Shakespeare · Soliloquies & Solo Speeches
Production Notes
Joan of Arc — called la Pucelle by the French, Pucelle (with contempt) by the English — summons her familiar spirits one final time as the French cause collapses around her. The spirits appear but refuse to help. The speech is a last negotiation: she offers her blood, then her body, then her soul. They depart in silence. It is a devastating scene of abandonment.
The speech requires Players who can hold stillness through failure. Joan does not rage; she bargains, with increasing desperation, and then watches her power dissolve. The silence of the departing spirits — signaled in the stage directions — is as important as the words.
Script
PUCELLE
The Regent conquers and the Frenchmen fly. Now help, you charming spells and periapts, And you choice spirits that admonish me, And give me signs of future accidents.
(Thunder.)
You speedy helpers, that are substitutes Under the lordly monarch of the north, Appear, and aid me in this enterprise.
(Enter Fiends.)
This speed and quick appearance argues proof Of your accustomed diligence to me. Now, you familiar spirits that are culled Out of the powerful regions under earth, Help me this once, that France may get the field.
(They walk, and speak not.)
O, hold me not with silence overlong! Where I was wont to feed you with my blood, I’ll lop a member off and give it you In earnest of a further benefit, So you do condescend to help me now.
(They hang their heads.)
No hope to have redress? My body shall Pay recompense if you will grant my suit.
(They shake their heads.)
Cannot my body nor blood-sacrifice Entreat you to your wonted furtherance? Then take my soul — my body, soul, and all — Before that England give the French the foil.
(They depart.)
See, they forsake me. Now the time is come That France must vail her lofty-plumèd crest And let her head fall into England’s lap. My ancient incantations are too weak, And hell too strong for me to buckle with. Now, France, thy glory droopeth to the dust.
Facilitator Notes
Warm-up: Explore what it feels like to ask for something and receive silence in return. Let Players sit in that silence before approaching the text.
Debrief prompts:
- Joan escalates her offers — blood, then body, then soul. What does that escalation say about her desperation? Where does she cross a line she cannot uncross?
- The spirits never speak — only move or don’t move. How does a Player perform a negotiation with a silent partner?
- Joan ends not in rage but in a kind of resigned clarity: “Now, France, thy glory droopeth to the dust.” What has she accepted?
- Shakespeare’s English characters treat Joan as a witch and a fraud. This speech complicates that. How do Players navigate the ambiguity?