O God that madest this beautiful earth, when will it be ready to receive Thy saints? How long, O Lord, how long?' Thus ends Saint Joan, Bernard Shaw's play on the life of Joan of Arc, the female warrior saint of France who led the French forces to a string of victories against the English in the critical moment of the Hundred Years War. The final lines are Joan's soliloquy, who was burnt at the stake by the English who had her excommunicated by the Church on the charge of crossdressing.
Saint Joan is a fictionalized account of the life of Joan of Arc, an eighteen-year-old French girl who claims to have received divine revelations from God through Saint Catherine, Saint Margaret, Archangel Michael, etc. The revelations commanded her to fight against the English who occupied France and instructed her to crown the Dauphin (later, Charles VII) as the king of France in the Reims Cathedral. Initially, she is dismissed as insane by everybody but her spirited defense of the visions start to win converts until she convinces Robert de Baudricourt, the captain of the royal garrison at Vaucouleurs. He recommends her to the Dauphin of France, who is in exile with the royal court at Chinon in Touraine. The Dauphin is a dispirited man who is bullied by his courtiers including the Chamberlain, to whom he owes a large sum. Joan's arrival is welcomed with a prank, one in which she had to identify the real prince from the royal entourage assembled at the court. Joan correctly identifies the prince and he is impressed with her since she recognizes the 'royal blood'. In a private session with the Dauphin Joan realizes that Charles is a coward who wouldn't dare lift a finger against the English if he could help it. He is even upfront about his lack of talent on the battlefield. In a telling exchange, when Joan offers to pray for Charles, he tries to dissuade her because if her prayers are answered he may become courageous like the rest of his military commanders and plunge headlong into battle and lose his life. He doesn't want any of it. Joan tries to convince him that the issue at stake is God's Will and Plan for France and not the lives of individuals, however royal and noble they maybe. Joan is determined to obey the commands of the voices and fight to the end the English and chase them away from France to England. Joan brings miracles in her wake and at Orleans, she helps Dunois (the French commander known as the 'Bastard') and his army defeat the English. Her arrival instantly changes the course of the wind and Dunois and his army sail upstream and attack the English fortress. From Orleans onwards, Joan is known as The Maid or The Maid of Orleans. She inspires the French army towards successive victories against the English and she crowns the Dauphin the King of France, Charles VII, at the cathedral at Reims. Her predictions come true and she is widely lauded as a divinely inspired Maid. Soon after the coronation, The Maid is given leave to return to her village because the King and the court are in no mood to prosecute the war against the English and recapture Paris. The King is glad about the miraculous turn of events but he is keen to secure a treaty with the English and put an end to the war. He is afraid that if he goes ahead with Joan's plan for Paris they might lose everything they had won back in the last one year. Joan is dismissed from the court and is later captured by the Burgundians who hands her over to the English. The English are incensed with Joan's successes against them and the Earl of Warwick arranges the Inquisition to try Joan on the charges of heresy. Although the Inquisition doesn't find any evidence of heresy against Joan (in fact, they found plenty of evidence in support of her piety) Joan's pert answers provoke the members of Inquisition against her. Unlike others who portray the Inquisition as the bloodthirsty arm of the Catholic Church, Shaw has tried to be fair towards them. Time and again the French bishop Cauchon reminds the Earl of Warwick that the primary purpose of the Inquisition is to save the soul of the girl and not burn her. He reminds the Earl that the Church can only excommunicate but it's the 'secular' authorities that execute the death sentence. Bishop Cauchon is appalled by the overtly political agenda behind Earl's enthusiasm for the case but he is equally troubled by Joan's impertinence. Although Joan doesn't denounce the Church or refuses to recognize its authority she sets up her opinions above it because her visions are God-sent. This is enough to be charged with heresy but in a last-ditch attempt to save Joan they reveal to her that the stake is prepared and once the order of excommunication is passed she would be taken to it and burned immediately. For the first time in the story, Joan wavers. Her confidence in the recent visions is shaken and she signs the document of confession, seeking pardon from the Church. The Inquisition is elated and the English and French chaplains present are outraged. But to their luck, Joan relapses to heresy. In exchange for her life, she is ordered to be imprisoned for life. Joan tears up her confession and proclaims her belief in the truth of her visions again. She declares that she would trade her life for freedom, i.e the freedom to enjoy the beautiful world God has created and the freedom to sing praises for Him. She is led to the stake and burnt. Only her 'frantic howling and sobbing' are recorded by the playwright. Twenty-five years later, Joan's excommunication is nullified by the Church and her Inquisitor, Bishop Cauchon is excommunicated by the Church posthumously for burning an innocent girl on trumped-up charges that served political interests. Soon after the posthumous rehabilitation of Joan, King Charles has a dream in which the dramatis personae apologizes to Joan, for either wronging her or slighting her. In a comic turn of events, a Vatican priest from 1920 appears in the dream and informs them of the news about Joan's canonization. Joan, now Saint Joan, is shocked and the apologies turn into praises and oaths of loyalty but when Joan inquires if she may come back alive since she is a saint now who can work miracles, mouths that uttered the oaths of loyalty become silent and quietly withdraw. The implication is that saints serve the world best dead. Thus, Joan's final soliloquy.
