Act 5, Scene 4

Camp of the Duke of York in Anjou.

[Enter York, Warwick, and others.]
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2430 Bring forth that sorceress condemn'd to burn.
[Enter La Pucelle, guarded, and a Shepherd.]
Shepherd
2431 Ah, Joan, this kills thy father's heart outright!
2432 Have I sought every country far and near,
2433 And now it is my chance to find thee out,
2434 Must I behold thy timeless cruel death?
2435 Ah, Joan, sweet daughter Joan, I 'll die with thee!
Joan la Pucelle
2436 Decrepit miser! base ignoble wretch!
2437 I am descended of a gentler blood:
2438 Thou art no father nor no friend of mine.
Shepherd
2439 Out, out! My lords, as please you, 'tis not so;
2440 I did beget her, all the parish knows.
2441 Her mother liveth yet, can testify
2442 She was the first fruit of my bachelorship.
Earl of Warwick
2443 Graceless! wilt thou deny thy parentage?
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2444 This argues what her kind of life hath been,
2445 Wicked and vile; and so her death concludes.
Shepherd
2446 Fie, Joan, that thou wilt be so obstacle!
2447 God knows thou art a collop of my flesh;
2448 And for thy sake have I shed many a tear:
2449 Deny me not, I prithee, gentle Joan.
Joan la Pucelle
2450 Peasant, avaunt! You have suborn'd this man,
2451 Of purpose to obscure my noble birth.
Shepherd
2452 'Tis true, I gave a noble to the priest
2453 The morn that I was wedded to her mother.
2454 Kneel down and take my blessing, good my girl.
2455 Wilt thou not stoop? Now cursed be the time
2456 Of thy nativity! I would the milk
2457 Thy mother gave thee when thou suck'dst her breast,
2458 Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake!
2459 Or else, when thou didst keep my lambs a-field,
2460 I wish some ravenous wolf had eaten thee!
2461 Dost thou deny thy father, cursed drab?
2462 O, burn her, burn her! hanging is too good.
[Exit.]
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2463 Take her away; for she hath lived too long,
2464 To fill the world with vicious qualities.
Joan la Pucelle
2465 First, let me tell you whom you have condemn'd:
2466 Not me begotten of a shepherd swain,
2467 But issued from the progeny of kings;
2468 Virtuous and holy; chosen from above,
2469 By inspiration of celestial grace,
2470 To work exceeding miracles on earth.
2471 I never had to do with wicked spirits:
2472 But you, that are polluted with your lusts,
2473 Stain'd with the guiltless blood of innocents,
2474 Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices,
2475 Because you want the grace that others have,
2476 You judge it straight a thing impossible
2477 To compass wonders but by help of devils.
2478 No, misconceived! Joan of Arc hath been
2479 A virgin from her tender infancy,
2480 Chaste and immaculate in very thought;
2481 Whose maiden blood, thus rigorously effused,
2482 Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2483 Aye, aye: away with her to execution!
Earl of Warwick
2484 And hark ye, sirs; because she is a maid,
2485 Spare for no faggots, let there be enow:
2486 Place barrels of pitch upon the fatal stake,
2487 That so her torture may be shortened.
Joan la Pucelle
2488 Will nothing turn your unrelenting hearts?
2489 Then, Joan, discover thine infirmity,
2490 That warranteth by law to be thy privilege.
2491 I am with child, ye bloody homicides:
2492 Murder not then the fruit within my womb,
2493 Although ye hale me to a violent death.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2494 Now heaven forfend! the holy maid with child!
Earl of Warwick
2495 The greatest miracle that e'er ye wrought:
2496 Is all your strict preciseness come to this?
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2497 She and the Dauphin have been juggling:
2498 I did imagine what would be her refuge.
Earl of Warwick
2499 Well, go to; we'll have no bastards live;
2500 Especially since Charles must father it.
Joan la Pucelle
2501 You are deceived; my child is none of his:
2502 It was Alencon that enjoy'd my love.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2503 Alencon! that notorious Machiavel!
2504 It dies, an if it had a thousand lives.
Joan la Pucelle
2505 O, give me leave, I have deluded you:
2506 'Twas neither Charles nor yet the duke I named,
2507 But Reignier, king of Naples, that prevail'd.
Earl of Warwick
2508 A married man! that's most intolerable.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2509 Why, here's a girl! I think she knows not well
2510 There were so many, whom she may accuse.
Earl of Warwick
2511 It's sign she hath been liberal and free.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2512 And yet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure.
2513 Strumpet, thy words condemn thy brat and thee:
2514 Use no entreaty, for it is in vain.
Joan la Pucelle
2515 Then lead me hence; with whom I leave my curse:
2516 May never glorious sun reflex his beams
2517 Upon the country where you make abode:
2518 But darkness and the gloomy shade of death
2519 Environ you, till mischief and despair
2520 Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves!
[Exit, guarded.]
