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Unit 23: Saint Joan: Detailed Analysis of the Text

a social and intellectual movement that, by definition, undercuts all claims to catholicity Notes
(or universality), including any claims of a “catholic” Church. Nationalism cannot be catholic; it is
particular and specific. As Joan says, “God made [the English] just like us; but He gave them their
own country and their own language.” Nationalism also stands in contrast to medieval feudalism:
instead of vassals owing loyalty to their feudal masters, people now owe loyalty to their country,
their nation. Joan summarizes the position nationalism occupies between feudalism and catholicism
when she states, “We are all subject to the King of Heaven; and He gave us our countries and our
languages, and meant us to keep to them.”

The first scene also loudly announces Shaw’s theme of the salvific nature of imagination.

Even the description Shaw gives of Joan in his stage directions heralds this theme: Joan’s “eyes [are]
very wide apart and bulging as they often do in very imaginative people”—and also, doubtless,
indicative of her status as a “Galtonic visualizer”. While de Poulengey does not give credence to
Joan’s reports of visions of and conversations with the saints, he cannot deny the practical effects
her inspiration and motivation are having on French soldiers. He cannot deny, “There is something
about the girl.” As Shaw said in the preface, the truth of the visions does not have to be granted in
order to grant the truth of the visions’ outcomes, or the commonsense appeal of Joan’s policies and
goals. “Her words and her ardent faith,” says Polly, “have put fire into me”—and that fire is exactly
what the French need in their current situation. Imagination—the ability to see more and to see
truly than others—will be the key to France’s salvation from English domination. Joan herself puts
it plainly: when Baudricourt says, accusingly, that the voices she hears conveying God’s will come
from her imagination, she replies with great assurance, “Of course. That is how the messages of
God come to us.” The playwright’s unspoken warning is: Let those who ignore the divine message
mediated through imagination beware! The rest of the play will show who is able to respond, and
who is not, and what eventually happens to each.

23.3 Scene II

23.3.1 Summary

Charles the Dauphin and his court are at the central French town of Chinon. As the scene begins,
four courtiers-Georges, Duc de la Trémouille, the Lord Chamberlain (the most important official in
a royal household and counselor to the monarch); Regnault de Chartres, the Archbishop of Rheims
(where the cathedral in which all French kings have been crowned is located); Captain Gilles de
Rais, or “Bluebeard” for the “extravagance of a little curled beard dyed blue” which he sports, an
aristocrat and military commander; and another commander, Captain La Hire are discussing the
accidental drowning of a solider whose death Joan supposedly prophesied because he was swearing.
The Dauphin enters, interrupting the conversation, excited about the news he has received that
Baudricourt is sending Joan to him: “He is sending a saint: an angel. And she is coming to me. She
knows the blood royal.” Archbishop de Chartres protests that Charles cannot have an audience
with Joan: “This creature is not a saint. She is not even a respectable woman.” La Hire proposes
finding out what Joan is by testing her: when she arrives, Gilles de Rais will impersonate the Dauphin.
If she can see through the deception, she will be permitted to speak to Charles. All agree to the plan,
though for different reasons. Charles, for instance, wants to know that Joan can, in fact, detect the
royal blood in him; De Chartres, on the other hand-who knows full well that, because the Dauphin’s
physical description is common knowledge, Joan will be able to reject Gilles de Rais as an impostor-
hopes that her “miracle” of detection will “confirm or create faith.”

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