Joan la Pucelle

Play

Henry VI, Part 1

Summary

Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc) is the French warrior-saint who rallies the French forces and repeatedly defeats the English under Talbot. Shakespeare portrays her with deep ambiguity — she claims divine inspiration but is ultimately shown consorting with fiends, her heroism deliberately undercut by the play's English perspective.

Notable Quotations

"Assign'd am I to be the English scourge. / This night the siege assuredly I'll raise: / Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyon days, / Since I have entered into these wars." *(1.2)*

"Of all base passions, fear is most accursed. / Command the conquest, Charles, it shall be thine." *(5.2)*

"First, let me tell you whom you have condemn'd: / Not me begotten of a shepherd swain, / But issued from the progeny of kings." *(5.4)*

Cross-references