Mojo, The Bard, & Me

Then, Joan, discover thine infirmity,

That warranteth by law to be thy privilege.--

 -Joan La Pucelle

Setting – Camp of the Duke of York in Anjou

Present – York, Warwick, La Pucelle, a shepherd, and others

King Henry The Sixth Part I          Act V, scene iv   Line 61

And the next words out of Joan's mouth (who is speaking of herself in the third person here) is that she is pregnant. That’s her privilege and her infirmity, and something that she hopes will keep the English from killing her. I’m pretty sure that she’s not really pregnant, just saying that to try to save her own skin. In any event, it doesn’t work as they haul her off to be burned at the stake.

So it’s a little interesting that her pregnancy is her ‘privilege’. I’m not sure what law she’s referring to. I guess some fifteenth century code that says you can’t kill pregnant women? We’d have to defer to James or Stephen or one of those experts on that one. In any event, this scene paints a pretty unflattering picture of Joan. First she denies her father (an old shepherd who comes up to claim her as his daughter), then she claims to be a virgin with immaculate properties, then she claims to be pregnant (changing three times the name of the father), and finally exits cursing the English. I’ve got to do some research (because I don’t see James or Stephen chiming in to help me out) but I’m thinking that Joan of Arc is not really a highly regarded figure in England, at least not at the time that Will was writing these tales.

Now, what of this ‘infirmity’ and ‘privilege thing? In one breath she declares pregnancy to be nearly an illness, and at the same time something that gives her entitlement? I think that’s a little bit interesting. I’m not sure that present day sensibilities would allow us to refer to pregnancy as either of these things.

In the meantime, some programming notes here.

First, we missed posting a new post last night for the first time since we started in August. And I was so excited that 100 straight days was coming up. Oh well. I'll get into the reason for the lapse next week, can't do that now.

Second, this is five days in a row of Henrys. Of course, there are six Henry plays, so that’s not entirely amazing. However, this is the third Totally Random line spoken by Joan, and the second in the past three days. So that’s a little bit interesting. And again, who knew that Joan was even a part of Will’s works? Well, I’m sure a bunch of people knew it, but I know I didn’t. 

This is a pic of me at Grant's tomb. Another random pic? No sir! In my research on Joan of Arc I found, to my great surprise, that there is a Joan of Arc Park, complete with a statue of Joan on horseback, on Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It just so happens that I was exploring that area this time last year. Unfortunately I did not get to the Joan of Arc Park (I did not know at the time that it existed), but I did get to Grant's Tomb and since it is only about a mile away I decided that a pic from there would be appropriate. I hope you agree.