What do you think?
Rate this book
Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism
Joan has a unique role in Western imagination--she is one of the few true female heroes. Marina Warner uses her superb historical and literary skills to move beyond conventional biography and to capture the essence of Joan of Arc, both as she lived in her own time and as she has "grown" in the human imagination over the five centuries since her death. She has examined the court documents from Joan of Arc's 1431 Inquisition trial for heresy and woven the facts together with an analysis of the histories, biographies, plays, and paintings and sculptures that have appeared over time to honor this heroine and symbol of France's nationhood. Warner shows how the few facts that are known about the woman Joan have been shaped to suit the aims of those who have chosen her as their hero. The book places Joan in the context of the mythology of the female hero and takes note of her historical antecedents, both pagan and Christian and the role she has played up to the present as the embodiment of an ideal, whether as Amazon, saint, child of nature, or personification of virtue.
388 pages, Paperback
First published June 12, 1981
27 people are currently reading
684 people want to read
About the author
Marina Warner
173 books345 followersMarina Sarah Warner is a British novelist, short story writer, historian and mythographer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth.
She is a professor in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre at the University of Essex, and gave the Reith Lectures on the BBC in 1994 on the theme of 'Managing Monsters: Six Myths of Our Time.'
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 1, 2019
A Feminist Exploration
30 June 2019
One thing that I learnt when I visited the Joan of Arc museum in Rouen was that poor Joan has been hijacked by so many people over the centuries as a cause celebre that it actually gets really difficult to try and understand who the real Joan actually is. Mind you, it isn’t as if she is the only person who has been hijacked for various causes throughout history:
Actually, while I’m here one of the interesting things about Joan is that she does happen to have this messianic aspect about her – you know, a humble person from humble beginnings who rises up and leads her people to victory, only to be cut down in the prime of life, but despite the fact that she was, well, burnt at the stake and her ashes scattered in the Siene, her spirit lived on to spur the French to kick the English out of France. Well, okay, she didn’t literally rise from the dead, but the thing is that martyrs do tend to have this ability to inspire people from beyond the grave to continue their cause, and sometimes I actually wonder whether the act of martyrdom is that trigger, namely because I’m not entirely convinced that if Joan had not been burnt at the stake whether she would have been as inspirational (and I get the impression that Nikos Kazantzakis had the same idea).
Well, okay, Warner does open this book by proclaiming how this is the case with Joan (that she is basically hijacked by many and varied groups as a symbol for their cause), and then proceeds to do just that for feminism. Okay, I’m probably one of the first to claim that Joan is a symbol of Feminism, but she is also a symbol of many things, the major being that she is a pre-reformation reformer. Yeah, Joan is quite an enigma, particularly considering that there are so many things about her that would have resulted in her, well, not going away, and she then not only rose to fame during the Hundred Years War, but has been remembered throughout the ages, whereas the name of the guy who ordered her to be executed was, well, yeah, I’ll have to get back to you on that one (sort of reminds me of Herostratus).
There are a number of things that come out in this book though, to many for me to be able to explore in a simple review, but it does make me think. For instance, Warner beings by exploring the idea of purity, and in Joan’s case, virginity. This is one of those things that baffles me a lot – why is it that women have to be pure, but if a guy were to stand up and loudly proclaim that he was a virgin, well, I’m sure we can guess what will happen. It is almost as if a woman needed to be pure to actually have any authority or anything, yet the Pope, well, he could go around have have grandsons and all that.
Then there is this suggestion that Joan never actually went into battle. Well, that wouldn’t be all that surprising, namely because it wasn’t as if Joan was a knight or anything, but then again I suspect your typical king wasn’t any sort of combat ready knight or anything either – that is why you have the Mountain hanging around. Actually, the impression I get is that your typical medieval soldier was hardly a trained warrior either, just a peasant with a spear, or whatever other weapon he could get his hands on. Sure, there were knights, and yeah, I suspect they knew how to fight, but considering the amount of armour that they wore, I’m not convinced that they would be all that good without their equipment.
Anyway, so, Joan not actually fighting is probably not all that surprising, and anyway, she was that women whom God spoke to, so in many cases she was more of an inspirational figure, a standard bearer if you will, a symbol that the troops would rally around and fight for – she, well, she didn’t actually need to get into battle.
One chapter also explores this concept of her being a transvestite, though that is probably not the word I would use – I would prefer asexual, in the sense that she is a woman, and she does not deny being a woman, but she throws off the stereotypical gender roles that tend to be placed upon women. Then again, there is a lot of gender theory that was playing out on the pages of this book, which is quite interesting but the problem is that it doesn’t really fit in with the period in which she was living – Gender theory is a pretty new idea.
