Saint Joan

Jan 29, 2010 AB rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: plays, own, nobel, author-m

The first scene of this play is one of the most perfect, most hilarious things I've ever read; it's probably my favourite single scene of any play, or at least my favourite comedic scene. The interplay between de Baudricourt and his squire -- "Positive! Now see here. I am going to throw you downstairs," -- never stops being funny.

I was hesitant to actually read through the whole play, lest it somehow disappoint me and tarnish my love for Scene I, but I did, and it didn't.

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Feb 26, 2012 Ahmad rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook

یادمان بماند که: ذره ای حقیقت پشت هر «فقط یه شوخی بود» کمی کنجکاوی پشت «همینطوری پرسیدم» قدری احساسات پشت «به من چه اصلا...» و مقداری خرد پشت «چه میدونم» و اندکی درد پشت «اشکال ندارد» هماره هست

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Jul 30, 2009 Matt rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While listening to the discussion, it occurred to me about three-quarters of the way through our monthly book club meeting that Saint Joan really doesn't seem to be about Joan of Arc at all. As Shaw states in his (lengthy) preface

A villain in a play can never be anything more than a diabolus ex machina, possibly a more exciting expedient than a deus ex machina, but both equally mechanical, and therefore interesting only as a mechanism. It is, I repeat, what normally innocent people do that conc

...more While listening to the discussion, it occurred to me about three-quarters of the way through our monthly book club meeting that Saint Joan really doesn't seem to be about Joan of Arc at all. As Shaw states in his (lengthy) preface

A villain in a play can never be anything more than a diabolus ex machina, possibly a more exciting expedient than a deus ex machina, but both equally mechanical, and therefore interesting only as a mechanism. It is, I repeat, what normally innocent people do that concerns us; and 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 is that they are not committed by murderers. They are judicial murders, pious murders; and this contradiction at once brings an element of comedy into the tragedy; the angels may weep at the murder, but the gods laugh at the murderers.

There's nothing about Joan that seemed to resonate with me. She's depicted as a zealot. Simple and, at times, an adrenaline junkie. She doesn't strike me as the early feminist that others see. She is not making a stand against any societal constraints because she seems practically oblivious to them. Voices guide her, not conscience nor judgment.

For me, she represents an idea. She is a vehicle for innocence. Around her is the tragedy. This is not a tragedy a of a woman fighting against destiny. Joan represents destiny. She is Destiny. Unchanging. Unrelenting. Unavoidable. The tragedy is in the failure of all those around her to accept her. They destroy her and, in the end, despite all their justifications and moralizing, history condemns them. The memory of Joan, on the other hand, lives on and "shall be remembered when men have forgotten where Rouen stood."

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the Bobbs-Merrill edition I read on Goodreads. It contains some notes by Shaw regarding Saint Joan that I found incredibly valuable. In the Extract from a Letter to Mrs. Patrick Campbell, Shaw speaks of his desire to create a play about Joan of Arc (this is 10 years before writing Saint Joan ). He is already well versed in her story. He states that the English soldier who gave Joan two sticks tied together in the shape of a cross "is the only redeeming figure in the whole business." This soldier takes a central role in the Epilogue. He receives a one day reprieve from Hell for his one good deed. His gift of the cross to Joan. Despite the fact that she is about to be burned for heresy, he provides this gift. He knows nothing about her, but is compassionate. He is the only in the play who interacts with her that does not try to change her or undermine her. If Joan represents Destiny, he avoids the tragedy of everyone else around her by acceptance.

I could be completely off on all this, but it seems to click as I write it. At least it sounds good.

I can't imagine actually watching this as a play. It's arranged to go about 3 1/2 hours. No action, just dialogue. Most of Joan's speeches serve only to demonstrate her fanatical devotion (with the exception of her "I am alone" speech prior to the march on Paris in Scene V and her recantation -and recanted recantation- before the stake). The other nobles and clergy (whom the play is really about) lack a certain energy and depth. I think I see where Shaw was going with the play, but I'm not sure I feel very engaged in the journey.

