Saint Joan

play by Shaw

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Article History

Saint Joan, chronicle play in six scenes and an epilogue by George Bernard Shaw, performed in 1923 and published in 1924. It was inspired by the canonization of Joan of Arc in 1920, nearly five centuries after her death in 1431.

Shaw attributes Joan’s visions to her intuition and understanding of her historical mission. The action of the play follows historical events. Shaw’s Joan leads France to victory over the English by dint of her innate intelligence and leadership and not through supernatural guidance. As in the historical record, she is captured and sold to the English, who convict her of heresy and burn her at the stake. Joan is the personification of the tragic heroine; her martyrdom embodies the paradox that humans fear—and often kill—their saints and heroes.

The play’s epilogue concerns the overturning of the church’s verdict of heresy in 1456 and her canonization.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.