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Joan of Arc grew up in the small village of Domremy on the edge of civilisation. From the age of thirteen she began to hear voices, which she claimed were from angels of God. They told her that she had been chosen to drive the English armies out of France, ending the hundred year war. At sixteen, Joan overcame numerous obstacles to travel over hostile ground and speak with the King of France. Having convinced the King and his subordinates that she was sent from God and not from Satan, she was made supreme commander of the armies of France. In accepting this appointment, Joan of Arc became the only individual, male or female, ever to have held supreme command of a nation's armies at the age of seventeen.
Through both an unexplainable talent in the art of war, and an extraordinary charisma, Joan of Arc rallied a formerly demoralised and victory-less army to triumph after triumph over the English soldiers. Having been a peasant girl and never seen an army before in her life, she was tremendously successful. In seven weeks she had broken the back of a war of one hundred years, and accomplished what the experts had declared as impossible. Joan's final act of her own will was marching to Rheims, where Joan herself put the crown upon the head of her King. She considered this to be the end of her divine mission.
Following the crowning of the King of France, Joan of Arc was revered as France's best general. To her disappointment, her request to return to her humble life at the village in which she grew up was denied. Being forced to remain in her position, she immediately wanted to march upon Paris and drive the English from France in their entirety. Unfotunately, the swiftness required was severely hampered by delays of the King accompanied by his advisers. Joan of Arc fell in battle and was removed from the field by force. The lack of her charisma again demoralised the French forces; shortly after, the King ordered a retreat and even disbanded the army. This was the end of the great accomplishments of Joan of Arc.
At the age of eighteen, Joan was captured. Everyone, including her kidnappers, expected that the King of France would hasten to pay a fair ransom price to have her back as the rules of war at the time allowed. For reasons commonly attributed to cowardice and lack of character on the part of the King, there was no such move. Eventually and somewhat reluctantly, Joan of Arc was sold to the English to be tried for witchcraft.
As a prisoner of war, Joan was put through a grossly unfair trial. The sole purpose of the trial was to discredit her name in the church before having her executed. Despite the numerous tricks used in attempts to convict her, it was not easy. Uninformed of her right to appeal to the Pope for a fair trial, she was eventually forced to sign a document on the pain of immediate burning. It admitted to everything which she had denied. Having realised what had been done, she later retracted this admission. On 30 May, 1431, she was burned at the stake for doing so.
Twenty five years later, a growing doubt as to the validity of the trial led to the Process of Rehabilitation being instituted. The Pope appointed a commission to research Joan's life. It found her character and history to be spotless and perfect. The previous verdict was dismissed.
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) considered 'Joan of Arc' to be the best of all his books. He also labelled it his most important work. Having spent twelve years researching accounts from both sides, he spent two years writing the account, and he only reached the final format of the biography after seven attempts.
'Joan of Arc' is divided into three sections: In Domremy, an account of Joan's childhood; In Court and Camp, an account of Joan's military career; and Trial and Martyrdom, an account of the trial which had Joan unfairly convicted.
The author was clearly in awe of Joan of Arc, and this aspect shows through in the book. In an attempt to dampen his ruthless enthusiasm, he resorted to telling the story through the eyes of two people.
It is The Sieur Louis de Conte, Joan's page and secretary, whom the account is supposedly written through the eyes of. The narrative is presented as a publication titled 'Personal recollections of Joan of Arc'. The author relates his story to great-great-grand nephews and nieces many decades after the events took place. The second person is a fictional translator, Jean François Alden, who supposedly translated de Conte's account into English. When Mark Twain first published the account in Harper's Magazine he did not use his real name. He published it as if it was a real account that had recently been translated by this fictional character. Throughout the narrative the translator, whose personality and interpretation is much closer to the real author, has placed footnotes which comment on the occasional point the old man has neglected to mention.
De Conte grew up with and knew Joan throughout her life. His role as narrator from a first person perspective allows Twain to focus on Joan of Arc as she really was through the eyes of somebody who knew her well. To add interest, the narrator is of a personality quite different from Joan of Arc herself. It is sometimes quite funny as de Conte expresses confusion over trivial matters relating to Joan's behaviour, which the reader immediately recognises, understands, and can relate to themselves.
As a narrator, de Conte comes across as somebody who is very enthusiastic about Joan. This is evidently a reflection of Mark Twain's own feelings. There are a lot of references as to how intelligent and morally superior Joan was over anybody else in existence.
And yet she was so human, too, and so good and kind and dear and loving and cheery and charming and unspoiled and unaffected! Those are all the words I think of now, but they are not enough; no, they are too few and colorless and meagre to tell it all, or tell the half.
The story and events described beneath the narration are also a work of art. Beginning with the first part, 'In Domremy', Twain establishes Joan's character as she grows up. He is particularly successful in expressing how she came from a very ordinary background, making the latter events seem quite extraordinary.
Well, he kept it up like that till he made their sides ache with laughing; which was quite natural, for certainly it was a very funny idea - at that time - I mean, the idea of that gentle little creature, that wouldn't hurt a fly, and couldn't bear the sight of blood, and was so girlish and shrinking in all ways, rushing into battle with a gang of soldiers at her back. Poor thing, she sat there confused and ashamed to be so laughed at;
Scenes at the beginning, such as playing around the fairy tree, are scheduled to return as distant and touching childhood memories both to both Joan and de Conte, several times later in the book. The tree itself, which symbolises a lot about life and death to the characters, is a metaphorical constant. It is very important, as Twain has alluded to it repeatedly throughout the rest of the book.
