says, is employing Joan to strike at the very basis of the Catholic Church: ". . . it is as one of the instruments of that design that . . . this girl is inspired, but diabolically inspired." Thus, Joan is not a witch, but, instead, she is a heretic. Cauchon does not believe her accomplishments (her victories) to be miracles but simply that Joan "has a better head on her shoulders" than do the blustering English generals whom she has defeated. However, it is the duty of the Church to save souls, which Cauchon hopes to do: "The soul of this village girl is of equal value with yours or your king's before the throne of God; and my first duty is to save it."

Cauchon, then, in a long diatribe, explains Joan's condemnation. Joan, he says, totally ignores the Church and, furthermore, presumes to bring messages directly from God; likewise, she, and not the Church, will crown Charles. All of her actions are performed without consulting the Church; in short, she acts as though she were the Church, This is heresy in its worst form, and, Cauchon says, it must be "stamped out, burnt out." Cauchon then catalogues a history of heretics from Mahomet down to Joan — heretics, he says, because they listened to their own personal voices and visions instead of listening to the collected wisdom of the Church. What would happen to the Church if all individuals listened to their own consciences rather than to the Church? Cauchon vows to destroy all such heretics.

Warwick, however, is not impressed by these theological arguments. He is not frightened that Joan might become another Mahomet and create another great schism in the Church; instead, he sees a greater danger, one that involves the very basis of the social structure of all Europe. Joan's views would do away with the feudal hierarchy of the aristocracy, a system in which the king is merely first among his peers; she would, instead, create a system in which the king would be responsible to God, ruling "as God's bailiff" and dismissing the rest of the nobility. Under this system, all of the nobility would have to surrender their lands to the king, who would then present them to God (the Church); thus, the king would be ruled by the Church. In addition, the power of the feudal lords now comes from the allegiance of the common people; Joan's new system of social reform would shift that allegiance from the feudal lord directly to the king, leaving the lords without any power. Interestingly, Cauchon, as a churchman, does not find this idea unacceptable.

Cauchon sees that Warwick is not concerned with Joan's effect on the Church but only with the nobility, yet he listens as Warwick points out that Joan's ideas about the peerage (the nobility) and the Church are, to Warwick, basically identical. In both cases, Warwick says, Joan would do away with any person who stood between the average person and that person's allegiance to his God or to his king: "It is the protest of the individual soul against the interference of priest or peer between the private man and his God." Warwick labels this as "Protestantism." Cauchon then extends the analogy to something which he calls "Nationalism." That is, The Maid is trying to instill a sense of national pride into the common people toward their national origins: "France for the French, England for the English, Italy for the Italians . . . and so forth"; this is contrary to the current state of affairs in which the Church's rule is a universal rule-one realm — one kingdom of Christ — and not several divided nations with different rulers and different allegiances.

De Stogumber has been thoroughly confused by this discussion of "Protestant and Nationalist" and simply says that The Maid rebels against nature (by wearing men's clothes), against the Church (by listening to her voices instead of the Church's), and against God (by aligning herself with Satan in witchcraft). Even though de Stogumber has missed the crux of Warwick's and Couchon's arguments, all agree that The Maid must "die for the people."

Scene V

This scene is set inside the door of the Cathedral at Rheims, where the Dauphin has just been coronated King Charles VII. Joan is seen kneeling before one of the "stations of the cross." Dunois enters, hoping to bring Joan outside and present her to the masses who are calling for her, but Joan says that she wants Charles, the new king, "to have all the glory." In a discussion between them, Dunois reveals that Joan, while adored by the common soldiers and the masses, does not have many friends at Court. When Joan fails to comprehend the Court's animosity toward her, Dunois explains that she has constantly proven herself superior to important and influential men, and now she, and not the Archbishop, is responsible for crowning Charles; these important personages resent being revealed as incompetent. If this be the case, Joan says, she will return to her farm after she has taken Paris. When Dunois warns her that many would prefer that Paris (that is, the enemy) would take her, Joan explains that it is this type of wickedness which makes her rely on her voices, which gives her the confidence to keep going. Her discussion of her voices tends to unnerve Dunois, who would think that she were crazy were it not for her very sensible and logical reasons for her battle strategy.

