Essay — Ignorance in Saint Joan (B)

“You don’t know: you haven’t seen: it is so easy to talk when you don’t know.” Discuss Shaw’s presentation of ignorance. Saint Joan is a play replete with ignorance on multiple levels: its central character Joan is surrounded by an ignorant society that fails to understand her exceptional piety and courage, yet she herself is plagued by a naive ignorance of societal customs and the forces of authority. While society’s ignorance of Joan and Joan’s ignorance of society collectively lead to her tragic death, perhaps the larger tragedy of the play is the enduring nature of ignorance. Society remains stuck in its ignorance throughout the play: even at the very end, it was only able to understand Joan as a martyr rather than her true self. Firstly, Shaw explores society’s ignorance of visionary figures in its midst by presenting the persistent inability of other characters to understand the exceptional Joan. From her entry in Scene 1, Joan’s status as an outstanding figure is made clear by her visual distinctiveness: she is dressed in “red”, not only a bold, striking colour that reflects her exceptionality but also a sign of purity in Christian literature that foregrounds her superlative piety. Further, Shaw emphasises that she has “eyes very wide apart and bulging”, the motif of sight used to reveal her insightful, visionary nature. Joan goes on to demonstrate these exceptional qualities: she fearlessly declares she will help France win the war and crown Charles as King in emphatic proclamations (“I am sent to you to drive the English away”, “I can turn thee [Charles] into a King, in Rheims Cathedral”), evincing her outstanding courage. Joan also claims to have personal communication with God: she calls the “voices” she hears “messages from God”, this mystical divine connection reinforcing her exceptionality. However, other characters consistently fail to understand the visionary Joan, demonstrating society’s ignorance in the process. Charles — whose ignorance vis-a-vis Joan is revealed by his “little narrow eyes” as opposed to Joan’s “bulging” ones — is unable to comprehend Joan’s larger plans for him in Scene 2, focusing instead on superficial concerns like the cost of a coronation (“Anne will want new dresses. We can’t afford them.”). Other ignorant characters define Joan within their own parochial worldviews: Joan is called a “witch” by the Steward who attributes the lack of eggs to her presence in Scene 1, while La Hire assumes she “struck Foul-Mouthed Frank dead for swearing”, proceeding to call her an “angel” without realising she never claimed to be one. When confronted with her exceptionality, Robert and the Archbishop repeatedly dismiss her as crazy (“this girl’s mad”, “cracked country lass”, “this crazy wench”) — they are so trapped within their ignorant understanding of the world that Joan’s visionary ideas have to be excluded from rational consideration altogether. Additionally,

Joan’s progressive conception of direct communication with