During 'In Court and Camp', Twain entertainingly maps the character of several individuals as they stand next to Joan. Petty bickering between characters is often transformed into short-term comic relief. An excellent example can be made of 'The Paladin', later to become the standard bearer of Joan's banner into battle.
The Paladin is painted as an arrogant, boasting and self-absorbed coward. He would shudder to hear a pin drop, then relate to all his friends how he bravely slaughtered that pin limb from limb. Yet having given this outer picture, Twain still manages to provide a different view to show the man as a quite different person.
It was presently discoverable that this charm lay in the Paladin's sincerity. He was not lying consciously; he believed what he was saying. To him, his initial statements were facts, and whenever he enlarged a statement, the enlargement became a fact too. He put his heart into his extravagant narrative, just as a poet puts his heart into a heroic fiction, and his earnestness disarmed criticism - disarmed it as far as he himself was concerned. Nobody believed his narrative, but all believed that he believed it.
'In Court and Camp' is the most interesting part of the book, because it focuses on Joan's accomplishments. Everything Joan was recognised for in her military campaigns is detailed here, the narration deliberately saturated in glory. While it could be said for the entire book, this section in particular makes for genuinely easy, and fun reading.
Joan was doing her best to rally the men, but their wits were gone, their hearts were dominated for the moment by the old-time dread of the English. Joan's temper flamed up, and she halted and commanded the trumpets to sound the advance. Then she wheeled about and cried out -
"If there is but a dozen of you that are not cowards, it is enough - follow me!"
Away she went, and after her a few dozen who had heard her words and been inspired by them. The pursuing force was astonished to see her sweeping down on them with this handful of men, and it was their turn now to experience a grisly fright - surely this is a witch, this is a child of Satan! That was their thought - and without stopping to analyze the matter they turned and fled in a panic.
Joan herself is presented as something of an almost god-like level next to the other boasting, sinning, bickering and "unperfect" characters. As far as the narrator is concerned, Joan has no distinguishing characteristics except her utter perfection.
Toward the end of the day I came upon her where the dead and dying lay stretched all about in heaps and winrows; our men had mortally wounded an English prisoner who was too poor to pay ransom, and from a distance she had seen that cruel thing done; and had galloped to the place and sent for a priest, and now she was holding the head of her dying enemy in her lap, and easing him to his death with comforting soft words, just as his sister might have done; and the womanly tears running down her face all the time.
The final section of the book, 'Trial and Martyrdom', is dark in comparison with the previous two. Much of the story has been taken directly from the official records of the trial as it happened. The feeling of hopelessness in the narration mirrors Joan's captivity. Twain focuses on promoting Joan's strength of character in repeatedly winning battles of words against a court that was intent on breaking whatever rules would be necessary to have her found guilty. Lacking the atmosphere of hope and triumph residing through the earlier parts of the book, it is not as much of a pleasure to read. It is by all means necessary, however, in order to get the fully intended effect of the life of Joan of Arc.
Poor abused girl! She stood dumb, smitten, paralyzed. It was pitiful to see. She had been beguiled, lied to, betrayed; she saw it all, now.
The rumbling of a drum broke upon the stillness, and for just one moment she thought of the glorious deliverance promised by her Voices - I read it in the rapture that lit her face; then she saw what it was - her prison escort - and that light faded, never to revive again. And now her head began a piteous rocking motion, swaying slowly, this way and that, as is the way when one is suffering unwordable pain, or when one's heart is broken; then drearily she went from us, with her face in her hands, and sobbing bitterly.
Mark Twain was not a Catholic, but this does not prevent him from emphasising the importance of Catholicism and God to the narrator, and especially to Joan and her mission. Particularly in the final section however, his own objections still show through in subjective protests regarding his views of the workings internal to parts of the Catholic Church.
The first impression of this book overall is that it was a joy to read. Sometimes the narration is repetitive and predictable, but as already stated it must be remembered that this is through the eyes of one of the characters - not Twain himself.
'Joan of Arc' does not spend much time on technical details, but develops character. Much more important to the author than a reference of specific event details, the result is a biography focused on who Joan of Arc really was, and why she was such an important influence in history. Twain has made a successful effort to capture the atmosphere: the tremendous victory marches and celebrations, the prize of the coronation, the treachery that brought her down from within her own ranks, and the collective awe in the events that took place. These are the elements that mattered to the author, these are the things he wished to convey to the reader, and this is what he accomplished to a superb degree.
It was sad that the book had to end.
Click here to go to top of page"O, friends, friends, do you know? - do you comprehend? France is on the way to be free!"
"And had never been, but for Joan of Arc!" said La Hire, passing before her and bowing low, the others following and doing likewise; he muttering as he went, "I will say it though I be damned for it." Then battalion after battalion of our victorious army swung by, wildly cheering. And they shouted "Live forever, Maid of Orleans, live forever!" while Joan, smiling, stood at the salute with her sword.