Bernard Shaw's Joan is a pious and strong-willed woman who solemnly believed in the truth of her visions. For Shaw, the social and political meaning of her visions is more important than the veracity of it. Joan represents the insurrectionary moment in the history of European politics and religion. The fourth scene where the Earl of Warwick has an audience with Bishop Cauchon is important because their exchange reveals the real danger both the church and the aristocracy believed Joan represented. A simple-minded peasant girl who believes that she is touched by the saints and the angels is a non-entity for the Church and the state. However, Joan's visions have political and religious ramifications. The aristocracy fears that Joan's mobilization of the French in the name of sacred France leads to the development of nationalism that would strengthen the hands of the kings against the nobility. As far as the nobles of both France and England are concerned the war is a tussle for power between two royal houses. It has nothing to do with the nations. The people should simply obey the commands of their masters, be they French or English. For the Church, the problem is that of Protestantism. The Church fears that people's interpretation of the scripture, without the moderating influence of the Church, will lead to heresies like Islam that would destroy the Christendom. Shaw isn't blindly critical of the Church. He gives the Church its due where he thinks it has one. The Church's Inquisition-like institutions moderate the fanaticism of the people. The Catholic Church fears that if the interpretation of the scriptures is left to the people, the fanatics among them would wreck the society through their violent bigotry. To a certain extent, the history of the rise of Protestantism bears witness to the truth of the Church's misgivings.
Who's the real villain of the story? After all, Saint Joan is a tragedy in which the guileless protagonist is killed by the unscrupulous nobles and priests. Although Shaw implicates everyone his denunciation of the aristocracy is particularly severe. The Church redeems itself (at least tries to) by nullifying Joan's excommunication and three centuries later canonizes her. The aristocracy has no excuses to offer apart from that of 'political necessities'. In the King's dream, the Earl of Warwick apologizes to Joan, saying that her burning was a purely political act with no personal malice behind it. The implication of the statement is obvious. The politicians and statesmen wouldn't hesitate to murder even saints if it fulfils theirpolitical necessities. Shaw doesn't let the Church off the hook completely. The clergy and the nobility were in a nexus in their determinate persecution of Joan. No act of posthumous canonization can repair the injustice done to the person of Joan of Arc. It wouldn't bring her back to life. As a saint, even if she wishes to resurrect herself the society wouldn't want it. They are afraid of the chaos she brings in her wake. They would burn her at the stake again. Saints, like geniuses, are recognized belatedly. Once the world starts walking the path they laid down, it understands the meaning of their actions. Until then, they would be chased away and persecuted because their genius threatens the social order and the interests of those in power. In a sense, the social and political climate of fourteenth-century Europe was such that it demanded the destruction of persons such as Joan. Maybe, the Earl was right. There was nothing personal against Joan. We might as well declare History as the villain, and wait for the 'end of times' when it would simply cease to be. Only the Time prosecutes the times.
Saint Joan is a fictionalized account of the life of Joan of Arc, an eighteen-year-old French girl who claims to have received divine revelations from God through Saint Catherine, Saint Margaret, Archangel Michael, etc. The revelations commanded her to fight against the English who occupied France and instructed her to crown the Dauphin (later, Charles VII) as the king of France in the Reims Cathedral. Initially, she is dismissed as insane by everybody but her spirited defense of the visions start to win converts until she convinces Robert de Baudricourt, the captain of the royal garrison at Vaucouleurs. He recommends her to the Dauphin of France, who is in exile with the royal court at Chinon in Touraine. The Dauphin is a dispirited man who is bullied by his courtiers including the Chamberlain, to whom he owes a large sum. Joan's arrival is welcomed with a prank, one in which she had to identify the real prince from the royal entourage assembled at the court. Joan correctly identifies the prince and he is impressed with her since she recognizes the 'royal blood'. In a private session with the Dauphin Joan realizes that Charles is a coward who wouldn't dare lift a finger against the English if he could help it. He is even upfront about his lack of talent on the battlefield. In a telling exchange, when Joan offers to pray for Charles, he tries to dissuade her because if her prayers are answered he may become courageous like the rest of his military commanders and plunge headlong into battle and lose his life. He doesn't want any of it. Joan tries to convince him that the issue at stake is God's Will and Plan for France and not the lives of individuals, however royal and noble they maybe. Joan is determined to obey the commands of the voices and fight to the end the English and chase them away from France to England. Joan brings miracles in her wake and at Orleans, she helps Dunois (the French commander known as the 'Bastard') and his army defeat the English. Her arrival instantly changes the course of the wind and Dunois and his army sail upstream and attack the English fortress. From Orleans onwards, Joan is known as The Maid or The Maid of Orleans. She inspires the French army towards successive victories against the English and she crowns the Dauphin the King of France, Charles VII, at the cathedral at Reims. Her predictions come true and she is widely lauded as a divinely