Bluebeard and La Hire enter as Charles complains about the weight of his coronation robes and the rancid smell of the holy oil. When he hears that The Maid plans to return home, he is greatly pleased, which, in turn, discourages Joan. As she is talking with the others, she suddenly tells Dunois: "Before I go home, let's take Paris." This deeply distresses and horrifies the king, who wants an immediate treaty and no more fighting. As Joan becomes impatient with the king, the Archbishop enters and tries to restrain Joan's impetuosity. When Joan speaks rather sharply to the Archbishop, he reprimands her for disregarding the authority of the Church and for having clothed herself in the "sin of pride," inviting just punishment for her excessive pride. Joan asserts that her voices are her own authority, and she recalls the many triumphs which she has effected. She asserts simply: "You don't know how to begin a battle, and you don't know how to use your cannons. And I do."

Dunois interrupts to acknowledge that while God was on her side earlier, the time of miracles is now over; it is now time to rely on military experience. Furthermore, Joan never concerns herself with costs, supplies, and manpower. Dunois then points out that if Joan is captured, there is no one who will come forward to ransom or rescue her, that even he himself will not sacrifice one soldier's life for her, but she asserts that France (that is, the Crown) will ransom her. Charles immediately denies this, especially since expenses of this dreadful coronation which she forced on him have taken his last cent. When she puts her trust in the Church to aid her, the Archbishop warns her that "they will drag you through the streets and burn you as a witch," that Peter Cauchon knows his business of convicting a heretic. Joan is dumbfounded. She has acted only as God has instructed her to act; she cannot believe that the Church will not protect her now. When the Archbishop accuses her of being "proud and disobedient," Joan protests, asking how she could be disobedient when she has faithfully obeyed her voices — the voices that "come from God." When the Archbishop asserts that the "voices" are only the "echoes of your own willfulness," Joan simply points out one basic truth: Her voices have always been right, and all of her earthly counsels have always been wrong. The Archbishop ignores this fact and gives her a last warning: If Joan continues to follow her judgment rather than the Church's, she will be disowned by the Church (the Archbishop), by the Crown (King Charles), and by the Army (Dunois): "You will stand alone: absolutely alone."

Joan then confronts her earthly compatriots and plaintively cries out that she has always been alone on this earth — in the same way that France is alone and bleeding, and in the same way that God Himself is alone. She hoped to find friends of God in the court of France because God is a friend of everyone, but she now knows that as the loneliness of God is His strength, so too, shall her loneliness be her strength. In God's name, she says, she now has the strength to confront the enemy until she dies. She will go to the common people who love her and, there, will gain enough strength from their love to comfort her for the hatred which these men of power hold for her; then, if she is indeed burnt at the stake, she will go through the fire to the hearts of the common people forever and ever. She departs, saying: "God be with me."

At first, all are silenced; then Bluebeard remarks that The Maid is "quite impossible." Dunois says that, personally, he would jump into a river fully armored to rescue her, but if she were caught by the enemy in a foolish campaign, he would "leave her to her doom." La Hire, however, is inspired to follow her - even to Hell. The Archbishop is disturbed in his judgment, and Charles wishes only that Joan would be quiet and go home.

Scene VI

This scene is set in a great hall arranged for a trial, with a circular table surrounding a rough wooden stool for the prisoner. Approximately nine months have elapsed since Joan's capture, and, as we learn later, Warwick has ransomed Joan from her captors and has turned her over to the ecclesiastical court to be tried for heresy. Warwick, who is forbidden to be present at an ecclesiastical trial, has come to inquire of "Pious Peter" Cauchon about the progress of the trial. The court has already held six public and nine private examinations, and there seems to be no progress. Cauchon introduces Warwick to the Inquisitor (Brother John Lemaitre), a seemingly mild, elderly man, and to the chief prosecutor, Canon John D'Estivet. The Inquisitor informs Warwick that all evidence is in, and they are ready to proceed. Warwick is informed that all that is desired by Joan's judges is to save her soul, but he demands Joan's death as a political necessity; ironically, The Maid herself is her own worst enemy: Every time she speaks, she convicts herself with blasphemies.

As Warwick departs, the court assembles. De Stogumber and Canon de Courcelles protest to the court that their sixty-four meticulously drawn-up charges have been reduced to only twelve indictments. The Inquisitor, backed by Cauchon, explains that the court is not interested in "trumpery issues." The "great main issue" is heresy, and all of the wild, silly accusations about magic serve only to confuse the issues.

At this point, a young priest, Ladvenu, wonders if Joan's heresy is due only to her simplicity. The Inquisitor, in his longest speech, points out that great heresies occur when simple, innocent people like Joan begin to trust in their own consciences rather than listen to the authority of the Church.

