Act 3, Scene 2

France. Before Rouen.

[Enter La Pucelle disguised, with four Soldiers with sacks upon their backs.]
Joan la Pucelle
1307 These are the city gates, the gates of Rouen,
1308 Through which our policy must make a breach:
1309 Take heed, be wary how you place your words;
1310 Talk like the vulgar sort of market men
1311 That come to gather money for their corn.
1312 If we have entrance, as I hope we shall,
1313 And that we find the slothful watch but weak,
1314 I 'll by a sign give notice to our friends,
1315 That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them.
Soldier
1316 Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city,
1317 And we be lords and rulers over Rouen;
1318 Therefore we 'll knock.
[Knocks.]
[Within]
Watch
1319 Qui est la?
Joan la Pucelle
1320 Paysans, pauvres gens de France;
1321 Poor market folks that come to sell their corn.
Watch
1322 Enter, go in; the market bell is rung.
Joan la Pucelle
1323 Now, Rouen, I 'll shake thy bulwarks to the ground.
[Exeunt.]
[Enter Charles, the Bastard of Orleans, Alencon, Reignier, and forces.]
Charles, the Dauphin
1324 Saint Denis bless this happy stratagem!
1325 And once again we 'll sleep secure in Rouen.
Bastard of Orleans
1326 Here enter'd Pucelle and her practisants;
1327 Now she is there, how will she specify
1328 Here is the best and safest passage in?
Reignier, Duke of Anjou
1329 By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower;
1330 Which, once discern'd, shows that her meaning is,
1331 No way to that, for weakness, which she enter'd.
[Enter La Pucelle, on the top, thrusting out a torch burning.]
Joan la Pucelle
1332 Behold, this is the happy wedding torch
1333 That joineth Rouen unto her countrymen,
1334 But burning fatal to the Talbotites!
[Exit.]
Bastard of Orleans
1335 See, noble Charles, the beacon of our friend;
1336 The burning torch in yonder turret stands.
Charles, the Dauphin
1337 Now shine it like a comet of revenge,
1338 A prophet to the fall of all our foes!
Reignier, Duke of Anjou
1339 Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends;
1340 Enter, and cry, 'The Dauphin!' presently,
1341 And then do execution on the watch.
[Alarum. Exeunt.]
[An alarum. Enter Talbot in an excursion.]
Lord Talbot
1342 France, thou shalt rue this treason with thy tears,
1343 If Talbot but survive thy treachery.
1344 Pucelle, that witch, that damned sorceress,
1345 Hath wrought this hellish mischief unawares,
1346 That hardly we escaped the pride of France.
[Exit.]
[An alarum: excursions.]
[Bedford, brought in sick in a chair. Enter Talbot and Burgundy without: within La Pucelle, Charles, Bastard, Alencon, and Reignier, on the walls.]
Joan la Pucelle
1347 Good morrow, gallants! want ye corn for bread?
1348 I think the Duke of Burgundy will fast
1349 Before he 'll buy again at such a rate:
1350 'Twas full of darnel: do you like the taste?
Duke of Burgundy
1351 Scoff on, vile fiend and shameless courtezan!
1352 I trust ere long to choke thee with thine own,
1353 And make thee curse the harvest of that corn.
Charles, the Dauphin
1354 Your Grace may starve perhaps before that time.
Duke of Bedford
1355 O, let no words, but deeds, revenge this treason!
Joan la Pucelle
1356 What will you do, good graybeard? break a lance,
1357 And run a tilt at death within a chair?
Lord Talbot
1358 Foul fiend of France, and hag of all despite,
1359 Encompass'd with thy lustful paramours!
1360 Becomes it thee to taunt his valiant age,
1361 And twit with cowardice a man half dead?
1362 Damsel, I 'll have a bout with you again,
1363 Or else let Talbot perish with this shame.
Joan la Pucelle
1364 Are ye so hot? yet, Pucelle, hold thy peace;
1365 If Talbot do but thunder, rain will follow.
[The English party whisper together in council.]