inspired Maid. Soon after the coronation, The Maid is given leave to return to her village because the King and the court are in no mood to prosecute the war against the English and recapture Paris. The King is glad about the miraculous turn of events but he is keen to secure a treaty with the English and put an end to the war. He is afraid that if he goes ahead with Joan's plan for Paris they might lose everything they had won back in the last one year. Joan is dismissed from the court and is later captured by the Burgundians who hands her over to the English. The English are incensed with Joan's successes against them and the Earl of Warwick arranges the Inquisition to try Joan on the charges of heresy. Although the Inquisition doesn't find any evidence of heresy against Joan (in fact, they found plenty of evidence in support of her piety) Joan's pert answers provoke the members of Inquisition against her. Unlike others who portray the Inquisition as the bloodthirsty arm of the Catholic Church, Shaw has tried to be fair towards them. Time and again the French bishop Cauchon reminds the Earl of Warwick that the primary purpose of the Inquisition is to save the soul of the girl and not burn her. He reminds the Earl that the Church can only excommunicate but it's the 'secular' authorities that execute the death sentence. Bishop Cauchon is appalled by the overtly political agenda behind Earl's enthusiasm for the case but he is equally troubled by Joan's impertinence. Although Joan doesn't denounce the Church or refuses to recognize its authority she sets up her opinions above it because her visions are God-sent. This is enough to be charged with heresy but in a last-ditch attempt to save Joan they reveal to her that the stake is prepared and once the order of excommunication is passed she would be taken to it and burned immediately. For the first time in the story, Joan wavers. Her confidence in the recent visions is shaken and she signs the document of confession, seeking pardon from the Church. The Inquisition is elated and the English and French chaplains present are outraged. But to their luck, Joan relapses to heresy. In exchange for her life, she is ordered to be imprisoned for life. Joan tears up her confession and proclaims her belief in the truth of her visions again. She declares that she would trade her life for freedom, i.e the freedom to enjoy the beautiful world God has created and the freedom to sing praises for Him. She is led to the stake and burnt. Only her 'frantic howling and sobbing' are recorded by the playwright. Twenty-five years later, Joan's excommunication is nullified by the Church and her Inquisitor, Bishop Cauchon is excommunicated by the Church posthumously for burning an innocent girl on trumped-up charges that served political interests. Soon after the posthumous rehabilitation of Joan, King Charles has a dream in which the dramatis personae apologizes to Joan, for either wronging her or slighting her. In a comic turn of events, a Vatican priest from 1920 appears in the dream and informs them of the news about Joan's canonization. Joan, now Saint Joan, is shocked and the apologies turn into praises and oaths of loyalty but when Joan inquires if she may come back alive since she is a saint now who can work miracles, mouths that uttered the oaths of loyalty become silent and quietly withdraw. The implication is that saints serve the world best dead. Thus, Joan's final soliloquy.
Bernard Shaw's Joan is a pious and strong-willed woman who solemnly believed in the truth of her visions. For Shaw, the social and political meaning of her visions is more important than the veracity of it. Joan represents the insurrectionary moment in the history of European politics and religion. The fourth scene where the Earl of Warwick has an audience with Bishop Cauchon is important because their exchange reveals the real danger both the church and the aristocracy believed Joan represented. A simple-minded peasant girl who believes that she is touched by the saints and the angels is a non-entity for the Church and the state. However, Joan's visions have political and religious ramifications. The aristocracy fears that Joan's mobilization of the French in the name of sacred France leads to the development of nationalism that would strengthen the hands of the kings against the nobility. As far as the nobles of both France and England are concerned the war is a tussle for power between two royal houses. It has nothing to do with the nations. The people should simply obey the commands of their masters, be they French or English. For the Church, the problem is that of Protestantism. The Church fears that people's interpretation of the scripture, without the moderating influence of the Church, will lead to heresies like Islam that would destroy the Christendom. Shaw isn't blindly critical of the Church. He gives the Church its due where he thinks it has one. The Church's Inquisition-like institutions moderate the fanaticism of the people. The Catholic Church fears that if the interpretation of the scriptures is left to the people, the fanatics among them would wreck the society through their violent bigotry. To a certain extent, the history of the rise of Protestantism bears witness to the truth of the Church's misgivings.
Who's the real villain of the story? After all, Saint Joan is a tragedy in which the guileless protagonist is killed by the unscrupulous nobles and priests. Although Shaw implicates everyone his denunciation of the aristocracy is particularly severe. The Church redeems itself (at least tries to) by nullifying Joan's excommunication and three centuries later canonizes her. The aristocracy has no excuses to offer apart from that of 'political necessities'. In the King's dream, the Earl of Warwick apologizes to Joan, saying that her burning was a purely political act with no personal malice behind it. The implication of the statement is obvious. The politicians and statesmen wouldn't hesitate to murder even saints if it fulfils their
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