The final thing is that it isn’t as if Joan was the only prophetess wandering around, though she is unique in the fact that she, well, lead an army (though of course she isn’t the only woman who has ever led an army – Boadicia for instance). It isn’t as if she is rising up to fight for the rights of women, by no means. No, she was fighting for France – a nationalist if you will – but she was unique in a way that she was not only able to inspire the troops then and there, but her martyrdom has inspired people through the ages.
Oh, and another thing, like Jesus, we don’t actually have any description of her, except for the fact that she cut her hair short in the style of men at the time (which brings about the idea of her being a transvestite). Then again, that seems to be something that is conveniently ignored.
30 June 2019
One thing that I learnt when I visited the Joan of Arc museum in Rouen was that poor Joan has been hijacked by so many people over the centuries as a cause celebre that it actually gets really difficult to try and understand who the real Joan actually is. Mind you, it isn’t as if she is the only person who has been hijacked for various causes throughout history:
Actually, while I’m here one of the interesting things about Joan is that she does happen to have this messianic aspect about her – you know, a humble person from humble beginnings who rises up and leads her people to victory, only to be cut down in the prime of life, but despite the fact that she was, well, burnt at the stake and her ashes scattered in the Siene, her spirit lived on to spur the French to kick the English out of France. Well, okay, she didn’t literally rise from the dead, but the thing is that martyrs do tend to have this ability to inspire people from beyond the grave to continue their cause, and sometimes I actually wonder whether the act of martyrdom is that trigger, namely because I’m not entirely convinced that if Joan had not been burnt at the stake whether she would have been as inspirational (and I get the impression that Nikos Kazantzakis had the same idea).
Well, okay, Warner does open this book by proclaiming how this is the case with Joan (that she is basically hijacked by many and varied groups as a symbol for their cause), and then proceeds to do just that for feminism. Okay, I’m probably one of the first to claim that Joan is a symbol of Feminism, but she is also a symbol of many things, the major being that she is a pre-reformation reformer. Yeah, Joan is quite an enigma, particularly considering that there are so many things about her that would have resulted in her, well, not going away, and she then not only rose to fame during the Hundred Years War, but has been remembered throughout the ages, whereas the name of the guy who ordered her to be executed was, well, yeah, I’ll have to get back to you on that one (sort of reminds me of Herostratus).
There are a number of things that come out in this book though, to many for me to be able to explore in a simple review, but it does make me think. For instance, Warner beings by exploring the idea of purity, and in Joan’s case, virginity. This is one of those things that baffles me a lot – why is it that women have to be pure, but if a guy were to stand up and loudly proclaim that he was a virgin, well, I’m sure we can guess what will happen. It is almost as if a woman needed to be pure to actually have any authority or anything, yet the Pope, well, he could go around have have grandsons and all that.
Then there is this suggestion that Joan never actually went into battle. Well, that wouldn’t be all that surprising, namely because it wasn’t as if Joan was a knight or anything, but then again I suspect your typical king wasn’t any sort of combat ready knight or anything either – that is why you have the Mountain hanging around. Actually, the impression I get is that your typical medieval soldier was hardly a trained warrior either, just a peasant with a spear, or whatever other weapon he could get his hands on. Sure, there were knights, and yeah, I suspect they knew how to fight, but considering the amount of armour that they wore, I’m not convinced that they would be all that good without their equipment.
Anyway, so, Joan not actually fighting is probably not all that surprising, and anyway, she was that women whom God spoke to, so in many cases she was more of an inspirational figure, a standard bearer if you will, a symbol that the troops would rally around and fight for – she, well, she didn’t actually need to get into battle.
One chapter also explores this concept of her being a transvestite, though that is probably not the word I would use – I would prefer asexual, in the sense that she is a woman, and she does not deny being a woman, but she throws off the stereotypical gender roles that tend to be placed upon women. Then again, there is a lot of gender theory that was playing out on the pages of this book, which is quite interesting but the problem is that it doesn’t really fit in with the period in which she was living – Gender theory is a pretty new idea.
The final thing is that it isn’t as if Joan was the only prophetess wandering around, though she is unique in the fact that she, well, lead an army (though of course she isn’t the only woman who has ever led an army – Boadicia for instance). It isn’t as if she is rising up to fight for the rights of women, by no means. No, she was fighting for France – a nationalist if you will – but she was unique in a way that she was not only able to inspire the troops then and there, but her martyrdom has inspired people through the ages.
Oh, and another thing, like Jesus, we don’t actually have any description of her, except for the fact that she cut her hair short in the style of men at the time (which brings about the idea of her being a transvestite). Then again, that seems to be something that is conveniently ignored.
April 25, 2015
As a biography of Joan by way of cataloguing her diverse iconography, this book has a curious goal: to undermine each and every icon by presenting Joan as above and beyond what anyone could expect of her.