The Inquisitor says, it begins when a simple woman rejects her clothes for the dress of a man and continues until this "vain and ignorant person" sets up her own judgment against that of the Church and attempts to interpret God's will, believing always "honestly and sincerely that [her] diabolical inspiration is divine." Furthermore, The Maid is pious and chaste, but "diabolical pride and natural humility are side by side in her." He admonishes her judges that they must avoid being either too cruel or too sympathetic toward her: "Remember only that justice comes first." Cauchon agrees with the Inquisitor, and he reminds the court of the great danger called "Protestantism," in which private individuals set up their own private judgments against the collected wisdom of the Church, thus threatening the "mighty structure of Catholic Christendom."

Joan is brought in, chained by the ankles and showing the strain of the long imprisonment and harsh treatment. She is immediately attacked on some minor points by prosecutor D'Estivet. When Joan balks at swearing to tell the truth once more (for the tenth time), she is threatened with physical torture. After more time is wasted on trifles, Bishop Cauchon then asks Joan the essential question: "Will you submit your case to the inspired interpretation of the Church Militant?" Joan agrees to obey the Church only if it does not ask her to deny the heavenly origin of her voices; furthermore, if the Church bids her to do something contrary to God's command, she cannot consent. This assertion causes extreme consternation among her accusers, who consider it heresy to even think that the Church could suggest something contrary to God.

When Ladvenu pleads with Joan to accept the authority of the Church, Joan maintains that she has never disobeyed the Church, only that God must be served first, and she believes herself to be in a state of grace with God. Courcelles wonders if this was so when she stole the Bishop's horse, a silly question which causes disorder in the court. D'Estivet then charges Joan with having "intercourse with evil spirits" and of dressing like a soldier. Joan defends her voices as heavenly voices, and she explains impatiently the necessity of her dress in plain common sense terms: It would be foolish to live among soldiers while dressed as a woman, and, furthermore, in an enemy prison, it would be even more foolhardy to wear petticoats. As Joan continues to make impatient and pert or sarcastic replies, she is reminded that the Executioner is standing directly behind her, a man who confirms that the stake is ready for Joan's immediate burning. Joan finds herself in desperate despair: She is terrified of burning at the stake, but she asserts that her voices promised her that she should not be burnt. Ladvenu and Cauchon use her fears to make her confess that her voices have betrayed her: She finally agrees that her voices have deceived her because "only a fool will walk into a fire"; God would not expect her to go to the stake. Her judges are triumphant and immediately bring her "a solemn recantation of heresy" to sign. De Stogumber interrupts the proceedings and denounces the court, asserting that eight hundred Englishmen wait outside, ready to burn The Maid. When de Stogumber is quieted, Ladvenu reads to Joan the recantation which renounces her voices as false and states that she embraces the Church for bringing her to salvation, and, in addition, that she pledges total allegiance to the authority of the Church. Ladvenu guides her hand to sign the document, and Joan is pronounced free from the danger of excommunication, but because she has sinned most presumptuously, she is sentenced to spend the rest of her life in solitary confinement and perpetual imprisonment, living on only bread and water.

Upon hearing her sentence, Joan immediately denounces the recantation document, dreading imprisonment in a rat-infested hole more than the flames of the stake. She tears her confession to shreds and denounces the assembled court as fools. She cries out that she is not frightened of bread and water, but only of being shut away in darkness, of being denied the light of the sky, the sights of the fields; living in chains forever, she says, is impossible. To keep her from the very forces of life is the counsel of the Devil, for she, she states, is keeping God's counsel. She pronounces the court to be unfit for her to live among them. The Inquisitor and Cauchon immediately pronounce her "a relapsed heretic," and they state that she must be cast out and abandoned. Joan is brutally hurried to the stake, followed by Ladvenu, who will be by her side for her last confession. When the flames can be seen inside, Cauchon says that he wants to stop the burning because of some technical irregularities, but the Inquisitor stops him, explaining that the Church proceeded in perfect order, and it is the English who are guilty of irregularities. This fact might be useful in the future because of the innocence of The Maid. The Inquisitor then explains that Joan was innocent because she understood nothing about the proceedings; she was merely crushed by the Church and the Law.

As the Inquisitor and Cauchon leave to witness the burning, Warwick enters and is soon followed by de Stogumber, who staggers like a demented person to the prisoner's stool and sobs uncontrollably. When asked what the matter is, he blubbers out that he did not know what he was doing and did not know how horrible death by burning was. He is thankful that The Maid asked for a cross because an English soldier was able to give her two sticks tied together for her final consolation. De Stogumber says that he feels that he is damned, and he is admonished to control himself just as Ladvenu enters, carrying a cross which he held for The Maid to see during her last moments of life; he says that he climbed onto the burning pyre, but that Joan sent him back, admonishing him of the danger to himself. Ladvenu cannot understand how Joan could, at such a time, think of the safety of others unless she were with God.

