An Analysis Of Saint Joan Essay Research

An Analysis Of Saint Joan Essay, Research Paper

Saint Joan is considered to be one of George Bernard Shaw’s greatest works. The play deals with subject matter pertaining to events after the Death of Joan of Arc. In the play, Shaw avoids many problems identified by critics as prevalent in some of his other writing. Some have criticized Shaw, claiming that he tends to portray unrealistic archetypal characters, rather than well-rounded believable individuals. His plays have also been described as lacking action and being too didactic. In Saint Joan, Shaw reduced the intensity of these previously criticized typically Shavian elements and thus, met with much critical success. However, in my view, the play’s epilogue is redundant and unnecessary. It essentially repeats and reinforces the events of the play without enhancing the drama. And serves to add historical facts which are either familiar to the audience or which could have been inserted skillfully into the body of the play for

greater dramatic effect. It seems almost as if Shaw was afraid that his audience would not understand the play – he felt compelled to make his ideas clearer in the epilogue.

The action of the epilogue takes place twenty-five years after Joan of Arc was burned. King Charles has a dream in which many of the characters of the play appear. These characters, including Joan, either explain their behavior that we’ve seen throughout the play or relate some historical fact that Shaw must have seen as necessary for the audience to be aware of. The first character that appears at Charles’ bed is Brother Martin Ladvenu, who in Scene VI participated in the trial leading to Joan’s conviction. During the examination, Ladvenu makes every effort to spare Joan from being convicted a heretic and tries to give her the opportunity to be “saved.” In addition, he says to her, “Joan: we are all trying to save you. His lordship is trying to save you. The Inquisitor could not be more just to you if you were his own daughter.” He shows that he is earnest in his desire for the truth to ultimately prevail, and for Joan to be saved. After Joan’s death, he is one of the first to recognize that a mistake has been made. Describing her death, he says “…she looked up to heaven. And I do not believe that the heavens were empty. I firmly believe that her Savior appeared to her…This is not the end for her, but the beginning.”

In the epilogue, Ladvenu’s main function is to relay the fact that Joan has been absolved and rehabilitated and that he was a primary mover toward such absolution. He says, “Twenty-five years have passed since [Joan's burning]: nearly ten thousand days.” This is pure exposition necessary only to orient the audience. He continues, “And on every one of those days I have prayed God to justify His daughter on earth as she is justified in heaven.” This just illustrates that Ladvenu believes that Joan was unjustly burnt, repeating the same information that was conveyed with greater dramatic effect in Scene VI. He goes on to give more historical information; the judges of Joan were declared as corrupt and malicious. Having conveyed these facts, Ladvenu leaves, and his entire appearance in the epilogue seems unnecessary and does not add any dramatics to the play.

After Ladvenu’s departure, Joan herself appears to Charles, informing him (and the audience) that she is only in his dream, and not a realistic ghost. Like Ladvenu, Charles orates historical information about himself; he turned into a great warrior, and hence, been dubbed “Charles the Victorious.” In their conversation, Joan spells out information about herself that has been clearly illustrated throughout the play, without adding anything substantial. She says, “I was no beauty; I was a regular soldier. I might almost as well have been a man. Pity I wasn’t…But my head was in the skies; and the glory of God was upon me…” She continues on to state the obvious. “I shall outlast the cross. I shall be remembered when men have forgotten where Rouen stood.” Anyone reading or seeing the play knows that to be the truth.

Shaw’s pattern of giving historical information, and explaining and summarizing characters’ behaviors, continue throughout the epilogue. The next character to arrive in the scene is Peter Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais who like Ladvenu, participated in deciding Joan’s fate. He starts off by providing the facts of his life after Joan’s death. “Dead. Dishonored. They pursued me beyond the grave. They excommunicated my dead body: they dug it up and flung it into the common sewer.” Shaw’s intention may have been to show that society is too quick to judge, and as a result, goes to extremes beyond what is reasonable and necessary. Cauchon continues, “The solid earth sways like the treacherous sea beneath the feet of men and spirits alike when the innocent are slain in the name of law, and their wrongs are undone by slandering the pure of heart.” This statement can be interpreted as a theme of the play since Joan’s story illustrates exactly the point that Cauchon is making. By explicitly stating such theme, Shaw undercuts the power of the preceding action and weakens the dramatic effect of the play. Cauchon continues on to summarize his action, which we’ve already seen throughout the play. “…I was just: I was merciful: I was faithful to my light: I could do no other than I did.” As was with Ladvenu, the audience saw Cauchon b