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"The more obedient a man is to accredited authority the more jealous he is of allowing any unauthorized person to order him about." (Preface, pg. 44)

"I want to remind you of one thing. Joan chose to be burnt. She could have escaped being burnt. [...:] Now, I recommend that to all of you who are listening to me, because in almost all of your criminal codes, here in England, in America, in Italy, in France, we are always condemning people for crimes to this very punishment of imprisonment, of long terms of imprisonment, sometimes of solitary imprisonment, and in that we are using a crueler punishment than burning, according to the judgment of this woman who had her open choice between the two. That is something for you to think about. I will not dwell any more on it." (Saint Joan: A B.B.C. Radio Talk)(less)

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Mar 14, 2013 Christopher rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, british, drama

If you missed the last 600 years, let me tell you about the famous Jeanne d'Arc. Joan, as you're more likely to know her, began as a young farm girl, but when she heard the voices of her Lord and myriad saints beseeching her to take action against the horde of English soldiers encroaching upon her French homeland, she showed up on the doorstep of the uncrowned King Charles VII with a divine mission. King Charles was so impressed by her ambition and confidence that he gave her charge of a battali...more

If you missed the last 600 years, let me tell you about the famous Jeanne d'Arc. Joan, as you're more likely to know her, began as a young farm girl, but when she heard the voices of her Lord and myriad saints beseeching her to take action against the horde of English soldiers encroaching upon her French homeland, she showed up on the doorstep of the uncrowned King Charles VII with a divine mission. King Charles was so impressed by her ambition and confidence that he gave her charge of a battalion and she defeated the English troops at Orleans. Her career continued with several more victories. She became a national, if not international, superstar - a feminist icon in an age before feminism. She even crowned the new King of France in the beautiful Notre-Dame de Reims.

And then tragedy struck. Joan was captured by the English at Compiègne and instead of being given the traditional prisoner of war's ransom, she was subjected to a politically motivated trial in which she was found guilty by the Church of twelve counts of heresy. Turned over to the secular authorities for punishment, she was burned at the stake.

That's the gist of the story. Certain points are debated by historians - her military role may have been more in the morale department than fighting and planning; my use of the word "feminist" could be challenged (and would be challenged by Joan herself). But she is a larger than life figure. That you didn't need me to tell her story to you at all shows that history has not forgotten her. In 1920, Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan as a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church. And that's when George Bernard Shaw began work on this play, which was published in 1923.

The play itself is not terribly exciting. It does what I just did in this review; it is a pretty standard retelling of the Joan of Arc story. It will keep your attention, but it won't thrill you. Shaw dispenses with battle scenes and we're left with political and philosophical exchanges between the cast of soldiers, officers, priests, servants, and the ever inspiring Joan.

When things get really interesting, though, is after Joan's death. The epilogue features King Charles twenty-five years after Joan is burned, dreaming in his bed, visited by ghosts from his past. It is in this very Shakespearean ending that Shaw finally finds his inspiration, so read the first scenes of this play quickly to get to this, the good part. (less)

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Feb 28, 2012 Smcleish rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Originally published on my blog here in April 1998.

This is Shaw's play based around the life of Joan of Arc, who was canonised by the Catholic church just before the play was written. The story is well known. Joan was a young farm girl (not, as Shaw is at pains to point out, a peasant), inspired by visions of saints, who gave new heart to the French and caused a complete change of fortune in the Hundred Years' War with the English at a time when it seemed as good as lost. She was eventually caug...more Originally published on my blog here in April 1998.

This is Shaw's play based around the life of Joan of Arc, who was canonised by the Catholic church just before the play was written. The story is well known. Joan was a young farm girl (not, as Shaw is at pains to point out, a peasant), inspired by visions of saints, who gave new heart to the French and caused a complete change of fortune in the Hundred Years' War with the English at a time when it seemed as good as lost. She was eventually caught by the English and burnt by the church as a heretic. The story allows Shaw a whole play (and, in this edition, a long preface as was his custom) to expound his ideas about religion.

As you would expect from Shaw, his ideas are interesting. As I didn't expect, he doesn't deny the reality of religious experience (and specifically, the reality of Joan's visions, at least to herself); he looks upon it as a way to rationalise the irrational. In Joan's case, visions of saints giving instructions was the natural way for a fifteenth century farmer's daughter to understand the ideas she had. This is far less patronising than to declare those who experience these visions to be insane, as many rationalists would do, though it doesn't explain the source of the ideas rationalised as visions.

In the introduction, Shaw also writes perceptively about the various retellings of Joan's story from Shakespeare to the publication of the heresy trial transcripts in the nineteenth century. He is scathing about how strongly these accounts are affected by the ideas of the time in which they were written rather than by those of the time in which Joan lived; this taint is clearly impossible for a writer to avoid, but is something they should at least be aware of. Many writers of the currently fashionable genre of medieval mysteries completely ignore the differences between modern thought and medieval thought, and present twentieth century people in medieval dress.

Shaw's major thesis is that Joan was effectively a Protestant martyr, whose error as seen by the church of her day lay in putting the content of her visions above the authority of the church and its churchmen. The play itself, particularly with the strange epilogue where the ghosts of several of the characters reflect on their lives, argues persuasively for this point of view. (In the introduction, Shaw attacks the playing of his work without the epilogue, saying that to leave it out as an embarrassment shows a complete lack of understanding of what he was trying to do.) He ignores the major difference between Joan and the Protestant reformers; they did not rely on direct inspiration for their ideas, but advocated a return to the Bible, which the Catholic church acknowledged as the foundation of the faith (though abuses had arisen which took it a long way in doctrine from the Bible). To look instead to one's own inspiration encourages arbitrariness and megalomania; just look at the doctrines of some of today's cults. That is not to say that Joan suffered from this. She was far too much a daughter of the fourteenth century church to stray far from accepted teaching, but the church recognised a threat in the insistence she made on her visions and her unwillingness to submit to the conventions of the time where these differed from what she had seen (for example, in the wearing of masculine clothing).

The play is certainly thought provoking, and provides one of the biggest female roles in modern theatre. However, I myself found the introduction more interesting, perhaps because Shaw has to present his thought more clearly and provide more justification; fiction and drama are good for rhetoric but it is easier to see the strengths and weaknesses of Shaw's arguments when they are presented directly.(less)

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Jul 17, 2012 Archit Nanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: plays

A Passage to the Preface:
George Bernard Shaw has the unique ability to use his wits to tickle to your bones. This is as much evident in the play as in the preface that accompanies it. In the preface, he talks about practically everything from St. John to Medieval History to Critics and Playgoers. Shaw's satire leaves nothing untouched, not even Shakespeare, and he makes fun of everything that he chooses to ponder upon.

Saint Joan's character is in the league of those 'manly women' characters who...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Bettie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Brailliant et al

Shelves: autumn-2011, play-dramatisation, radio-3, published-1923

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and an Epilogue by Bernard Shaw

Blurberoonies - Shaw's Saint Joan is the embodiment of absolute conviction. Given, as she believes, a divine mission to lead the French to victory and nationhood, she is also divinely forbidden to shed a single drop of blood. Her only weapon is her belief, and the courage it puts into those around her. In Joan, Shaw presents us with a character of remarkable talent and unshakeable faith - but no grace - and reveals her fate at the ha...more

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Oct 21, 2011 Arcadius rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-hf-c300-to-1659

An interesting and entertaining take on Joan of Arc – historically very controversial (especially Shaw's insistence on Cauchon's political impartiality), but that needn't worry us. Historically justifiable or not, the acid exchanges we get between this Cauchon, principled upholder of canon law, and Warwick, who simply needs whatever PR cover he can get for Joan's politically imperative disposal, are one of the best things in the play.

There are many other good things too - notably the opening com...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Brittany rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: homeschool-swords-of-honor, audio, read-with-kids, historical-fiction

The kids and I listened to this for homeschool (they are 7 and almost 4). We had been listening a recording of Mark Twain's Joan of Arc book, but it was getting a bit too lengthy to keep the kids' interest (though I've read it before and loved it). Listening to George Bernard Shaw's play was fun because all the parts were read by actors. It kept their interest, and mine too. And we got through it in only two afternoons. There were a few choice words in the play that I'm hoping my kids didn't cat...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Shriya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Shriya by: Gayatri

Shelves: favourites, plays, wishlist, fiercely-feminist

A question for everyone: How could anyone NOT like Saint Joan ? That it is 'beautifully well-written' goes without saying! (I mean, it's Bernard Shaw , guys? How can you find faults with him? He's the modern day combination of Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, though he probably would have taken a turn in his grave right now just because I called him that!) But what's beautiful about this play is, not only is it well-written but also, it is one of those rare tragedies which move you to tears and...more

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May 08, 2010 Charles Matthews rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shaw has often tried my patience as a reader: Not only are the plays talky, but there are also those windy prefaces. And I once had a grad school roommate who was both a devout Shavian and bipolar: When he was manic and off his meds, he would deliver harangues on the greatness of GBS. This is just to say where I'm coming from in this attempt to read Saint Joan. To be fair, I don't think Saint Joan is a great play, but it's certainly a well-made one, efficient in exposition and full of witty spee...more

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Oct 09, 2011 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Laura by: Bettie

Shelves: audio-books, drama, fiction-20th-century, nobel-prize, read-2011

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 04, 2009 Noreen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Unlike most of my friends in our bookclub I really enjoyed the play, but even more than the play I enjoyed Shaw's introduction to the play. Shaw's Joan is very black and white but then again sois every teeneager who has any belief system it may change over time but during those teenage years..... Thank God I'm 50 and don't have to deal with all the drama Opps I teach middle school yes I do deal with the drama every day.
Gratefully none of my students want to save France. But back to the play the...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, classics, historical-fiction, plays, war

I didn't care much for this play, and the epilogue was completely unnecessary. In fact, for me the epilogue all but ruined what power there was in the play itself. I don't think that Joan of Arc's life can be boiled down into a short play, because there isn't enough time to really get into her head and into her skin. She's so different and unusual, and it's hard to wrap one's mind around Joan of Arc. There needs to be time to reconcile one's brain to this girl. The play wasn't bloated (except fo...more

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Apr 07, 2010 Carly Thompson rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, classics, famous-women, religion, plays

I didn't enjoy this as much as I had hoped to. Outside of Pygmalion, I was unfamiliar with Shaw's work although I did have a sense of him as a public personality. I felt that Joan was made too ancillary a character for a play that was about her; it seemed that long stretches of the play were of men in power discussing what to do with this uppity woman. I found Shaw's decision to set the most dramatic scenes off-stage (the battles, Joan's death) to be an inheritance from Greek drama but it didn't...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Varsha Seshan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If Shaw had listened to his critics and cut out the epilogue, the play would have been far more impressive. In his typical style, he provides impassioned speeches to each character, allowing us to understand both the tactless young girl Joan and the pious priests who surround her. His preface is marvellous too, as always. I love how he paces the play, choosing scenes that allow him the full scope of drama, and us, the entire range of emotions we can possibly associate with the then-canonized sai...more

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Apr 06, 2009 Sally rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this play many, many years ago in a wonderful seminar taught by Gavin Langmuir, in a seminar devoted to Joan of Arc. We read a long list of works about Joan of Arc -- she is one of the most written about historical figures. I remember thinking that George Bernard Shaw best captured the history and spirit of Joan of Arc, in comparison to the other authors whose works we read. I loved this play. (I have enjoyed several other plays by George Bernard Shaw over the years, which I'll have to ad...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Alex rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Frankly i was quite disappointed, i bought this for the fact that it encased two great qualities one being Joan of Arc and the second George Bernard Shaw, now maybe it is my fault for having the expectations i had of a book that i knew was going to be more a biography of sorts than anything else but i never did expect to read something so boring. I'm not really sure what to say to prospective readers other than know that there isnt much in this play in the way of humor and prior to my reading it...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Jane from BC rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a fascinating play and very insightful into how Shaw thought. It is his only tragedy but by his own words: "There are no villains in this piece." Many call it his best work.