Joan la Pucelle
1366 God speed the parliament! who shall be the speaker?
Lord Talbot
1367 Dare ye come forth and meet us in the field?
Joan la Pucelle
1368 Belike your lordship takes us then for fools,
1369 To try if that our own be ours or no.
Lord Talbot
1370 I speak not to that railing Hecate,
1371 But unto thee, Alencon, and the rest;
1372 Will ye, like soldiers, come and fight it out?
Duke of Alencon
1373 Signior, no.
Lord Talbot
1374 Signior, hang! base muleters of France!
1375 Like peasant foot-boys do they keep the walls,
1376 And dare not take up arms like gentlemen.
Joan la Pucelle
1377 Away, captains! let 's get us from the walls;
1378 For Talbot means no goodness by his looks.
1379 God be wi' you, my lord! we came but to tell you
1380 That we are here.
[Exeunt from the walls.]
Lord Talbot
1381 And there will we be too, ere it be long,
1382 Or else reproach be Talbot's greatest fame!
1383 Vow, Burgundy, by honor of thy house,
1384 Prick'd on by public wrongs sustain'd in France,
1385 Either to get the town again or die:
1386 And I, as sure as English Henry lives,
1387 And as his father here was conqueror,
1388 As sure as in this late-betrayed town
1389 Great Coeur-de-lion's heart was buried,
1390 So sure I swear to get the town or die.
Duke of Burgundy
1391 My vows are equal partners with thy vows.
Lord Talbot
1392 But, ere we go, regard this dying prince,
1393 The valiant Duke of Bedford. Come, my lord,
1394 We will bestow you in some better place,
1395 Fitter for sickness and for crazy age.
Duke of Bedford
1396 Lord Talbot, do not so dishonor me:
1397 Here will I sit before the walls of Rouen,
1398 And will be partner of your weal or woe.
Duke of Burgundy
1399 Courageous Bedford, let us now persuade you.
Duke of Bedford
1400 Not to be gone from hence; for once I read
1401 That stout Pendragon in his litter sick
1402 Came to the field and vanquished his foes.
1403 Methinks I should revive the soldiers' hearts,
1404 Because I ever found them as myself.
Lord Talbot
1405 Undaunted spirit in a dying breast!
1406 Then be it so: heavens keep old Bedford safe!
1407 And now no more ado, brave Burgundy,
1408 But gather we our forces out of hand
1409 And set upon our boasting enemy.
[Exeunt all but Bedford and Attendants.]
[An alarum: excursions. Enter Sir John Fastolfe and a Captain.]
Captain
1410 Whither away, Sir John Fastolfe, in such haste?
Sir John Fastolfe
1411 Whither away! to save myself by flight:
1412 We are like to have the overthrow again.
Captain
1413 What! Will you fly, and leave Lord Talbot?
Sir John Fastolfe
1414 Aye,
1415 All the Talbots in the world, to save my life.
[Exit.]
Captain
1416 Cowardly knight! ill fortune follow thee!
[Exit.]
[Retreat: excursions. La Pucelle, Alencon, and Charles fly.]
Duke of Bedford
1417 Now, quiet soul, depart when heaven please,
1418 For I have seen our enemies' overthrow.
1419 What is the trust or strength of foolish man?
1420 They that of late were daring with their scoffs
1421 Are glad and fain by flight to save themselves.
[Bedford dies, and is carried in by two in his chair.]
[An alarum. Re-enter Talbot, Burgundy, and the rest.]