When de Stogumber rushes out to pray among Joan's ashes, Warwick sends Ladvenu to look after the Chaplain. Then, unexpectedly, the Executioner comes to report that the execution is complete. Warwick wants assurance that no relics remain that could be sold; the Executioner reports that Joan's heart would not burn, but that all the rest of her remains are at the bottom of a river. When verbally assured that he has heard the last of The Maid, Warwick, with a wry smile, wonders if he has truly heard the last of Joan of Arc.

Epilogue

The setting in this scene is King Charles' bedchamber, twenty-five years after the last scene. Charles (the former Dauphin) puts aside his book, rings for his servant, and Ladvenu enters, carrying the same cross which he held when The Maid perished at the stake. Now he announces that twenty-five years later, at the court of inquiry for rehabilitation, Joan has been declared innocent of all charges for which she was burned as a heretic. Likewise, her judges have been declared "full of corruption, cozenage, fraud, and malice." Charles, however, is not interested in The Maid, but only in removing the troublesome rumor that he was crowned by a witch and a heretic. Furthermore, he points out that were Joan to return, "they would burn her again within six months . . . so, let The Maid rest." Ladvenu, shocked at this attitude, hastily retreats.

The king again rings for his servant, but the candles go out, and in a flash of lightening, a silhouette is seen and the voice of Joan is heard. She assures Charles that he is dreaming, and she wants to know what has happened in the last twenty-five years. Charles is pleased to report that Joan forced him to become a man; he is now Charles the Victorious, and furthermore, just today, Joan has been vindicated and her judges have been condemned. Joan accepts the information without emotion, saying ironically, "They were as honest a lot of poor fools as ever burned their betters." Charles thinks The Maid should thank him for bringing about justice, but suddenly Peter Cauchon appears between them, contradicting the king. Cauchon complains bitterly of the dishonors done to him: He was excommunicated, and his body was dug up and flung into the sewer — all in order to praise Joan. Cauchon claims that he was "pure of heart" and that he was just, merciful, and faithful. King Charles merely observes that "it is always you good men that do the big mischiefs," whereas he, the king, has simply been serving France. Joan wonders then if the English are really gone, and immediately Dunois, The Bastard, appears to assure Joan that he kept his word: The English are gone. Dunois tells Joan that the French forces won by fighting by Joan's strategies, and he is sorry that he didn't come to her defense and prevent "the priests from burning her."

As the clock strikes, a rough, strange voice is heard "trolling an improvised tune," and a coarse, ruffian-like English soldier appears. He announces that he has come straight from Hell where they give him one day off each year because of one good deed which he has performed. He is about to call it "the silliest thing you ever heard of" when Joan breaks in to explain that this is the soldier who gave her two sticks tied together as a cross when she was about to be burned. The soldier then explains that Hell is not so bad — some "tip top company . . . emperors and popes and kings and all sorts" are to be found there.

Again the door opens, and an old, white-haired priest enters. It is de Stogumber, who has never recovered from witnessing Joan's burning at the stake. He now wanders around aimlessly, exhorting people to be kind to one another. When de Stogumber fails to recognize Joan because he thinks Joan is burnt and dead, the Executioner appears, announcing that Joan is more alive than de Stogumber because Joan's heart would not burn and her spirit is "up and alive everywhere." Warwick then suddenly enters to congratulate Joan on her rehabilitation and explains that the burning was nothing personal, but only a purely political necessity.

Suddenly, a stranger appears, dressed in the fashion of 1920, and therefore eliciting uncontrollable laughter from others for his comic dress. He ignores their frivolous behavior, however, and reads from a recent proclamation that Joan The Maid has now been canonized and elevated to sainthood and that a memorial service to Saint Joan shall be celebrated every thirtieth of May, on the anniversary of her burning. Suddenly, visions of statues of Joan are seen in front of cathedrals, and all kneel to offer Joan praise; then, one by one, each of them tells of how various sectors of society praise her.

Joan interrupts their praise by reminding them that as a saint, she can effect miracles; therefore, she asks them whether or not she should come back to life as a living woman and return to them. This very thought causes immense consternation, and with apologies and excuses, they all state that they prefer that she remain dead. Then they all slip quietly away, leaving her alone with the soldier who gave her the crude cross made of two sticks. As the soldier begins to try to comfort Joan, the stroke of midnight summons him back to Hell. As the rays of white radiant light enfold Joan, she asks God when the world will be ready to receive His saints: "How long, O Lord, how long?"

 

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