When this play was published in 1924, Shaw added an extensive, dense 50 page preface in which he spells out his rationalization for how he came about creating his character of Joan and her detractors. It is a marvelous insight into his thinking and philosophy and is filled with his sarcasm and wit. However, I recomme...more

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Jul 10, 2012 David Sarkies rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Students of Church History

Shelves: historical

After reading Henry VI part one I thought that I might return to Shaw's play about Joan of Arc, and in a way I am very glad that I did because when I wrote the review on this play previously I feel that I left out quite a few things, and in many ways, missed the point that he was trying to make in the play. I will try not to repeat any of the things that I have said about the play below because they are still correct, with the exception of the final paragraph because it is not a vision that Joan...more After reading Henry VI part one I thought that I might return to Shaw's play about Joan of Arc, and in a way I am very glad that I did because when I wrote the review on this play previously I feel that I left out quite a few things, and in many ways, missed the point that he was trying to make in the play. I will try not to repeat any of the things that I have said about the play below because they are still correct, with the exception of the final paragraph because it is not a vision that Joan has but rather some strange collective vision that Charles the Victorious has 25 years after the events where participants in the event reflect on what happened.
One of the things that I really like about Bernard Shaw is that he explains most of his plays in a prologue (though not all of the plays have the privilege of a prologue) but he also uses the prologue (and sometimes an epilogue) to explain and expand upon what the play is about, though he will always refer back to the play for us to get a better understanding. One of the great things about these prologues is that English teachers are less able to actually twist the meaning of the play away from the author's original intention, and maybe Shaw did this because this was what was coming out of the universities in his time.
Shaw uses the play to explore the trial of Joan of Arc and to ask the question whether it was just. The answer to his question is that yes it was because the way the trial was conducted was actually much better than some of the show trials that happen today. In fact the nature of the trial was simply to determine whether Joan was indeed a heritic and whether she would recant of her sins. Joan did not consider herself a heritic, she was a beloved child of God. However she was having visions and speaking on behalf of God, something which the church could not allow. In those days revelation was restricted to the church and nobody could speak on God's behalf outside of the church. The question of her being a woman is not really raised, however many of the church's leaders (in fact all of them) were men, so having a woman step out of one of God's chosen was offensive to them.
The question is not whether the church was right or not, because the church was sticking to its law, and its law had been broken. Somebody had claimed a vision of God and sought to speak God's word out of place. As Shaw points out, and as he continues to point out during the play, that this is the essence of protestantism and as he indicates, Joan was one of the first protestants, not that she criticised the Church's teaching but rather she, not being a member of the clergy, dared to act as if she were, and that was unacceptable. The reason being is that it undermined the authority of the church and of the Pope, and that could not happen. The Church existed to unify Western Europe, and any challenge to that unification was sure to bring bloodshed to the continent. In fact it did as is evident by the 30 year war, which in many cases was a war between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church.
Many consider Joan to be a poor illiterate farm girl, and that I believe is what adds to the romance of the character. Joan is a classic example of how through death one ceases to be human and becomes a legend. It is much more romantic for somebody from the mud and grit of the peasant community to rise up and become a legend, rather than being a highborn farm girl whose family had influence in local affairs. The same is the case of Jesus. We like to think of him as a poor peasant, which is was not, he was a carpenter, and carpenters were tradespeople, not peasants. We do not like the idea of Jesus coming from the middle class, so we ignore the man and create the legend.
Joan, as Shaw also explores, is what I would call a modern prophetess, and she meets the fate of a prophetess. In fact many prophets and prophetesses have met the same fate, if we are to include some of the reformers who met sticky ends. We can even give Martin Luther King that title, though while not executed under state authority, did find himself on the receiving end of an assassin's bullet. Socrates' execution was state sponsered, as we a number of the early Christians. He also notes that it is more likely for a hero and a martyr to be cannonised than it is for a Pope. In a way he suggests that a Pope is not fit for cannonisation simply because while he may be the authority over the church, he has not done anything to move the church, and humanity forward (though I believe that Pope John Paul II is on his way there).
I want to finish off by talking a bit more about the Hundred Years War. I mentioned below that Joan was executed and suggested that it was the French who executed her, but that is not correct. The French cannot escape blame because not only did they simply step back and not intervene, it was the Church that condemned her and the French did have influence within the church. It is similar to the situation of Pilate in that despite washing his hands of the blood of Christ, he still handed Christ over to the Jews to be executed even though he had the power to release them. As such, by handing him over one simply cannot escape blame.
The time that Joan had appeared, the war had been raging for about 90 years (as far as the historians are concerned, though the war did go for much longer, and was more a lot of skirmishes and battles rather than one long continuous war). Joan in the play speaks about France being for the French, and in a way is flagging the beginning of nationalism. She says that England is for the English, nor France, however Shaw seems to have missed something in that England was, and still was, conquered by the Normans. The Normans were never thrown out of England, but rather England was brought into Norman territories, so in a way much of the region was in fact English. However, they had expanded and taken more than their fare share. However, we must remember if the English had not managed to conquer France in 90 years, they were never going to. The war had cost the lives of at least three Kings, as well as at least one crown prince. However the French were suffering as well. Joan indicates that to the French the war was a game, but it was a game that they were losing, so Joan comes along and shows them how to fight a war. It is a change of strategy, a change of tactics, and it was one that put the English on the back foot.
So, by looking at this play, and this period, we see some major changes. The first being the beginnings of the reformation where a woman appears and speaks on behalf of God without Church authority. We have the concept of England for the English and France for the French, which is the beginnings of nationalism (which protestantism also brought about because it broke the rule that the Church had over Western Europe), and finally we also see a change in warfare, as war moved away from the jousting contests of the middle ages, and into the idea of fighting for freedom, for nationalism, and to defeat an enemy. Oh, and before I forget, just to be clear, Joan was captured by the Burgundians (allies of the English) who then handed her over to the Church for trial who then handed her over to the English to be executed.

