Saint Joan

by

George Bernard Shaw

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John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain) Character Analysis

De Stogumber is Warwick’s Chaplain. He is not horribly bright, so most of Cauchon and Warwick’s nuanced condemnations of Joan go over his head. For much of the play, the Chaplain possesses a deep hatred for Joan. Unlike Cauchon, he has little interest in giving Joan a partial, nuanced trial. To the Chaplain, Joan is merely a witch who must be killed. Ultimately, however, Joan’s execution has a profound effect on the Chaplain. In the Epilogue, he reveals that he became “a different man” after Joan’s death in an attempt to repent for the cruelty he inflicted upon her.

John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain) Quotes in Saint Joan

The Saint Joan quotes below are all either spoken by John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain) or refer to John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Institutions and the Corruption of Integrity Theme Icon
).
Scene 4 Quotes

“Men cannot serve two masters. If this cant of serving their country once takes hold of them, goodbye to the authority of their feudal lords, and goodbye to the authority of the Church. That is, goodbye to you and me.”

Related Characters: Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (speaker), Joan (“The Maid”), John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain), Peter (Píerre) Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais
Page Number: 96
Explanation and Analysis:

“When he strikes, he strikes at the Catholic Church, whose realm is the whole spiritual world. When he damns, he damns the souls of the entire human race. Against that dreadful design The Church stands ever on guard. And it is as one of the instruments of that design that I see this girl. She is inspired, but diabolically inspired.”

Related Characters: Peter (Píerre) Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais (speaker), Joan (“The Maid”), Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain)
Page Number: 100
Explanation and Analysis:

“You great lords are too prone to treat The Church as a mere political convenience.”

Related Characters: Peter (Píerre) Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais (speaker), Joan (“The Maid”), Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain)
Page Number: 101
Explanation and Analysis:

“She acts as if she herself were The Church. She brings the message of God to Charles; and The Church must stand aside. She will crown him in the cathedral of Rheims: she, not The Church! She sends letters to the king of England giving him God’s command through her to return to his island on pain of God’s vengeance, which she will execute. […] Has she ever in all her utterances said one word of The Church? Never. It is always God and herself.”

Related Characters: Peter (Píerre) Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais (speaker), Joan (“The Maid”), Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain)
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:

“My lord: we shall not defeat The Maid if we strive against one another. […] The devil divides us and governs. I see you are no friend to The Church: you are an earl first and last, as I am a churchman first and last. But can we not sink our differences in the face of a common enemy?”

Related Characters: Peter (Píerre) Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais (speaker), Joan (“The Maid”), Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain)
Page Number: 106-107
Explanation and Analysis:
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John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain) Quotes in Saint Joan

The Saint Joan quotes below are all either spoken by John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain) or refer to John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Institutions and the Corruption of Integrity Theme Icon
).
Scene 4 Quotes

“Men cannot serve two masters. If this cant of serving their country once takes hold of them, goodbye to the authority of their feudal lords, and goodbye to the authority of the Church. That is, goodbye to you and me.”

Related Characters: Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (speaker), Joan (“The Maid”), John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain), Peter (Píerre) Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais
Page Number: 96
Explanation and Analysis:

“When he strikes, he strikes at the Catholic Church, whose realm is the whole spiritual world. When he damns, he damns the souls of the entire human race. Against that dreadful design The Church stands ever on guard. And it is as one of the instruments of that design that I see this girl. She is inspired, but diabolically inspired.”

Related Characters: Peter (Píerre) Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais (speaker), Joan (“The Maid”), Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain)
Page Number: 100
Explanation and Analysis:

“You great lords are too prone to treat The Church as a mere political convenience.”

Related Characters: Peter (Píerre) Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais (speaker), Joan (“The Maid”), Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain)
Page Number: 101
Explanation and Analysis:

“She acts as if she herself were The Church. She brings the message of God to Charles; and The Church must stand aside. She will crown him in the cathedral of Rheims: she, not The Church! She sends letters to the king of England giving him God’s command through her to return to his island on pain of God’s vengeance, which she will execute. […] Has she ever in all her utterances said one word of The Church? Never. It is always God and herself.”

Related Characters: Peter (Píerre) Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais (speaker), Joan (“The Maid”), Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain)
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:

“My lord: we shall not defeat The Maid if we strive against one another. […] The devil divides us and governs. I see you are no friend to The Church: you are an earl first and last, as I am a churchman first and last. But can we not sink our differences in the face of a common enemy?”

Related Characters: Peter (Píerre) Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais (speaker), Joan (“The Maid”), Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, John Bowyer Spenser Neville de Stogumber (Warwick’s Chaplain)
Page Number: 106-107
Explanation and Analysis: