SAINT JOAN.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 September 1924, Page 3

SAINT JOAN.

Mr George Bernard Shaw is not given to hero worship; indeed, lie mocks his own protagonists quite mercilessly. But the Maid of Orleans, about whom “Saint Joan,” his latest play,

is written, has inspired him with un

accustomed enthusiasm. His Joan is hardly the Joan of convention. For long, in literature and art, her personality was idealised, although latterly the pendulum, was swung, and the tendency is to treat her upon mere materialistic lines. Mr Shaw presents her as an imroliiantie but

attractive figure, a blunt, downright, rather pert peasant girl, illiterate but quick-witted, and endowed with a plentiful stock of robust common sense. She is no respecter of rank, calls military ollicers by their abbreviated names, and the first time - she meets the Dauphin, addresses him as “Charlie.” She is dedicated to the service of her God and her country. She believes honestly that she is the divinely appointed instrument for the liberation of France, hut although she hears voices, in between these revelations she is quite a matter of fact young lady. She is not, as some critics have averred, a mere mascot. Her native shrewdness enables her to

grasp at once important points of strategy, and her military aptitude commands the admiration of soldiers. She realises that war is largely a matter of moral, in which Franco is lacking:—“Our soldiers are always beaten because they are lighting only to save their skins, and the shortest

way to save your skin is to run away. Our knights are thinking only of the money they will make in ransoms; it is mil kill or lie killed with them, but pay or lie paid.” She appreciates the value of a gesture. If the Dauphin is crowned at Rheims, it will revive the spirit of France. Much of the interest of the play lies in the impression that she makes upon those around her. The fussy, self-

assertive country squire, though sceptical in regard to her claims, is convinced despite himself, and succumbs to her magnetism. The lymphatic gentleman at arms, de Poiilcngey (“Roily,” to her) is a reverential worshipper. Equally devout is la Hire, the plain, bluff soldier. He believes unquestionably that she is tin* messenger of the Almighty and even, at her instigation, endeavours to avoid swearing. To Illinois, himself a brilliant leader and a scientific soldier, she is rather a problem, and a coadjutor whose zeal must he restrained. fTe takes her seriously up to a point. Undoubtedly her inspirations have had a happy issue. The troops, now filled with elan, will lollmv her anywhere. Rut Dunois’ axiom, is that ot Cromwell : “Trust in God, hut keep your powder dry.” Divine assistance is all very well, hut it must he reinforced by prudent tactics it. it is to lie ol any

avail. That is where Joan’s sense ol realities is delective. lo her mind ten men, secure in the knowledge that their cause is approved bv the Almighty, must lie a match lor a bund red Englishmen. Dunois tears, with reason, that .loan’s enthusiasm will outrun her discretion. He warns hcr agninst such reckless enterprises as that at (’ompiegne, which ultimately led to her undoing. Ity the Dauphin, an indolent lluiiciir, she is regarded as a nuisance. Though a weakling he is not a tool, and his views on the suliject of treaty making have the support ot iii'lorv. “I can tell you,” he says, ■•that one good treaty is worth ten good lights. These lighting fellows lose all on the treaties that they gain oil the lights. II \\e can only have a treaty the English are sure to have the worst of it, because they are bettor at lighting than at thinking, lie has the )) it to see that the course .loan urges i- in his own best interests, hut he is reluctant to make the ojiorl. He wishes to he Iclf alone. When, at lasi, .loan sun reds in gal , .ini-iir-, him in'" action tin- impul '

spoilt, and as soon as his position is relatively secure he had no further use for Joan.

The attitude of Warwick, the English commander, is perlecll.v unequivocal. Joan may he a miracle worker or she may not. it is beside the point. Slu* may he a saint or a charlatan or possessed ol a devil. He (I<K s „ot know nor does he care. But wlmt |„* does know is that since she took the field Hie French armies arc lighting with a new heart and the English an- losing ground. It is desirable. I hcriTore, that she he put out of the wav. Pressure is brought to hear upon the ecclesiastical authorities, and .loan, who has hecn taken prisoner, is handed over to stand her trial lor heresy. Tradition has it that hei trial was not a fair one. hut Mr Shaw insists both ill the preface and tho plav that it was as fair as it was possible for one held ill such circumstances to he. .loan answers the m-

t..rro<'ators with a mixture of caution ■mil simplicity, hut the tlilli.-uH.v was tli-it slu- dill nut really understand the nature «»f the charge. So she is condemned to the stake, and the sente,,ee is carried out hy the luighs!,. Warwick gives very explicit mstrue- * i,,„s to the executioner. Not Ini'S must remain that may serve as a relic the martyr and inspire a cult ol her. The executioner does his noil, as thoroughly as he can. At the end of the scene he comes in and announces: ■•Her heart would not hum, my hint, hut everything; that was left is at the hotloin of the river. You have heard ,1... Inst of her." To wh, el, Warwick replies with a wry sn.il..: " he las, of her. Il’m! I wonder!" His dm.hts are justified hv the event. There is an epilogue in I 100, l ic vear in which .loan was formally rehabilitated. AH those who had dealinns with .loan, some still living, some now dead, appear before her. I here is* the executioner who, tor all hi. craft, could not kill the maid— ■ >e is up and alive everywhere." he says: the Knplisl, soldier who handed her a rough cross as she went to the stake : the faithful I .a Hire; the Imptis.toi who believed in her innocence, hut could not see lmw the Imposition could he dispensed with as things were- Warwick, who assures her politely that "the burning was purely political; there was no personal leelin>r against you," and the rest of them. And there is a vision »f the statue of .loan in front of Rhe.nis Cathedral. "Who has broken my sword!-” cries .loan on seeing it. •"> sword was never Iwoken. It * 10 sword of France.” "Never tntnd, re lilies Guidos, "swords can he mended. Your soul is unbroken. It is the soul of France.” In a characteristic preface Air Shaw first analyses the historical evidence concerning Joan and her fate, and then discusses topics rapping from the Casement trial to modern education, and from cruelty to the stock ideas governing the length of dramatic representation. I" the plav itself he adopts a device which, though legitimate, occasionally produces rather an incongruous elfect. 11l the conversations of real life people, whether in the 15th or the 20tl, century. use colloquial language. Thus he'makes his officers talk very muck as officers talked in the Great A\ar. and Joan, as a provincial peasant girl, is endowed with what appears to be a l ancashirc’ accent and mode of speech. "C’oom.” she says upon entering the throne room, "where lie Dauphin?”— whom, when she has discovered his identity, she addresses as "Lad.” “Be that Queen?” she asks anon. It is

only when her emotions are stirred that she speaks literary English.