CONFLICT OF CHURCH AND STATE IN GEORGE BERNARD SHAW’S ‘SAINT JOAN’

Abstract

JOAN was a ‘vital genius’ who was crushed between two mighty forces, the feudalism and the medieval church because she would not submit before them. What matters to JOAN is not whether her ideas are true or not but that she believes them to be true. So, she goes by the dictates of her conscience. She refuses to compromise where her ‘self’ is concerned and for this she prefers death to imprisonment, and is willing to undergo the terrors of burning rather than denying her beliefs.

The present paper studies the conflict between the JOAN OF ARC and the Church which turned out to be a conflict between a private judgement and constituted authority. In SAINT JOAN, G.B.Shaw allows us to see not only Joan’s point of view but also her opponent’s reason for destroying her. He presents the evidences on both sides and leaves us to use our own judgement.