Lord Talbot
1422 Lost, and recover'd in a day again!
1423 This is a double honor, Burgundy:
1424 Yet heavens have glory for this victory!
Duke of Burgundy
1425 Warlike and martial Talbot, Burgundy
1426 Enshrines thee in his heart, and there erects
1427 Thy noble deeds as valor's monuments.
Lord Talbot
1428 Thanks, gentle duke. But where is Pucelle now?
1429 I think her old familiar is asleep:
1430 Now where 's the Bastard's braves, and Charles his gleeks?
1431 What, all amort? Rouen hangs her head for grief
1432 That such a valiant company are fled.
1433 Now will we take some order in the town,
1434 Placing therein some expert officers;
1435 And then depart to Paris to the king,
1436 For there young Henry with his nobles lie.
Duke of Burgundy
1437 What Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy.
Lord Talbot
1438 But yet, before we go, let 's not forget
1439 The noble Duke of Bedford late deceased,
1440 But see his exequies fulfill'd in Rouen:
1441 A braver soldier never couched lance,
1442 A gentler heart did never sway in court;
1443 But kings and mightiest potentates must die,
1444 For that's the end of human misery.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 1308archaic vocab
“our policy must make a breach”
'Policy' here means a crafty scheme or stratagem — cunning and deceit rather than governing policy. Joan is saying their plan (posing as market traders) is the trick that will break open the gates. The word carried strong connotations of Machiavellian cunning in Elizabethan English.
TLN 1316wordplay
“Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city”
The soldier puns on two meanings of 'sack': the burlap bags they carry as disguised merchants, and 'to sack' a city — meaning to plunder and ransack it after capturing it. The soldiers carry sacks to enter the city, and those same sacks are the means by which they will sack (destroy and loot) it.
TLN 1319cultural context
“Qui est la? / Paysans, pauvres gens de France”
The Watch's French challenge 'Qui est la?' means 'Who is there?' Joan answers 'Paysans, pauvres gens de France' — 'Peasants, poor country folk of France.' The next line gives her English paraphrase: 'Poor market folks that come to sell their corn.' The French exchange marks Rouen as a French city under French garrison, and Joan's fluency in it is part of her disguise.
TLN 1324historical topical
“Saint Denis bless this happy stratagem”
Saint Denis (or Dionysius) was the first bishop of Paris, martyred around 250 CE and venerated as the patron saint of France. French soldiers and kings regularly invoked him before battle — the war-cry 'Montjoie Saint Denis!' was France's equivalent of England's 'Saint George!' The Dauphin's invocation marks the French victory as a national, God-blessed triumph.
TLN 1332rhetorical device
“this is the happy wedding torch / That joineth Rouen unto her countrymen”
Joan compares her torch — the signal fire she thrusts from the tower — to a wedding torch, symbolizing the reunion of Rouen with France as if it were a marriage. The image immediately turns dark: the same torch is 'burning fatal to the Talbotites.' The contrast between a wedding's joy and the fire of death is deliberate and ironic.
TLN 1337historical topical
“shine it like a comet of revenge, / A prophet to the fall of all our foes”
In Elizabethan belief, comets were not beautiful but ominous — blazing signs of war, plague, the death of kings, or the fall of kingdoms. When Charles calls Joan's torch a 'comet of revenge' that prophesies the English collapse, he is using the standard reading of comets as harbingers of catastrophe, but directing the omen at his enemies rather than his own side.
TLN 1347historical topical
“want ye corn for bread? / I think the Duke of Burgundy will fast”
Joan mocks the besieging English from the walls, recalling the trick: the French entered Rouen claiming to sell corn, and 'twas full of darnel — a weed that contaminates grain fields and when eaten in quantity causes dizziness and illness. Her taunt turns the military ruse into a coarse joke at Burgundy's expense: the English bought the story and got something poisonous instead.
TLN 1356archaic vocab
“break a lance, / And run a tilt at death within a chair”
Joan mocks the dying Bedford: will he 'break a lance' (the standard phrase for fighting in a jousting tournament) and 'run a tilt' (charge in the lists on horseback) — all while sitting in a chair? To 'run a tilt' is to charge with a lance in a joust; Bedford is too sick to stand, let alone fight. The cruelty is deliberate: Joan is mocking both his age and his helplessness by invoking the most strenuous form of chivalric contest.
TLN 1370classical allusion
“I speak not to that railing Hecate”
Hecate was the Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, and the dark of the moon — the patron deity of sorcerers. Talbot calls Joan 'that railing Hecate' to dismiss her as a screaming witch rather than a person worthy of address. The allusion links to Talbot's repeated characterization of Joan as a sorceress rather than a soldier.
