Page 276 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

British Drama

Notes

Being at least in part a tragedy, though with comic moments, Saint Joan is part of a shift
in Shaw’s work from his earlier optimistic comedies to a more melancholy attitude, perhaps
in part the result of his reaction to World War I.

Although he had been thinking about Joan of Arc as early as 1913, Shaw did not actually begin
writing the play until 1923, three years after Joan’s canonization. He consulted many earlier works
on Joan, including the transcripts of her trial. In fact, he modestly said that he had done little more
than reproduce Joan’s own words as recorded in the transcripts; however, that statement is unfair
to Shaw, who left a distinctive Shavian touch on the story of the martyred saint.
There are no villains in the play. Crime, like disease, is not interesting: it is something to be done
away with by general consent, and that is all 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.
Michael Holroyd has characterised the play as “a tragedy without villains” and also as Shaw’s
“only tragedy”. John Fielden has discussed further the appropriateness of characterising Saint Joan
as a tragedy.

Elucidate that the play Saint Joan is a tragedy without villains.

Joan, a teenage country girl, shows up at the castle of Vaucouleurs. She’s determined to kick the
English out of France and to crown the Dauphin, Charles, as King. Joan has heard voices from God
telling her that this is her destiny. Through sheer confidence and natural charisma, she manages to
sway the skeptical Captain Robert de Baudricourt. He gives her soldier’s clothes, armor, and other
supplies to assist in getting to the Dauphin.
Upon arriving at Charles’s court, Joan wins over most everybody. First, she’s able to pick Charles
out of a crowd, which some view as a miracle. Her humility and reverence for the Church get the
Archbishop on her side. Then of course, there’s the Dauphin himself. It takes a little doing, but after
a good old fashioned pep talk she convinces him to stop messing around and stand up for France
and himself. Charles grants her control of the army.
She’s off to Orleans, a town under siege by the English. Joan meets Dunois, the leader of the French
troops at Orleans. He has been waiting for a while for the wind to change. It’s the only way he can
sail his soldiers up the river and launch a sneak attack on the English. When the wind switches
directions upon Joan’s arrival, Dunois is convinced that Joan has been sent by God. They march off
together, to liberate Orleans.

Joan’s enemies are plotting against her. The Earl of Warwick and the Chaplain de
Stogumber, both Englishmen, meet with Peter Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais. Warwick
wants Cauchon to try Joan for heresy. The angry little Chaplain just wants her to die and die
painfully. Cauchon agrees to try Joan, but refuses to be a political tool of the English. He says
that he will do his best to save her soul.

Joan and company have been busy little bees. They’ve liberated Orleans, won a bunch of other
battles, and have just crowned Charles as King in Rheims Cathedral. Joan, however, is unsatisfied.
A good chunk of the country, including Paris, is still not under French control. She urges Charles,

270 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY