Summary
Scene 2 is set on March 8, 1429, in the French city of Chinon. The Archbishop of Rheims and the Lord Chamberlain, Monseigneur de la Tremouille, are talking, and the latter is complaining that the Dauphin owes him money. The Archbishop notes that he is also owed money, and he speaks of the Dauphin in a disrespectful way. The entrance of another nobleman, Monsieur de Rais (nicknamed Bluebeard), is announced. Bluebeard enters the room and asks the two other men if they have seen someone named La Hire. Tremouille sarcastically comments that La Hire might have sworn himself to death since he is known for cursing excessively. Bluebeard points out that someone else, nicknamed Foul-Mouthed Frank, was warned to stop swearing because he was close to death. Shortly after receiving this warning, Frank fell down a well and died.
The group is interrupted by the entrance of Captain La Hire, who explains that Frank's death was forewarned by an angel. The angel (whom an audience knows to be Joan) has advanced all the way to Chinon with only a small group of soldiers and has successfully avoided any battles. A servant breaks in to make another announcement: the Dauphin is arriving. The Dauphin has a letter from Robert de Baudricourt, which he tries to show to the Archbishop. The Archbishop is not interested in the letter and while La Tremouille struggles to read it out aloud, the Dauphin (Charles) and the Archbishop bicker. Charles admits that he owes money and is not skilled at warfare, but he insists he should get more respect because of his royal blood. He wants to know why the Archbishop hasn't called on saints and angels to help him with his cause. Confused, the Archbishop snatches up the letter and reads it. He complains that Robert has simply sent a crazy young woman and that Charles should not even see her. In fact, if she is wearing men's clothing and spending time with soldiers, she must not even be a respectable woman. Charles insists that Robert is sending him a saint, which signals his status and right as a king.
By this point, La Hire has realized that the girl Robert is writing about must be the same "angel" who predicted Frank's death, and he becomes excited about this evidence of her miraculous powers. While everyone gets increasingly locked into an argument about Joan, Bluebeard suggests a test. He will dress up like the Dauphin to try to fool Joan. If she knows he is the wrong man, this will be evidence that she truly is sent from God. The Archbishop does not like this plan and threatens to excommunicate Charles if he meets with Joan. Charles becomes warier, but he is still tempted by the idea of Joan helping with the siege of Orleans. The situation is becoming direr every day: Jack Dunois (nicknamed the Bastard) is in charge of the French troops at Orleans, and while he is a skilled leader, the winds are making it impossible for him to sail upriver to the position he needs to occupy. By this point, La Hire and La Tremouille are both urging for Joan to be given a chance, and the Archbishop reluctantly reconsiders. He finally agrees to test Joan, but he insists that the Church has to approve of her before anything goes forward.
Bluebeard and Charles go off to prepare for their plot, and La Tremouille and the Archbishop discuss what they think will happen. The Archbishop reveals himself to be a somewhat shrewd and cynical man: he explains that Joan will know, based on questioning and research, who the Dauphin is, but that this will appear to be a miracle in other people's eyes. The scene shifts to a gathering of the whole court, where Bluebeard is posing as the Dauphin and the Duchess of Tremouille is posing as his wife. Joan enters, dressed in men's clothing and wearing her hair very short. Her appearance prompts the Duchess to mock her, but Joan is unfazed and asks where the Dauphin is. Bluebeard says that he is the Dauphin, but Joan makes it clear she doesn't believe this. She looks around the room and easily identifies Charles as the true Dauphin. She tells Charles of her plan to help him be crowned and Charles tells her she has to first consult with the Archbishop.
