# Failures of the Voices explained — Saint Joan

> Chapter companion for Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw.

## What happens

This chapter examines the moments when Joan's voices and visions failed her, particularly during her trial when they assured her of rescue. It argues that the voices were likely projections of her own reason and hopes, and that her eventual recantation and relapse were rational responses to changing circumstances, culminating in her deliberate choice of martyrdom.

## Themes in this chapter

### Faith and Reason

The chapter explores the interplay between Joan's faith in her voices and her rational decision-making, culminating in a 'Rationalism carried to its ultimate human tests of suicide.'

### Individual vs. Institution

Joan's expectation of rescue clashes with the institutional indifference of the Church and the Armagnacs, who were glad to be rid of her.

## Character check-ins

### Joan of Arc

Joan's voices assure her of rescue, but she is ultimately led to the stake; she recants when rescue fails, then relapses and chooses burning.

### La Hire

Joan's military colleague who commanded a force near Rouen but did not rescue her.

### Warwick

Warwick's men at arms are mentioned as the force La Hire might have charged.

### St. Catherine

Saint Catherine is the voice who assures Joan of rescue, representing Joan's own reasoning.

## Key lines

> She did not understand that they were glad to be rid of her, nor that the rescue of a prisoner from the hands of the Church was a much more serious business for a medieval captain, or even a medieval king, than its mere physical difficulty as a military exploit suggested.

Joan failed to realize that her allies were happy to be free of her, and that saving someone from Church custody was far more complicated for medieval leaders than simply overcoming military obstacles.

_Highlights Joan's misunderstanding of the political and religious constraints on her potential rescuers._

> It was not until she discovered that she had gained nothing by her recantation but close imprisonment for life that she withdrew it, and deliberately and explicitly chose burning instead: a decision which showed not only the extraordinary decision of her character, but also a Rationalism carried to its ultimate human tests of suicide.

Only when Joan realized that recanting had only earned her life imprisonment did she take back her confession and choose death by fire, demonstrating both her remarkable resolve and a rationalism pushed to the extreme of self-destruction.

_Emphasizes Joan's rational calculation and ultimate choice of martyrdom over a life of captivity._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/saint_joan_se/chapters/failures-of-the-voices
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/saint_joan_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/saint_joan_se/chapters