That is, Joan’s genius is that as much as her legacy owes to each icon, no icon can really contain her at all.
The Hall of Icons
The book is basically organized by archetypal pattern. Warner goes into meticulations about each: the chapters on the Maid of France, the Heretic, the Amazon, the Innocent, etc. are full of enormous detail on historical context, and give us a centuries-long tour of the roles Joan played in her time (the first half of the book) and afterward (the second half). For all her ascent lasted a bit over a year, and for how quickly she began to lose her battles afterward, she’s been interpreted and re-interpreted ever since she crowned the Dauphin. It’s crazy stuff.
The scope is exhausting – but in a way that justifies its demand on your time. I learned an enormous amount, not only about Joan herself but about the many time periods in which her confusing, compelling story was a beacon of some timely idea.
The Biography of Ideas
So in short, this is simply not a straightforward telling of Joan’s story, and as such, I’ll suggest you can get the most out of this book by reading one before you dig in. I recommend Mary Gordon’s book, which much shorter and breezier than this one.
As a book organized by each of the archetypes Warner examines – and as a book which doesn’t skimp on digression or elaborate language – it demands a great deal of you. It took me a long time to read, and I will have to read it again.
Joan Herself
I’ve read Joan’s trial transcripts, as well as other books that are more directly about her rise and fall, but through this careful method of presenting-yet-undermining, I think Warner has succeeded in capturing Joan, because it is so clear that even a pantheon of icons to represent her do not suffice. She was simply too very much herself.
That is, Joan’s genius is that as much as her legacy owes to each icon, no icon can really contain her at all.
The Hall of Icons
The book is basically organized by archetypal pattern. Warner goes into meticulations about each: the chapters on the Maid of France, the Heretic, the Amazon, the Innocent, etc. are full of enormous detail on historical context, and give us a centuries-long tour of the roles Joan played in her time (the first half of the book) and afterward (the second half). For all her ascent lasted a bit over a year, and for how quickly she began to lose her battles afterward, she’s been interpreted and re-interpreted ever since she crowned the Dauphin. It’s crazy stuff.
The scope is exhausting – but in a way that justifies its demand on your time. I learned an enormous amount, not only about Joan herself but about the many time periods in which her confusing, compelling story was a beacon of some timely idea.
The Biography of Ideas
So in short, this is simply not a straightforward telling of Joan’s story, and as such, I’ll suggest you can get the most out of this book by reading one before you dig in. I recommend Mary Gordon’s book, which much shorter and breezier than this one.
As a book organized by each of the archetypes Warner examines – and as a book which doesn’t skimp on digression or elaborate language – it demands a great deal of you. It took me a long time to read, and I will have to read it again.
Joan Herself
I’ve read Joan’s trial transcripts, as well as other books that are more directly about her rise and fall, but through this careful method of presenting-yet-undermining, I think Warner has succeeded in capturing Joan, because it is so clear that even a pantheon of icons to represent her do not suffice. She was simply too very much herself.
Read
December 17, 2024can you tell who my final paper is about 👀 really approachable, seminal text on Joan of Arc’s life, death, and legacy !!!
May 18, 2020
An exceptional book, packed with fascinating details and analysis of the legacy of Joan of Arc. It is not a biography, but rather an examination of Joan as an historical and cultural phenomenon. The author reviews how Joan was understood, the origins of the lenses through which she was seen, and how she has been remembered. She treats, among other things, Joan as a prophet, a heretic, a knight, an Amazon, a personification of virtue, a child of nature and, ultimately, a saint/patriotic hero claimed by both church and state, often on competing terms. The writing is sometimes turgid, as if often the case with academic history, but worth the effort.
Read
October 21, 2007http://nhw.livejournal.com/788752.html[return][return]I'm not really a Francophile, but I am a lapsed medievalist, and Marina Warner's meticulous sifting of fact from fiction in the first two-thirds of the book dealing with the actual career of Joan of Arc (not, as she points out, a name ever used by La Pucelle herself) is a beautiful example of how you should take your one major primary source (the transcript of Joan's trial) and test it against all the other available contextual evidence.[return][return]Two points in particular stood out for me. First, Joan's entire career was very short - from March 1429 to her execution in May 1431 - and of course the last year of Joan's short life was spent in captivity. Second, something very special obviously did take place when she first encountered the Dauphin, the future Charles VII, at Chinon in March 1429: she was unable to describe the experience clearly, and nobody else seems to have left a record, but the consequences are quite clear - some kind of mystical event was experienced by both her and Charles, and by enough of his courtiers to establish the legend, but we will never know exactly what they thought had happened.[return][return]Warner explores Joan's significance as a woman, a hero, a warrior, a prophet, digging deep into late medieval ideas of religion, leadership and gender. In the last third of the book she goes on to look at Joan's influence after her death, on literature, French politics, the church's claims to authority, and concepts of sexuality in Western civilisation. It feels comprehensive, and I found it fascinating.
August 16, 2012
A bit draw, but good in depth of Joan. Should be read with Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form.
June 13, 2008
A scholarly look at Joan of Arc in a feminist perspective. Very interesting if that sounds like something you would like, but probably too "dry" for many readers.
June 6, 2022
An exhaustive look at how Joan was interpreted in her lifetime and at her trial, then how she was regarded in centuries past.
As Warner details, Joan transgressed the boundaries of womanhood by taking up arms and wearing male dress. She transgressed class boundaries as a peasant girl operating as a knight. She was a devoutly Christian virgin who didn't menstruate (Warner argues there's evidence she was anorexic). Her enemies, conversely, tried to show she was a heretic, a witch or promiscuous.
Redeeming her after her death served the purposes of France (the king wanted to reassert that God sent her to put him on the throne) and the church (it established the king's authority stemmed from God and the church). Since then she's been seen as feminist icon, child of nature, naive child and ended up the only saint who was executed by the Catholic Church rather than unbelievers.
While I wish Warner had done more on modern interpretations, this is excellent.
As Warner details, Joan transgressed the boundaries of womanhood by taking up arms and wearing male dress. She transgressed class boundaries as a peasant girl operating as a knight. She was a devoutly Christian virgin who didn't menstruate (Warner argues there's evidence she was anorexic). Her enemies, conversely, tried to show she was a heretic, a witch or promiscuous.
Redeeming her after her death served the purposes of France (the king wanted to reassert that God sent her to put him on the throne) and the church (it established the king's authority stemmed from God and the church). Since then she's been seen as feminist icon, child of nature, naive child and ended up the only saint who was executed by the Catholic Church rather than unbelievers.
While I wish Warner had done more on modern interpretations, this is excellent.
January 20, 2019
Well I'll give this to Marina Warner, she's thorough!! That would be my overwhelming description of this text, thorough! I'm fascinated by Joan of Arc as an historical character of conviction and certitude. She lived and died by her beliefs, whether or not they were right or true. This book, I agree with others is a bit dry and overloaded with facts, but it literally rips apart and re-fashions the concept of Joan (La Pucelle), in all her glory and viscittude. A fascinating read for anyone interested in this canny, indomitable woman.
November 7, 2017
I wanted to love this book, but after pushing myself grudgingly through more than half, I had to put it down. It’s overflowing with fascinating information. But unfortunately it reads more like a textbook. Were I more intimately acquainted with 15th century French and English history perhaps it wouldn’t have been so difficult. But as it was, there was so much name dropping of people I didn’t know, it took away from my ability to absorb the information rather than enhancing it.
September 20, 2018
If you don't already know a fair bit about Joan of Arc, do NOT start here. This is an examination of the images by which people made sense of Joan (amazon, personification of virtue, Wholesome Peasant) and the causes for which she has been made a symbol and why. I made heavy use of Marina Warner's Alone of All Her Sex in my master's thesis, and reading this book was like meeting up with an old friend for coffee and seeing what she has been up to.
October 16, 2021
some of warners' analysis was a bit dated, but overall, this delved DEEP into how people viewed joan of arc when she was alive and how her perception has changed since her death. really thorough, i loved this!! 3.75 stars
March 24, 2022
Read for school, but honestly if you ever want a detailed account of Joan of Arc and how her story was interpreted over time, this is the way to go. Could've done with clearer conclusions, but that's just the way Warner writes.
March 8, 2021
This was surprisingly good. It's not about Joan's story and biography per say, it's more about the interesting concepts and theories surrounding her story, hence it delves into gripping and mind blowing information about all types of knowledge and characters linked in some way to Joan's story. It was hard to put down.
November 3, 2014
This was an interesting and insightful read on Joan of Arc's life, especially as it highlights some of the moral, political and religious influences of her time, both from before she was born and after she died. I would recommend it to those that are interested in Joan or Arc or indeed in this period of history although it does tend to focus, too much so at times, especially towards the end on the feminist aspects of her life and period.
October 7, 2017
Masterfully written decades ago with deep and insightful research, this book reads like it was written in the last six months. It serves not only to enlighten us about Joan and answer many oft asked but not answered questions, but also shed light on the culture, politics, and history prior to, during, and post that make her legend so enduring. All the while reminding us that the lessons of the past are completely and dangerously relevant.
June 23, 2008
Fantastic!
April 30, 2016
Did not come anywhere meeting my expectations. All the reviews which I read were misleading,. There were some interesting tidbits and ideas.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews