Summary
The scene opens in Rheims Cathedral, where Joan is praying. Dunois enters and tells her that the crowd is calling for her, but she explains that she doesn't want to take away from the King's glory on the day of his coronation. Joan and Dunois have become good friends, and Joan asks him why so many people at the court dislike her. Once they've taken Paris, she just wants to go back to the country. She is becoming more disillusioned, and her voices are the only thing she can rely on. Dunois cautions her that she might not be allowed to lead an attack on Paris, and he also explains that he's uncomfortable when she talks about her voices.
Charles enters with Bluebeard and La Hire, complaining that he found the experience of the coronation unpleasant. Joan announces that now that Charles is crowned, she is going to return to her home, but she is disappointed when Charles seems relieved to hear this. She asks both Dunois and La Hire to continue to fight to drive the English out entirely. Then, Joan abruptly announces that she wants to take Paris before she goes home. Charles doesn't like this idea since he is tired of fighting. When the Archbishop joins the group, Charles explains Joan's proposition about Paris to him. Joan defiantly insists that she knows what is best, since God tells her, even when the Archbishop questions whether she might simply be proud and stubborn. The argument about attacking Paris becomes more heated: La Hire sides with Joan, but Dunois disagrees. He respects what Joan has contributed to the war efforts, but he also thinks she is reckless. Attacking Paris would mean being seriously outnumbered: if Joan insists on doing so, he won't risk his soldiers to help her, and she will end up captured. Charles chimes in to say that he wouldn't pay her ransom if she were captured, as all of his money has been spent on the coronation.
Surprisingly, the Archbishop takes this opportunity to say that the Church would also not come to her aid: in fact, it would likely burn her for witchcraft. He wouldn't advocate for her because he thinks she is guilty of pride. Joan realizes that she will be abandoned if she is captured by the English, but she remains defiant, explaining that she will put all of her trust in God. Joan exits; the men reflect on how they feel somewhat badly about this, but they need to stand by their priorities.
The action resumes on May 31, 1431. Warwick and his page are sitting in a room in a castle, in the French city of Rouen. The page mentions that a Church trial is taking place, and Warwick sends the page to find Cauchon. Cauchon enters, accompanied by a monk named John Lemaitre and a canon (a position in the Church hierarchy) named John D'Estivet. Both men have roles in the trial: Lemaitre is acting as the Inquisitor, and D'Estivet has a role called the Promoter (similar to a prosecuting attorney). Warwick is frustrated with how long the trial is taking. Joan was taken prisoner at Compiegne by the Burgundian forces, and Warwick then paid for her to be transferred to Church authorities. The Inquisitor explains that the trial has not yet begun—even though Joan has been examined 15 times. He is now convinced that this is a serious case of heresy.
Cauchon says that he is determined that Joan will have a fair trial, rebuking Warwick for threatening anyone who sides with Joan. D'Estivet and Lemaitre assure him that the trial has been very fair and that everyone is trying to help Joan. They have not tortured her, even though that is standard practice. Nonetheless, Lemaitre is certain that Joan is going to get convicted. Warwick makes it clear that he needs Joan dead, and that if the Church won't convict her, he will act independently. He then leaves, and Cauchon, D'Estivet, and Lemaitre set up for the trial, discussing how the Church is different from the nobility. As more churchmen enter, de Stogumber enters along with Courcelles, the Canon of Paris. They are annoyed because after they had drawn up a lengthy list of crimes to indict Joan on, the list was reduced to only 12 crimes. As the churchmen bicker over the nature of what Joan has been guilty of, the Inquisitor (Lemaitre) gives a long speech explaining why heresy is such a grave sin. He also explains that the trial is ultimately a merciful process, with no bad intentions towards Joan. They just need to protect the social order by ensuring the sin of heresy doesn't spread.
Joan enters. She complains that she is being held by the English, and she is resentful of the care they take to prevent her escape. D'Estivet counters, arguing that before she was imprisoned, she jumped from a tower and tried to escape. He sees this escape attempt as evidence of her heresy. Joan refuses to be sworn in, and Courcelles suggests she be tortured to ensure she speaks the truth during the trial. The others disagree, and the trial proceeds. Joan is stubborn, refusing to swear loyalty to the Church over her voices, and further refusing to cease wearing men's clothes. Finally, Ladvenu tells Joan that if she doesn't repent, she will be burnt at the stake. This threat frightens Joan, who claims her voices have promised her that she will not be burnt. She expresses a willingness to recant, and Ladvenu prepares a confession for her to sign.
