Saint Joan: As A Tragic play

This play is not a tragedy in the ordinary sense of term. There is not that

sense of finality which belongs to all true tragedies, whether classical of

romantic. It seems indeed, that there is no end to the contest that has

been represented. It is a continuous struggle between an all embracing

authority and the spirit of protest, and as there is no cessation in the

march of the Evolutionary ‘Will, it enters into a new phase as one

generation succeeds another. That is the justification of the Epilogue

which shows how the world has ‘progressed’ in this respect. Joan of Arc

was burnt for heresy. Witchcraft, and sorcery in 1431, rehabilitated in

1456, designated Venerable in 1904, declared Blessed in 1908 and

finally canonized- all these only mark different stages in the ‘progress’

of humanity. And the history of Joan will never be complete, because

there is no end to the evolution of the Creative will. It is in this manner

that Shaw effects reconciliation between the comedy of impersonal

evolution and the tragedy of personal death.

Saint Joan is a tragedy quite different from the Aristotelian or the

romantic ones. However, it affects the proper purgation of the feelings of

pity and fear like Aristotelian or romantic tragedies. According to

Aristotle, “ tragedy is an imitation of an action which is serious,

complete and of a certain magnitude”. It is written is a language

embellished with each kind of artistic ornaments, and arouses the

feelings of pity and fear in the hearts of them of the audience. In

classical tragedies the suffering and death or either of them is caused by

the will of God. In romantic ones it is brought about by an individual

villain, who plays upon the ‘fatal flaw’ of the hero.

As far as Saint Joan is concerned, it is according to Shaw himself “a

high tragedy” and not a mere melodrama or a police court sensation. In a

high tragedy, tragedy is brought about neither by any villainy of a

individual nor by a conspiracy of fate ; but it is brought about by pious

and innocent persons, acting in good faith and with the best of

intentions. Shaw intentionally whitewashed the cruel and corrupt bishop

Cauchon and the inquisitor so that his play may not fall into the category
of a melodrama. In the preface to Saint Joan he makes it clear in the

following manner, “The rascally bishop and the cruel inquisitor of Mark

Twain and Andrew Lang are as dull as pickpockets ; and they reduce

Joan to the level of the even less interesting person whose pocket is

picked. I have represented both of them as capable and eloquent

exponents of the Church Melitant and the Church Litigant, because only

by doing so can I maintain my drama on the level of high tragedy and

save it from becoming a mere police court sensation.”

He further continues, “ .. if Joan had not been burnt by normally

innocent people in the energy of their righteousness her death at their

hands would have no more significance than the Tokyo earthquake,

which burnt a great many maidens. The tragedy of such murders in that

they are not committed by murderers. They are judicial murders, pious

murders ; and this contradiction at once brings an element of comedy

into tragedy : the angels may weep at the murder, but the gods laugh at

the murders.”

In a high tragedy there is no room for conflict between the villain and

the hero. In Saint Joan also there is no such conflict ; because villain is

an essential character in a melodrama not in a tragedy proper. Therefore,

Bernard Shaw introduces no introduces no villain in the play and thus

avoids all conflict with the hero. In the preface he says : “ There is no

villain in the piece. Crime, like disease, is not interesting : it is

something to be done away with by general comment …..” But it cannot

be said that there is no conflict at all in the play. Without conflict action

comes to a stand still. Therefore Shaw has replaced this melodramatic

conflict by a sophisticated conflict between Genius and Discipline or

that between Private Judgment and Constituted Authority. As a

consequence of this conflict, Joan of Arc is burnt at the stake. Thus the

action of the play comes to a tragic end arousing the feelings of pity and

fear in the hearts of the audience.

.

Unlike the traditional tragedy, Saint Joan has an epilogue added at the

end. It may be significant form various points of view but it lessens the

tragic effect of the play. According to certain critics, this Epilogue is not

only a superfluity, but also a serious fault. However, the significance of

Epilogue cannot be neglected altogether. It is through it that Bernard

Shaw reveals the real nature of human beings who can have all lip

sympathy with any one, even with a saint like Joan, but they are never

prepared to receive God’s saints even in His world. Also, Whew

confirms that a person may be burnt or perished but has or her ideas last

for ever. In the preface Shaw declares that the story of Joan did not end

wither burning, rather it began with it. The burning of a woman is a

common everyday occurrence.

Accidents take place and women get burnt. In Joan’s case it is not the

burning which is sufficient, but the canonization which is the

consequence of it. This aspect of Joan’s tragedy is highlighted by

Epilogue. It is this Epilogue that makes the play a ‘serio-comic’ work.

Joan, being the central figure in the play named after her, can safely be

called the heroine of it. She is actually the hero of the play in the

tradition-al sense of the term. Like a true tragic hero, she commands the

attention, admiration and tears of the audience. When she is put to the

stake all in the theatre weep or sob. She, by her acts and speeches, wins
sympathy and pity of all; and is loved and honored as a saintly gently

girl. Although technically it is wrong to make a saint the hero (heroine)

of a play, because saints are supposed to be submissive and tolerant, and

thus they give on rise to conflict which may lead them to their tragedy

yet Bernard Shaw has very successfully developed the character of Joan

from an ordinary village teenager to a canonized saint. She is the true

hero (heroine) of the play because her death arouses the feelings of pity

and fear in the hearts of the audience. She does good and dies for good.

Her burning is actually “not the end for her, but the beginning.”

In a word. Saint Joan is a high tragedy. It is neither a melodrama nor

a police court sensation. Joan is undoubtedly the true tragic heroine

because she wins admiration and sympathy from all quarters. Her

burning arouses the feelings of pity and fear in the hearts of the

audience. Thus saint Joan is a great tragedy with some special traits of

its own.