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2521 Break thou in pieces and consume to ashes,
2522 Thou foul accursed minister of hell!
[Enter Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, attended.]
Bishop of Winchester
2523 Lord regent, I do greet your excellence
2524 With letters of commission from the king.
2525 For know, my lords, the states of Christendom,
2526 Moved with remorse of these outrageous broils,
2527 Have earnestly implored a general peace
2528 Betwixt our nation and the aspiring French;
2529 And here at hand the Dauphin and his train
2530 Approacheth, to confer about some matter.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2531 Is all our travail turn'd to this effect?
2532 After the slaughter of so many peers,
2533 So many captains, gentlemen and soldiers,
2534 That in this quarrel have been overthrown,
2535 And sold their bodies for their country's benefit,
2536 Shall we at last conclude effeminate peace?
2537 Have we not lost most part of all the towns,
2538 By treason, falsehood, and by treachery,
2539 Our great progenitors had conquered?
2540 O, Warwick, Warwick! I foresee with grief
2541 The utter loss of all the realm of France.
Earl of Warwick
2542 Be patient, York: if we conclude
2543 a peace,
2544 It shall be with such strict and severe covenants
2545 As little shall the Frenchmen gain thereby.
[Enter Charles, Alencon, Bastard, Reignier, and others.]
Charles, the Dauphin
2546 Since, lords of England, it is thus agreed
2547 That peaceful truce shall be proclaim'd in France,
2548 We come to be informed by yourselves
2549 What the conditions of that league must be.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2550 Speak, Winchester; for boiling choler chokes
2551 The hollow passage of my poison'd voice,
2552 By sight of these our baleful enemies.
Bishop of Winchester
2553 Charles, and the rest, it is enacted thus:
2554 That, in regard King Henry gives consent,
2555 Of mere compassion and of lenity,
2556 To ease your country of distressful war,
2557 And suffer you to breathe in fruitful peace,
2558 You shall become true liegemen to his crown:
2559 And, Charles, upon condition thou wilt swear
2560 To pay him tribute and submit thyself,
2561 Thou shalt be placed as viceroy under him,
2562 And still enjoy the regal dignity.
Duke of Alencon
2563 Must he be then as shadow of himself?
2564 Adorn his temples with a coronet,
2565 And yet, in substance and authority,
2566 Retain but privilege of a private man?
2567 This proffer is absurd and reasonless.
Charles, the Dauphin
2568 'Tis known already that I am possess'd
2569 With more than half the Gallian territories,
2570 And therein reverenced for their lawful king:
2571 Shall I, for lucre of the rest unvanquish'd,
2572 Detract so much from that prerogative,
2573 As to be call'd but viceroy of the whole?
2574 No, lord ambassador, I 'll rather keep
2575 That which I have than, coveting for more,
2576 Be cast from possibility of all.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2577 Insulting Charles! hast thou by secret means
2578 Used intercession to obtain a league,
2579 And, now the matter grows to compromise,
2580 Stand'st thou aloof upon comparison?
2581 Either accept the title thou usurp'st,
2582 Of benefit proceeding from our king
2583 And not of any challenge of desert,
2584 Or we will plague thee with incessant wars.
Reignier, Duke of Anjou
2585 My lord, you do not well in obstinacy
2586 To cavil in the course of this contract:
2587 If once it be neglected, ten to one
2588 We shall not find like opportunity.
Duke of Alencon
2589 To say the truth, it is your policy
2590 To save your subjects from such massacre
2591 And ruthless slaughters as are daily seen,
2592 By our proceeding in hostility;
2593 And therefore take this compact of a truce,
2594 Although you break it when your pleasure serves.
Earl of Warwick
2595 How say'st thou, Charles? shall our condition stand?
Charles, the Dauphin
2596 It shall;
2597 Only reserv'd, you claim no interest
2598 In any of our towns of garrison.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
2599 Then swear allegiance to his majesty,
2600 As thou art knight, never to disobey
2601 Nor be rebellious to the crown of England
2602 Thou, nor thy nobles, to the crown of England.
2603 So, now dismiss your army when ye please;
2604 Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still,
2605 For here we entertain a solemn peace.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 2434archaic vocab
“timeless cruel death”
'Timeless' here means untimely or premature — cut off before its natural time. The Shepherd mourns that Joan's death comes too soon, not that it is somehow outside of time.
TLN 2436archaic vocab
“Decrepit miser”
Joan calls her father a 'decrepit miser' — 'miser' here means a wretchedly miserable person, not a stingy hoarder of money. The modern sense of a penny-pinching person was only beginning to emerge; the older meaning, 'a wretched, pitiable creature,' is the primary one here.
TLN 2447archaic vocab
“thou art a collop of my flesh”
A 'collop' is a slice or piece of meat — the Shepherd is saying Joan is literally a piece of his own flesh, an expression of intimate biological parentage. The word does not survive in this sense in modern English.
