Saint Joan - Segment II

George Bernard Shaw's 

Saint Joan

(Segment II)

For a lecture video on this segment, click here.

Topics:

G B Shaw

Saint Joan

Play structure

The Plot, in brief

Characters 

George Bernard Shaw

A person who lived for around a century… born in the latter part of the 19^th century and lived through the first half of the 20^th.. He was an Irish writer who moved to London, and after much struggle, emerged as a reputed critic of the theatre and music. He was chosen to receive the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925.

Bernard Shaw wrote more than 60 plays: Man and Superman, Pygmalion, Saint Joan, The Devil’s Disciple

As a British dramatist, he is often rated second only to Shakespeare.

His impact is such that there exists a word ‘Shavian’ which means ‘in the manner of Shaw/ his works’, or ‘an admirer of Shaw and his writings’.

Saint Joan

A play by Shaw on the life and trial of Joan of Arc. Published in 1924, not long after the canonization of Joan of Arc by the Roman Catholic Church (1920), the play dramatises what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. Shaw studied the transcripts and decided that the concerned people acted in good faith according to their beliefs. The play was received enthusiastically both in the US where it was premiered in Broadway, and in England. Shaw’s biographer Stanley Weintraub remarks: "Even the Nobel prize committee could no longer ignore Shaw after Saint Joan".

The St. Joan statue in Shaw's garden

Shaw and his wife Charlotte spent their latter days in a country house named “Shaw’s Corner”. They maintained a garden there, which had a statue of St. Joan. As per their desire, some of their ashes were scattered around this statue.

Shaw wrote in his preface to Saint Joan:

There are no villains in the piece. Crime, like disease, is not interesting: it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is all [there is] about it. It is what men do at their best, with good intentions, and what normal men and women find that they must and will do in spite of their intentions, that really concern us.

Structure of the Play

Shaw describes his play as “A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and an Epilogue”

The text of the published play includes a long Preface by Shaw, and as suggested, six scenes, and an epilogue

“A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and an Epilogue”

 

The Plot, in brief

Scene 1:

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.

Scene 2:

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.

Scene 3:

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.

Scene 4:

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.

Scene 5:

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.

Scene 6:

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.

Epilogue:

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?"

Characters

17 characters are in the play, with varying levels of prominence.

Joan of Arc, often referred to as The Maid

Joan is 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.      

Prepared by Jacob Eapen Kunnath