Themes of Saint Joan by G.B. Shaw
Introduction to Author
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright, critic, and
political activist. He greatly influenced Western theatre, culture, and politics
from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays in his
lifetime. The word ‘Shavian’ has entered the English Language
encapsulating Shaw’s ideas and his means of expressing them. He has been
regularly rated second only to William Shakespeare amongst the British
dramatists.
- · Arms and the Man
- · Candida
- · You can Never Tell
- · Saint Joan
- · Caesar and Cleopatra
- · The Man of Destiny
- · Pygmalion
His Achievements
·
G.B. Shaw received the Nobel Prize in Literature in the year 1925.
·
Thirteen years later, he won the Oscar for the
best-adapted screenplay – Pygmalion.
Introduction to Saint Joan
Saint Joan is a play about the 15th-century French military figure “Joan of Arc”. The play
was published in 1923, three years after the canonization of Joan by the Roman
Catholic Church. The play demonstrates Joan’s life based on this incident and
on the records of her trials. Shaw writes in his preface to the play,
“There are no villains in the
piece. Crime, like disease, is not interesting. It is something to be done away
with by general consent”
Michael Holroyd has characterized the play as ‘A tragedy without villains’ and also as Shaw’s ‘only Tragedy’. John Fielden has discussed further the appropriateness of characterizing ‘Saint Joan’ as a tragedy.
Themes of Saint Joan
Warfare
The setting of Saint Joan is in Medieval France. At that
time, France was suffering from the depression of 100 years of war. There were
various different forces striving for power. Amongst them, the most important
were the English, Burgundies and the Armagnac. In this play, Joan’s main aim is
to fight against all those who opposed uniting France under the rule of
Armagnac, and heir to the French throne, Charles II. Warfare depicts
everything in Saint Joan; from a unifier to a divider to a holy rite.
Quotes for Warfare
Joan: Our soldiers are always beaten because they are
fighting only to save their skin, and the shortest way to save your skin is to
run away. Our knights are thinking only of the money they will make in ransoms:
it is not kill or to be killed with them, but pay or to be paid.
Dunios (to Joan): You have the makings of a soldier
in you. You are in love with war.
Women & Feminism
Joan can be considered as an early pioneer fighting for
women’s equality. She was a woman by physic yet she considered herself as a soldier. She dressed like a man and influenced the most powerful men of her
time.
Joan: If I were to dress as a woman, they would think
of me as a woman; If I dress as a soldier, they would think of me as a soldier
She refused to do normal things that expected from women of
that time like getting married or listen to men’s order. She rebels against the social conventions of her time and chose her own path. She was fully determined and had the courage to stand for herself and make her own decisions in the male-dominated society.
Joan: There are plenty of other women to do (women’s
work), but there is nobody to do my work.
Religion
Saint Joan highlights the life of a Catholic saint. Religion
is one of the major themes of Saint Joan. There were huge clashes seen between
Protestantism and Catholicism. Other popular religious topics like faith,
heresy, and repentance are also discussed in the play. Also, Joan admits of
hearing voices and seeing the visions of God in the entire play. She frequently
uses the word, God. She says,
“I believe that God is wiser than I, and it is his
commands that I will do. All the things that you call my crimes have come to me
by the command of God. I say that I have done them by the order of God: it is
impossible for me to say anything else”
Hence, the entire play is driven by Religiousness. Joan is
rebuked by the Archbishop. End of the play is also marked by religiousness when
the readers are introduced to Saint Joan.
The Archbishop: Child, you are in love with religion;
there is no harm in it. But there is a danger.
Reality and its Versions
Joan always claimed that she heard voices coming from God.
Joan: The blessed saint Catherine and Margaret speak
to me every day.
However, there were different versions of reality. The
church believed that the voices were demonic in origin. Some of her friends
told her that the voices were just her own intuition talking to her.
Joan: I hear voices telling me what to do. They come
from God.
Robert: They come from your imagination.
Joan: Of course, that is how the messages of God come to us.
Joan: Of course, that is how the messages of God come to us.
Joan refused each and everyone’s version of reality relying
upon her own deep belief. It was one of the main factors that led to her
execution. Saint Joan is all about different versions of Reality.
Some other Quotes
Joan: I know that your counsel is of the devil, and
that mine is of God. ( This leads to her execution)
Joan: Oh, it’s true: it is true, my voices have
deceived me. I have been mocked by devils: my faith is broken. (This is the
only time in the play when Joan doubts her own version of reality)
Admirations
Joan is a highly influential character who has gained such
admiration, that she launches an entire movement that gradually unites the
country. Even the men who executed her couldn’t stop respecting her for her
courage and strong determination. Her spirit was so powerful that it continued
to inspire a whole lot of generations. Eventually, her admiration grew so much
that the Catholic church made her a saint. Saint Joan is an epitome of the
life, death, and the legacy of this influential character.
Steward: She puts courage into us. She really doesn’t
seem to be afraid of anything.
Charles: If you could bring her back to life, they
would burn her again within six months, for all their present adoration for
her.
Power
Saint Joan depicts the struggle for power and fight between
the French and the Englishmen. The military conflict was the most obvious one.
Along with this, there was yet another struggle going on. It was a struggle for
power inside the country between the king and the innocent. They are always
manipulated by rich-class people. On the other hand, Joan, a simple peasant
girl lived in a society where women had no rights. However, she was fully
determined and powerful because she was driven by divine power and not the
political one.
Joan: 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.
Pride
The most common thing in every character of the play is
immense pride. The main character, Joan was pious and a simple girl. But she
was accused of being too proud. This was her only sin . His pride leads to her
downfall. She believed she got orders from God and everyone must listen to her.
The Archbishop: You have stained yourself with the sin of pride.
Joan: I am not proud: I never speak until I know I am
right.
The reason why pride is the major sin in the play is, in medieval times, the major power of the country was represented by the Church. Other
pieces of literature written during that period also showed that the characters
with extreme pride were punished at the end.
Joan: In his strength, I will dare, and dare, and
dare, until I die.
Society and Class
The play was written in a period where the society was
rigorously divided by class and position. Saint Joan precisely depicts the
inner workings of the complex structure. There were levels of power within the church
– The political structure was not left unstained. There were kings and feudal lords
and a lot of common peasant and soldiers. The readers very well get to know
that those who didn’t obey this rigid hierarchy were severely punished.
Joan: If we were as simple in the village as you are
in your courts and palaces, there would soon be no wheat to make bread for you.
Joan: There is great wisdom in the simplicity of a
beast, let me tell you; and sometimes great foolishness in the wisdom of
scholars.
Conclusion
"I think, (its) the greatest of Shaw’s plays. As to the epilogue, to which several dramatic critics have objected, shows, the essence of the theme is the struggle of religious inspiration against established religions, against the patriot, the statesman, and the indifferent."
Desmond MacCarthy
The New Statesman, April 1942.
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