Saint Joan

📘 About This Book

Saint Joan is a play by George Bernard Shaw about 15th century French military figure Joan of Arc. Premiering in 1923, three years after her canonization by the Roman Catholic Church, the play dramatises what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. Shaw studied the transcripts and decided that the concerned people acted in good faith according to their beliefs. He wrote 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, and that is all [there is] 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."

📖 Summary

Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw stands as a remarkable dramatic exploration of the life and trial of the fifteenth-century French military figure Joan of Arc. Premiering in 1923, just three years after her formal canonization by the Roman Catholic Church, the play brings historical reality into sharp focus by drawing heavily upon the substantial and well-preserved records of Joan's actual trial. Rather than relying on mystical embellishments or the easy tropes of melodrama, Shaw dedicated himself to studying the historical transcripts, seeking to understand the genuine motivations of the historical actors who condemned her to death. Through this rigorous engagement with history, Shaw arrived at a striking philosophical conclusion that reshapes how readers view the tragedy: there are no simple villains in the piece. Shaw famously asserted that crime, much like disease, holds no true dramatic interest because it is merely something society wishes to eliminate. Instead, what truly concerns the human spirit is the collision between what people do at their absolute best, driven by sincere and good intentions, and what normal men and women feel compelled to do despite those very intentions. The play dramatizes Joan as a bold, formidable figure whose emerging nationalism, direct communion with her voices, and unwavering conviction clashed inevitably with the established sociopolitical and ecclesiastical hierarchies of her time. The churchmen and military leaders who prosecuted her were not acting out of malice or cartoonish evil; rather, they acted in good faith according to their own deeply held beliefs about order, authority, and the preservation of society. Shaw presents Joan as a Protestant and a nationalist ahead of her time, an individual whose fresh, direct connection to divine inspiration threatened the institutional power structures of the fifteenth century. By framing her martyrdom not as the result of villainy, but as the tragic, unavoidable outcome of a clash between institutional necessity and exceptional individual conscience, Shaw elevates the historical narrative into a profound meditation on authority, belief, and human progress. The 252-page volume published in 2018 allows modern readers to encounter Shaw's brilliant dramaturgy and his equally famous, expansive preface, where he articulates his historical philosophy and defends his portrayal of the saints and sinners of medieval France. Ultimately, Saint Joan challenges readers to look beyond simplistic moral binaries and confront the uncomfortable reality that societies often destroy their greatest visionaries out of a sincere desire to protect themselves.

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