Joan of Arc was a hero of the French during the Hundred Years War against England and she is seen as being the crucial turning point that delivered the French from domination by the English. Even though it was only a couple of battles that she won, and that her life ended at the stake, it was enough to turn the tide of the war and over the next twenty years (though they still retained a foothold in Calais). At the time the play was written Joan had just been canonised by the church, and the play was written in response to that.
While Shaw was not decidedly anti-christian, he was a socialist and a critic of the social structure (particularly the treatment of women). This play is no exception. Like Shakespeare before him, this is a history play, but it is a play with a tragic ending. Joan, as history tells us, ended her life at the stake, guilty of witchcraft. As the story goes, France was at war with England and was losing badly. Joan, a devout Catholic, received a vision and rose up to lead the French armies against the English, and after a number of decisive battles, turned the tide of the war. All of a sudden, public opinion turned against her and she was found guilty of witchcraft and burnt at the stake. Talk about gratitude.
I guess this is a tale of gratitude and that how hundreds of years after the event the woman is finally recognised for what she had done for France. I guess it is possible to be repentant for an act done by one's ancestors. We have seen this in Australia with the apology to the aboriginals for the stolen generation (where we took the children of the aboriginals from their families and put them into Western schools to teach them Western values). Unlike the stolen generation, this happened centuries ago, and involved one person, so there is no fear of being sued for ones' actions.
What is interesting is how this play ends. After she has been found guilty she is given one final vision where she sees herself as a hero remember throughout the ages, and in the end cannonised. She leaps on this to request redemption for the now, but is sternly rebuked. The conclusion is that while she is a hero and the saviour of France, Europe, and indeed the world, is simply not ready for a feminine heroine, or even a Feminine monarch. Okay, England did manage to bring about Female monarchs much sooner than many of the other nations, but Joan is person out of time. She should not exist because it is too uncomfortable for a male dominated society to accept a female warrior (and in many cases, it still is).(less)

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Mar 14, 2009 Manny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shaw usually gets tagged as a liberal, progressive, left-wing type, but he was a very idiosyncratic one: you often find things that don't fit the stereotype. In particular, he thought that nationalism was a good thing, and that wars between countries were sometimes good too. This led him to support strange positions. In Major Barbara, he ends up arguing that what we would now call the military-industrial complex is positive, because it creates the wealth needed to rescue people from poverty. I t...more

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Jul 11, 2008 Dianna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of the most beautiful plays I've ever read. I’m so used to Shaw’s comedies that leave you giddy that I was taken by surprise when I realized it was a drama (excluding the scenes between Joan and Charles). Though G.B. Shaw likely did not believe that she spoke to angels, he must’ve been attracted to her strength and initiative. (And, hey, she essentially got a king crowned in Reims! What a maiden!)