TLN 1374archaic vocab
“Signior, hang! base muleters of France! / Like peasant foot-boys do they keep the walls”
'Signior' (the Italian form of 'sir') was used in Elizabethan English as a mock-courteous address, often sarcastically, to a foreign or affected person. 'Muleters' are muledrivers — low-class laborers who drive pack-mules. Talbot flings both terms at Alencon and the French lords: by addressing them as 'Signior' he foreignizes and diminishes them, and by calling them 'muleters' he insults their martial honor — they are crouching behind walls like peasant carters, not fighting like gentlemen. 'Foot-boys' are servants who run on foot behind a mounted lord — social inferiors, not soldiers.
TLN 1388historical topical
“in this late-betrayed town / Great Coeur-de-lion's heart was buried”
'Coeur-de-lion' — French for 'lion-heart' — is the nickname of King Richard I of England (reigned 1189-1199), the crusading warrior-king celebrated in both English and continental tradition as the epitome of chivalric courage. His heart was indeed buried at Rouen Cathedral by his own wish; his body was buried at Fontevrault, and his entrails at Chalus. Talbot swears to retake Rouen by invoking this English hero whose heart literally lies in its ground.
TLN 1401historical topical
“stout Pendragon in his litter sick / Came to the field and vanquished his foes”
'Pendragon' refers to Uther Pendragon — in Arthurian legend the father of King Arthur — who according to Geoffrey of Monmouth was so ill he had to be carried to battle on a litter, yet still defeated the Saxon enemy through his sheer presence and will. Bedford cites this precedent to justify his own refusal to be moved from his chair: if the legendary Pendragon could win from a sickbed, Bedford can bear witness to the battle from his chair.
TLN 1410historical topical
“Whither away, Sir John Fastolfe, in such haste”
Sir John Fastolfe is a cowardly English knight who abandons Lord Talbot on the battlefield to save his own skin — 'All the Talbots in the world, to save my life.' He is a completely different character from the fat, comic Sir John Falstaff of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2; the similarity of names has caused confusion for centuries but the two are distinct. This Fastolfe will be publicly stripped of his Garter by Talbot in Act 4 for this cowardice.
historical The Order of the Garter
TLN 1429historical topical
“her old familiar is asleep”
A 'familiar' (or familiar spirit) was a demon or evil spirit believed to attend a witch and assist her magic — sometimes in the form of a small animal (a cat, toad, or hare), sometimes as an invisible being. Talbot sneers that Joan's supernatural helper has fallen asleep or deserted her now that the English have won back Rouen. The implication is that her military ability was never her own but was given to her by a devil.
historical Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc)
TLN 1430archaic vocab
“the Bastard's braves, and Charles his gleeks? / What, all amort?”
'Braves' means boasts or acts of bravado — the Bastard of Orleans's proud taunts. 'Gleeks' means scoffs or jeering mockery — Charles's sneering jokes (like Joan's 'God be wi' you, my lord'). 'All amort' (from French a la mort, 'at the point of death') means utterly dejected, as though struck dead — it describes how the French look now that they have fled and Rouen is recaptured. Talbot is savoring his reversal of fortune by cataloguing their vanished swagger.
TLN 1439archaic vocab
“the noble Duke of Bedford late deceased, / But see his exequies fulfill'd in Rouen”
'Exequies' (Latin exsequiae) are funeral rites — the ceremonies, prayers, and burial service performed for the dead. Talbot insists on giving Bedford proper burial honors in the very town they fought to recapture, rather than letting his body be carried away. The word carries a formal, Latin-derived solemnity appropriate to a warrior of Bedford's rank.
TLN 1443rhetorical device
“kings and mightiest potentates must die, / For that's the end of human misery”
Talbot closes his eulogy with a sententia — a pithy moral maxim. Even the greatest rulers must die; death is the final end of all human suffering and striving. The line is both comfort (Bedford's suffering is over) and warning (no one, however mighty, escapes). It is a classic de casibus formulation: greatness itself cannot prevent the fall that ends all mortal lives.
historical The fall of princes (de casibus tragedy)