Saint Joan

The accused. Let her be brought in. Joan, chained by the ankles, is brought in through the arched door behind the prisoner’s stool by a guard of English soldiers. With them is the Executioner and his assistants. They lead her to the prisoner’s stool, and place themselves behind it after taking off her chain. She wears a page’s black suit. Her long imprisonment and the strain of the examinations which have preceded the trial have left their mark on her; but her vitality still holds: she confronts the court unabashed, without a trace of the awe which their formal solemnity seems to require for the complete success of its impressiveness. The Inquisitor Kindly. Sit down, Joan. She sits on the prisoner’s stool. You look very pale today. Are you not well? Joan Thank you kindly: I am well enough. But the Bishop sent me some carp; and it made me ill. Cauchon I am sorry. I told them to see that it was fresh. Joan You meant to be good to me, I know; but it is a fish that does not agree with me. The English thought you were trying to poison me⁠— Together. Cauchon What! The Chaplain No, my lord. Joan Continuing. They are determined that I shall be burnt as a witch; and they sent their doctor to cure me; but he was forbidden to bleed me because the silly people believe that a witch’s witchery leaves her if she is bled; so he only called me filthy names. Why do you leave me in the hands of the English? I should be in the hands of the Church. And why must I be chained by the feet to a log of wood? Are you afraid I will fly away? D’estivet Harshly. Woman: it is not for you to question the court: it is for us to question you. Courcelles When you were left unchained, did you not try to escape by jumping from a tower sixty feet high? If you cannot fly like a witch, how is it that you are still alive? Joan I suppose because the tower was not so high then. It has grown higher every day since you began asking me questions about it. D’estivet Why did you jump from the tower? Joan How do you know that I jumped? D’estivet You were found lying in the moat. Why did you leave the tower? Joan Why would anybody leave a prison if they could get out? D’estivet You tried to escape. Joan Of course I did; and not for the first time either. If you leave the door of the cage open the bird will fly out. D’estivet Rising. That is a confession of heresy. I call the attention of the court to it. Joan Heresy, he calls it! Am I a heretic because I try to escape from prison? D’estivet Assuredly, if you are in the hands of the Church, and you wilfully take yourself out of its hands, you are deserting the Church; and that is heresy. Joan It is great nonsense. Nobody could be such a fool as to think that. D’estivet You hear, my lord, how I am reviled in the execution of my duty by this woman. He sits down indignantly. Cauchon I have warned you before, Joan, that you are doing yourself no good by these pert answers. Joan But you will not talk sense to me. I am reasonable if you will be reasonable. The Inquisitor Interposing. This is not yet in order. You forget, Master Promoter, that the proceedings have not been formally opened. The time for questions is after she has sworn on the Gospels to tell us the whole truth. Joan You say this to me every time. I have said again and again that I will tell you all that concerns this trial. But I cannot tell you the whole truth: God does not allow the whole truth to be told. You do not understand it when I tell it. It is an old saying that he who tells too much truth is sure to be hanged. I am weary of this argument: we have been over it nine times already. I have sworn as much as I will swear; and I will swear no more. Courcelles My lord: she should be put to the torture. The Inquisitor You hear, Joan? That is what happens to the obdurate. Think before you answer. Has she been shown the instruments? The Executioner They are ready, my lord. She has seen them. Joan If you tear me limb from limb until you separate my soul from my body you will get nothing out of me beyond what I have told you. What more is there to tell that you could understand? Besides, I cannot bear to be hurt; and if you hurt me I will say anything you like to stop the pain. But I will take it all back afterwards; so what is the use of it? Ladvenu There is much in that. We should proceed mercifully. Courcelles But the torture is customary. The Inquisitor It must not be applied wantonly. If the accused will confess voluntarily, then its use cannot be justified. Courcelles But this is unusual and irregular. She refuses to take the oath. Ladvenu Disgusted. Do you want to torture the girl for the mere pleasure of it? Courcelles Bewildered. But it is not a pleasure. It is the law. It is customary. It is always done. The Inquisitor That is not so, Master, except when the inquiries are carried on by people who do not know their legal business. Courcelles But the woman is a heretic. I assure you it is always done. Cauchon Decisively. It will not be done today if it is not necessary. Let there be an end of this. I will not have it said that we proceeded on forced confessions. We have sent our best preachers and doctors to this woman to exhort and implore her to save her soul and body from the fire: we shall not now send the executioner to thrust her into it. Courcelles Your