Joan is written with such dignity and compassion that you cannot help but sympathize. S...more

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Apr 14, 2009 Patty rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-for-class

I don't usually enjoy reading plays, but with Saint Joan, Shaw has written a play that reads like a novel. Each of the characters has such a distinctive voice that I never lost track of the action. Shaw's Joan is a firebrand, a woman deeply in love with God, but also in love with the thrill of battle. While Joan is glorified as a saint in the final scene of the play, she is still embraced only at a distance, her holiness and blessedness appreciated best after those in authority, both in the Chur...more

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Mar 20, 2013 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm fascinated by Joan of Arc, so reading this play was a no-brainer for me. SAINT JOAN doesn't attempt to be biographical; rather, it spends a lot of time dealing with the ways in which church leaders and politicians were scandalized by Joan and her accomplishments. Shaw's writing is brilliant (as I've come to expect from him), and the play aptly demonstrates how people would much rather venerate a dead saint than listen to a live one.

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Feb 14, 2012 Erik Graff rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Erik by: WFMT, my parents & my H.S. English teacher, Mr. Sileski

Shelves: drama

I first heard St. Joan performed on Chicago's WFMT as a radio play as a little boy. This is to say that my parents listened to it and allowed me to stay up for the whole thing. The production included the voices she claimed to hear. I had had auditions myself in feverish states and the portrayal was fascinatingly reminiscent. The whole while a spider was building her web on the lamp at my right hand, a web finished and already catching moths by the time of the play's conclusion.

I next read the p...more

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Nov 04, 2010 Paula rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was the first time I've read anything about St. Joan since grade school. Reading Shaw's preface where he reminded the reader that she was just a teenager and how and why the church and politicans of that time period acted the way they did gave new meaning to the play for me. Shaw's opinion seemed quite honest about her life and made her real, not some over the top miracle worker.

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Sep 19, 2007 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Interesting take on Joan. Shaw has clearly formed a very clear idea of her for himself, as his Introduction (also worth reading) took me longer than the play itself. It's not hagiography, but Joan is presented as a heroic, larger-than-life figure, but not one without flaws. She's also got a pretty great sense of humor as well. His depiction of Joan's inquisitors -- as faithful churchmen doing their job fairly and without cynicism -- makes for an interesting comparison with, for example, The Pass...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Judy by: Jordan Camenker

Shelves: audiobooks, my-2011-books

I listened to the audio version on my ipod. Excellent -- very funny and enlightening at the same time. I really did not know that much about Joan of Arc. I can see why some people don't care for Shaw's plays, lots of talking. But this was really amusing and not dull at all. I enjoyed it very much. The ending was especially original and interesting.

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Feb 21, 2010 Etta Mcquade rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shaw's approach of Joan of Arc is somewhat different than most plays. He did a lot of research an sees her persecutors as men who are not evil and mean but who attempted to look at her situation in as fair a way as possible but according to the thining of the Middle Ages, in which indeed they lived. I would like to see the play on stage.

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Jul 31, 2009 Jessi rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wasn't really struck by this play. I leave with no lasting impressions or recommendations for other people to read it. I also discovered that my dislike of Shakespeare in high school was only due to the archaic language and stupid plot lines....seriously.....14 year olds killing themselves over a boyfriend....like we need to give kids that idea.

Anyways, back to my point. I discovered I don't really like the format. It's hard for me to connect and keep track of characters in ways I find easy to...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1949631.Saint_Joan?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1270688651l/1949631.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1949631.Saint_Joan?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw[/url]

Saint Joan

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