TLN 2450archaic vocab
“You have suborn'd this man, Of purpose to obscure my noble birth”
To 'suborn' someone means to bribe or secretly induce them to commit a crime or give false testimony. Joan accuses the English lords of having bribed the Shepherd to claim falsely to be her father, so as to make her look low-born.
TLN 2467historical topical
“issued from the progeny of kings; Virtuous and holy; chosen from above, By inspiration of celestial grace”
Joan's claim to royal birth and divine mission directly inverts the English portrayal of her as a peasant witch. The historical Joan of Arc told her judges she was born of peasant parents in Domremy; her claim of divine calling was that God had sent her, not that she was of noble blood. Shakespeare's Joan contradicts her own identity here to survive, showing the collapse of her earlier heroic self-presentation.
historical Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc)
TLN 2481biblical allusion
“maiden blood, thus rigorously effused, Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven”
Joan invokes the idea that innocent blood spilled unjustly cries to God for vengeance. This echoes God's words to Cain after the murder of Abel: 'The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground' (Genesis 4:10). The allusion casts her execution as a murder of an innocent that God cannot ignore.
TLN 2485historical topical
“Spare for no faggots, let there be enow: Place barrels of pitch upon the fatal stake”
'Faggots' are bundles of sticks used as fuel to build the fire at a burning; 'enow' is an older form of 'enough.' Warwick is ordering that the pyre be built large and fueled with pitch barrels so Joan burns quickly rather than slowly — presented as a mercy for 'a maid' (a virgin). Burning at the stake was the prescribed English execution for heresy.
historical Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc)
TLN 2489archaic vocab
“discover thine infirmity, That warranteth by law to be thy privilege”
'Discover' means to reveal or make known, not to find something new. Joan is telling herself to reveal ('discover') the condition that the law recognizes as her 'privilege' — a legal protection. The 'infirmity' she means is her claimed pregnancy, which under English and French law exempted a condemned woman from immediate execution.
TLN 2503historical topical
“Alencon! that notorious Machiavel”
York calls Alencon a 'Machiavel' — a byword in Elizabethan England for an amoral, cunning schemer who puts self-interest above honor and religion. The term derives from Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), the Florentine political theorist whose book The Prince argued that effective rulers must be ruthless and deceptive when necessary. 'Machiavel' on the English stage almost always meant a villain who openly mocks morality.
TLN 2516rhetorical device
“May never glorious sun reflex his beams Upon the country where you make abode”
Joan's six-line farewell is a formal curse — a malediction calling down perpetual darkness and despair on her executioners. The curse as a theatrical speech-act has deep roots in classical tragedy and the Bible; a dying person's curse was considered especially powerful because it was beyond the reach of mortal remedy.
TLN 2536archaic vocab
“conclude effeminate peace”
'Effeminate' meant weak, unmanly, and soft — lacking the martial virtue that Elizabethans called 'manly.' York is not calling the peace literally feminine; he is calling it unworthy of men of valor, a surrender to softness that betrays all who died fighting. The word carried no positive connotation here.
TLN 2550cultural context
“boiling choler chokes The hollow passage of my poison'd voice”
Elizabethans believed health and emotion were governed by four liquids ('humors') inside the body: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile ('choler'). Too much choler produced heat, anger, and aggression. York says his rage at seeing the French has made his choler boil and choke his throat — a physical image for uncontrollable fury, not just a metaphor.
TLN 2553historical topical
“Charles, and the rest, it is enacted thus: That, in regard King Henry gives consent”
Winchester reads out the English peace terms: Charles will be allowed to keep the title 'King of France' but will rule as Henry VI's viceroy — a subordinate governor — rather than as an independent sovereign. This arrangement echoes real negotiations during the Hundred Years' War, though Shakespeare compresses and dramatizes it.
historical Holinshed's Chronicles
TLN 2563rhetorical device
“Must he be then as shadow of himself? Adorn his temples with a coronet, And yet, in substance and authority, Retain but privilege of a private man”
Alencon objects using the 'shadow/substance' contrast: Charles would wear a crown (the shadow, the outward show) while being stripped of real power (the substance). The crown would be a 'coronet' — a lesser circlet, a notable demotion from a full royal crown — and Charles would be no more than a private man dressed up as a king.
TLN 2571archaic vocab
“for lucre of the rest unvanquish'd, Detract so much from that prerogative”
'Lucre' means gain or profit — usually used with a negative connotation (as in 'filthy lucre'). Charles asks: should he degrade his royal prerogative merely for the gain of holding on to the small remaining English-held territories that he has not yet reconquered? He is saying the tradeoff is not worth it.
TLN 2593historical topical
“take this compact of a truce, Although you break it when your pleasure serves”
Alencon frankly advises Charles to sign the truce and break it whenever it suits French interests. This blunt counsel that oaths made under pressure need not be kept resonates with the period's debates about diplomatic honor versus strategic necessity. For a Tudor audience it confirmed the English theatrical stereotype of the French as treacherous and 'Machiavellian.'