While de Stogumber expresses his anger at the prospect of Joan not being executed, the confession is read out. It expresses penitence for dressing like a man, pretending to hear voices, and generally disobeying the authority of the Church. Joan signs it. Lemaitre explains that now her soul is saved, and she will spend the rest of her life in prison. Joan is horrified: she assumed a recantation meant that she could go free, and she argues passionately that a life in prison is no life at all. She rips up the recantation. Cauchon and Lamaitre now stand confirmed that she is a heretic; de Stogumber calls for Joan to be taken to the fire immediately. Everyone rushes off to see the execution, leaving Cauchon and Lemaitre alone. Lamaitre expresses his sadness that Joan will die without ever understanding what was wrong with her beliefs. Warwick joins them, and then Cauchon and Lemaitre go to watch the execution.
A short time later, de Stogumber comes back in a state of agitation. He is horrified by what he witnessed at the execution. He tells Warwick that an English soldier made a small cross out of sticks for Joan. Ladvenu comes back as well, explaining that he tried to hold up a cross for Joan to look at. He feels awful that Joan died an innocent. De Stogumber flees, crying out that his guilt is going to drive him to suicide. Ladvenu follows behind him. The Executioner enters and tells Warwick that Joan's ashes and her heart have been dumped into the river so that people will not memorialize her. Warwick suggests that Joan's memory will still live on.
Analysis
The coronation of the Dauphin as King Charles VII seems like it should represent a triumphant moment for Joan. She has achieved her purpose, and yet she finds herself more vulnerable than she has ever been. Many people do not like or trust her, and her singularity of purpose can be alienating. Most upsetting to Joan, now that one goal has been achieved, her allies seem to want to stop struggling. In her mind, with the French forces finally enjoying victories, now is the time to continue to push. The logical next step would be to launch an attack against Paris, which had been held by English forces since 1420. For different reasons, no one supports this idea. As a leader, Charles is weary, and now that he has the throne, he sees no need to continue with an aggressive policy. As a soldier, Dunois thinks the plan is strategically unsound and overly dangerous. As a Church official, the Archbishop of Rheims questions whether Joan is still following God's will or whether she is now interested in attaining her own power and glory.
Readers might have a similar question at this point in the play. Shaw does not give us access to Joan's thoughts and feelings, so, as they must with the other characters, readers have to rely on Joan's claims about the messages she is receiving. Joan herself doesn't seem entirely clear on whether or not God is urging her to lead an attack on Paris. Given that she is facing the fate of returning to a life of obscurity after a period of power and recognition, it isn't impossible that Joan is looking for reasons to continue her campaign. She seems to have found her true calling as a leader and a soldier, and these positions are about to be taken away from her. Her refusal to go back to her ordinary life might explain why Joan boldly, and recklessly, insists on the Paris campaign despite being warned of all the risks. Most strikingly, the men to whom Joan has been so loyal make it clear that they are not going to risk their own stability and power to help her. Joan is intensely committed to the French cause, but no one seems equally committed to her. Alternatively, Joan may see herself as existing above these types of petty concerns. As Tony Stafford argues, "Joan ... soars figuratively above the other characters, her vision is turned upward toward God, and the things of this world mean little to her since her authority is from on high" (pg. 217).
The tragic consequences of Joan's stubbornness becomes clear in the next scene. Shaw often omits direct actions from the text (perhaps to simplify the staging of the play), so readers learn secondhand of Joan's capture. Now, she is on trial. The trial shows the often petty internal bickering of Church and state officials, and it also shows how bureaucracy can prolong and complicate processes. Many dynamics have complicated and slowed down the trial. For those who simply want to see Joan dead, the process is taking far too long. However, for many of the Church officials, the trial is a real contest of ideology. Because they fear the influence of Joan's beliefs, it is important that she be proven wrong.
Over the course of the trial, Joan shifts from stubborn defiance to vulnerability. At first, she seems very confident, but she begins to waver at the prospect of being burnt, a gruesome and painful death. Since Joan has been promised she will not be burnt, her nervousness indicates she may be having doubts about the reliability of the messages she has received from her saints. Joan's naivety is also revealed in her confusion over the recantation. Joan concedes to recant in order to save her own life, but she is horrified by the realization that she will still be imprisoned. First, Joan was a country girl, and then she was a soldier. In both of these roles, she has had a lot of freedom and opportunity to be amidst nature. Imprisonment would take away everything she holds dear. Joan recovers her conviction and decides that if she is going to die, she wants to die with her principles intact.
Joan's execution represents an inevitability which the play has been moving towards since the very beginning. In a cynical and calculating world, Joan's integrity and conviction mean nothing. She is perhaps the only character that has neither calculated nor strategized. Her death is designed to literally obliterate her from history, with no traces left remaining of her body. Instead, Joan's execution represents the first step towards her immortal reputation and eventual canonization. She dies bravely and inspires loyalty in her death—the same way she did in her life. Even de Stogumber, who has hated her viciously through the duration of the play, is horrified by what he has witnessed. For the first time, he realizes that his political calculations and spitefulness have real consequences. Joan may provoke moral transformations in others, but only when it is too late. She seems to be able to save others, but not herself.
