LIFE OF SAINT JOAN

In the protagonist of Saint Joan, Shaw has created his most lasting
embodiment of the Life Force, a figure who is superior in character
and vision and who tries to elevate ordinary people to her level by
becoming their leader. Shaw’s Saint Joan is funny and self-
confident; she is guided by practicality and common sense but does
not fit the traditional image of a religious martyr. Although Saint
Joan is filled with comic moments, it is considered Shaw’s only
tragedy. Yet it has also been called a comedy containing one tragic
scene.

Joan’s legend had been revived in France during World War I; an

ambitious Hollywood film, Joan, the Woman, had been released in
1917; and in 1920 Joan was canonized. The ensuing interest in Joan
of Arc also seized Shaw and especially his wife. In Joan’s assertion
of her will against institutional restraints Shaw recognized so many
of his convictions that, as the famous drama critic-historian Eric
Bentley has written, Shaw would have had to invent Joan had she
never existed. In the play’s preface, Shaw praises “the vigor and
scope of her mind and character, and the intensity of her vital
energy.”

Although she is a warrior, Joan is also a preserver of life. As she

appears on the scene, the hens start laying eggs again. In her
enthusiasm she appeals to the French soldiers because “she’s so
positive.” Joan’s affirmation of life and the indestructibility of her
vital energy are felt throughout the play. Even when Joan is burned
as a witch, the executioner admits thatHer heart would not burn;
and it would not drown. I was a master at my craft . . . but I could
not kill The Maid. She is up and alive everywhere.
Guided by voices, the eighteen-year-old country girl Joan is set on
liberating France from the English, who are occupying half of the
country in 1429. Through perseverance and persuasiveness she
manages to be appointed commander of the French army by the
Dauphin Charles. Joan leads the soldiers to victory by giving them
back their courage. In something of a miracle, Orleans becomes the
first city to be freed from English occupation.

When the English are losing battle after battle, the Earl of Warwick
and his chaplain persuade Cauchon, the bishop of Beauvais, that
Joan must be a witch because she could not have been so
successful otherwise. He calls her death a “political necessity.”
While Cauchon is not convinced that Joan’s military victories make
her a heretic, he is angered by what he perceives to be Joan’s pride
and her disregard for the Church. He blames her for asserting that
she is guided by God and not by the Church and for crowning
Charles herself in the cathedral of Rheims. What her accusers also
cannot accept is Joan’s unwomanly behavior and attire. She dresses
as a soldier and protests, “I will never take a husband. . . . I am
a...warrior.