FREE ESSAY ON JOAN OF ARC

JOAN OF ARC

Joan of Arc's strength and courage comes from her beliefs in God and the French people's
belief in her. Without each other, Joan will not accomplish so much. Joan uses King
Charles' resources as a starting point for her Divine mission. This includes crowning
Charles as the rightful king of France, forcing the Burgundians out of France, and
uniting all of France under one ruler. Therefore, Joan's whole mission revolves around
King Charles, and as a result, she needs his encouragement in order to succeed. King
Charles does provide this encouragement in the beginning of Joan's mission. However,
after Joan succeeds in putting Charles on the throne, he abandons her. The reasons
Charles abandons Joan are debatable and can be seen as political decisions to save face,
because Joan's power and influence starts to die down. The Church also plays a vital role
in Charles abandoning Joan, because the influence of the Church is so powerful in
deciding the destiny of France and the King. 
All of King Charles important decisions involve his advisors and are usually decided
based on public response. King Charles will not have the support of his people if he does
not have their satisfaction. Therefore Charles must do whatever it takes, even if it
means he has to sacrifice Joan, in order to prove he is powerful and that he is the
rightful king. When Joan first arrives and meets Charles at the castle of Loches, and she
tells him of her plans and her mission from God, he acts as if the whole deal is a joke
at first. It actually comes to the point where Joan kneels down in front of Charles and
"clasps his knees and weep hot tears" (p.72) in order to implore him to believe her. King
Charles agrees with Joan because he really has nothing to lose. This girl, claiming to be
the Maid of Lorraine, is willing to sacrifice herself to him and do him a favor for
nothing in return. Also, the whole idea of the Maid of Lorraine leading Charles's army is
enough to get a good amount of the French to support him as well. Charles, as Warner
says, is "restless, impatient, devious, and distrustful...but he is not the fool that
history has preferred." (p.62) It is true that Charles does not fully trust Joan even
after his experience with her at Chinon. Only after a tribunal is Joan allowed to take up
her military career. (p.63) This proves that Charles does not really fully invest his
trust in her and that there is really not a true connection between the two if Charles
has any doubt in Joan. The only time that Charles will outwardly encourage Joan is when
she is successful in her battles. In this way, it will seem to the French people that his
strategies are the reasons for the victories. For instance, Warner says that "only after
her victory at Orleans...the Chroniclers openly agree with her" (p.62) that she has come
from God. Charles continues to encourage Joan to complete her mission even after he is
crowned the true king of France. It is at this point that Charles can really care less
about Joan because she has already accomplished what he needed. The crafty king even
makes a treaty with the English and the Burgundians knowing that Joan will violate it.
Now that Charles is king, he will have enough support and the right resources to do
things on his own. If Charles relies too much on Joan, then it will seem as if Joan has
more power than the king. After Joan's loss and her kidnapping by the Burgundians and
then the English, Charles and his advisors make no attempt to get Joan back. It also
seems that the English believe in Joan the Maid more than the French and this can be seen
because the English are the ones who buy Joan from her captor. The English feared Joan
more than they feared Charles. This is the worst scenario politically and influentially
for Charles because more people fear a woman than a king. None of the French people will
take Charles seriously if he bows to a woman, especially in the fifteenth century when
woman are considered weak in comparison to man. Charles has nothing to lose now that Joan
seems as if she has lost her touch with God, because now Joan hasn't been successful at
all at the Battle of Paris or at her capture at Compiegne. If Joan's failures mean that
God has turned his back on her, then less people will follow her in her battles, and
there will be more slack on Charles because he is the one who is authorizing her to lead
the army. Charles desertion of Joan is only to save face and ensure that he is considered
the rightful, and a powerful king.
In the fifteenth century the Church plays a very influential part in everyday life for
the French people. What the Church believes in, the people believe in. Therefore, King
Charles must do whatever must be done in order to gain the support of the Church. People
through the Church worship God, and if the Church does not believe in Joan who is
supposedly a messenger of God, then should the people believe in her? The Church is a
large entity while Joan is one person, and, therefore, most people will side with the
Church despite any miracles because of Joan, which may happen on the battlefield. Most of
the French people are peasants and don't actually witness any of Joan's accomplishments.
Should the French peasants believe in a mysterious figure who they've never seen in their
life or should they go against the Church, which has shaped their whole livelihood since
birth. King Charles sees this and has no choice but to go against Joan as well. The
reason the Church goes against Joan is because everything that Joan stands for goes
against the Church. The fact that everything Joan did is through some other force, and
not through the Church. For instance, Warner talks about how Joan appeals to the king
through the lay chain of command instead of the Church or how she had never taken third
vows, dedicating herself to God (p.93). If Joan's connection with God is not through the
Church, then what connection with God does the Church have? Joan is undermining the
authority and ability of the Church's representation of God, and is therefore denying the
Church. If the Church's power is questionable then the Church's influence on the French
will diminish, and as a result the Church must either kill Joan or prove her to be a
fake.
For the most part, Charles uses Joan as a way to make himself look better. The question
of power and the influence of the people is the main issue in the abandonment of Joan.
Charles's decision to abandon Joan may make him seem as a terrible, ruthless ruler, but
it really ensures that he is the rightful king of France, because his decision,
politically, ascertains that he is a powerful and wise king. If Charles stayed behind
Joan and if she continued to fail, then that would only make him look bad and it would
also show that he is weak king relying on a woman. Charles must also side with the Church
over Joan because the Church's influence is on a much larger scale than with Joan.
Charles relationship with the Church becomes tighter and his power as king of France
becomes stronger when he ditches Joan. Joan's divine mission is truly fulfilled because
she does crown the true king, she does help to push the English and Burgundians out of
France, and she does help to unite France under one wise and powerful king.