Joan approaches the Archbishop and falls to her knees, asking him to bless her. He is moved by her piety, and when Joan asks to be alone with Charles, he agrees, telling everyone that Joan has been sent by God. Alone with Charles, Joan asks him why he lets everyone push him around and tell him what to do. Charles explains that he has no desire for power or authority; he would just like to be left alone to live a quiet life, and he would prefer to end the war by diplomacy rather than war. He has no interest in trying to portray a kingly image, but Joan insists he needs to assert his authority. The tension mounts between the two as Joan mentions Charles's young son, and Charles replies bitterly that he doesn't like or trust his own son. However, Joan finally persuades Charles that he needs to fulfill God's will by displaying leadership. Charles summons the other lords back and tells them that Joan is now in charge of the army. Although La Tremouille complains, everyone else pledges their allegiance to Joan.
Analysis
Since he has not been officially crowned, and since Paris is occupied by English and Burgundian forces, the Dauphin Charles has set up a makeshift court for himself at Chinon. This scene makes it clear that the Dauphin only has a tenuous hold on power: many of the men around him don't respect him and are jockeying for their own power. Joan has absolute reverence for the man she sees as appointed by God to sit on the French throne. Her loyalty and devotion extends from loyalty to God to loyalty to a system of state. However, many of the other men who appear in this scene have more complicated understandings of power. In medieval society, land-owning noblemen held a great deal of authority because they could command the loyalty of people who lived on their lands. While they technically served the King and had to maintain a careful appearance of loyalty, they were also aware of their own interests. As the conversation between the Archbishop and Tremouille reveals, these two characters see the Dauphin as a fallible man.
Religious leaders wielded their power slightly differently. The Archbishop is actually more skeptical of claims about Joan's miraculous behavior than the others are. His authority is particularly likely to be disrupted by Joan as an individual who seems to have a unique relationship to God. His own position also gives him some window into how others might manipulate claims of divine intervention in order to secure their own power. The Archbishop can immediately see how someone who wants to give the impression of having miraculously identified the Dauphin could pull off this impression, while actually relying on practical means rather than divine insight. The Archbishop's comments about miracles imply that he believes it may sometimes be important to deceive or manipulate people in order to secure their loyalty and faith in service of a cause. The portrayal of the Archbishop may hint at Shaw's own views about how religion can be used as a tool to manipulate people; by the time he was writing, many writers and thinkers had raised concerns about how the power and authority of the Catholic Church in Ireland might have been holding the country back. By setting his play in the medieval period, when the Catholic Church held significant power and officially worked alongside the state, Shaw creates an opportunity to explore the potential risks and limitations of religious authority.
Much like in the first scene, Joan is unfazed by the important people around her. It is clear that the French court is a somewhat superficial place: even after the stories of all the miraculous things Joan has done, the most shocking thing about her is her appearance. The Duchess of Tremouille is particularly rude to her, perhaps because she feels offended by another woman's refusal to conform to feminine norms. This is, interestingly, Joan's only interaction with another female character in a male-dominated play, and it reveals that Joan is indeed more at ease with soldiers and statesmen. Joan even manages to be calm and playful with people who are far above her in social station. She is respectful to the Dauphin, but she is also firm and direct with him. She is not afraid to rebuke Charles for letting his country down due to his passivity and laziness. Much like it did in her interaction with Robert, Joan's confident and direct speech wins her the approval of a doubtful man. In the Dauphin's case, Joan also appeals to his ego: she is one of the first people to take him seriously and actually treat him like loyalty.
By the end of the scene, Joan is triumphant: she has the authority to lead the French forces and try to raise the siege at Orleans. As Eibhear Walshe observes, "Once dressed as a soldier, she gains in power, influence, and credibility" (pg. 29). However, she has won this victory only by a slender thread, and she has ignited tensions with almost everyone she has encountered. Joan is somewhat naïve and trusting, especially to be entering into a world full of men who are skilled at plotting to achieve their own ends. People are willing to accept her because, at this moment, she has something to offer. The debates and arguments show that they could also change their minds just as quickly. The squabbling that occurs between different individuals in this scene shows that French leadership is far from united. In a world where no one can make up their mind about what to believe or what is important, Joan's victory and authority seem particularly fragile.
