Saint Joan: Satire 2 key examples

La Trémouille claims that the dauphin has so angered him that "he has sent the blood boiling into my head" so that he can't look at the letter and make out what it is. Obviously, this statement is hyperbolic. La Trémouille would be dead if his blood were literally boiling. And if he were really so angry as he makes himself out to be, he would hardly still be in the room strategizing with the dauphin. He is simply trying to get another shot in at Charles by claiming that Charles has ruined his eyesight.

Charles can't pass up the opportunity to tease La Trémouille. Anger so bad that he can't see straight sounds like a convenient cover for not being able to read. Shaw expects his audience to be laughing at this exchange and to be taken by surprise and delight when La Trémouille comes up with yet another comeback: the dauphin can read, but he can't do much else. An entire room full of men has to make all his political decisions for him. Once again, hyperbole is at play. Charles does need a lot of help to rule, so the insult cuts. But it remains funny and not cruel because Charles is not quite so pathetic as La Trémouille makes him out to be.

Although this banter is entertaining, it does not inspire a great deal of confidence in political leaders. Shaw makes these men out to be petty and overly secure in their powerful status. Charles doesn't see a problem with his over-reliance on advisors because he takes it as a given that he deserves to be dauphin and soon king. La Trémouille is clearly not worried that he might be kicked out of these political discussions. The men making huge decisions on the world stage do not have any qualms about behaving childishly. Shaw thus calls into question the respect they are owed.

Joan is a symbol for both Protestantism and an early kind of nationalism. She poses a threat to the church, which gets weaker if people believe they don't need the priesthood to practice religion. She also poses a threat to feudal landholders like Warwick, who lose power if people believe the king's power is divinely ordained instead of vested in him by feudal lords. Warwick and Cauchon see a chance to team up against a common enemy. But Cauchon has been going on about the need to save Joan's soul; he does not want to kill her, instead insisting that they must get her to repent. Warwick is desperate to get rid of Joan and is unconvinced that repentance is the right approach. At the same time, Warwick doesn't want to lose Cauchon as a potentially powerful ally against Joan, especially given that it will be easier to prosecute her for religious crimes than secular crimes.

Warwick uses faux-religious language to get what he wants. Catholic doctrine does distinguish between the body and the soul, so Warwick's insistence that they must find out how to "save her soul without saving her body" sounds as though he is joining Cauchon in a religious discussion. Really, he just wants Cauchon to agree to execute Joan for heresy no matter whether or not she is "saved." The exchange is funny because Warwick is dancing around Cauchon's religious principles to get what he wants, but neither man comes out looking good. Not only does Warwick come off as manipulative and self-serving, but Cauchon also comes off as easy to manipulate. As long as Warwick can make a case that he will be acting according to the written rules of the church, Cauchon is willing to condemn Joan to a horrible death that hardly seems very "Christian" in spirit. Shaw is making fun of these men; he is also making fun of their types, which have persisted in many forms through the centuries.