Chapter: SCENE 5.

                          Before Orleans

         Here an alarum again, and TALBOT pursueth the
      DAUPHIN and driveth him. Then enter JOAN LA PUCELLE
       driving Englishmen before her. Then enter TALBOT

  TALBOT. Where is my strength, my valour, and my force?
    Our English troops retire, I cannot stay them;
    A woman clad in armour chaseth them.

                          Enter LA PUCELLE

    Here, here she comes. I'll have a bout with thee.
    Devil or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee;
    Blood will I draw on thee--thou art a witch
    And straightway give thy soul to him thou serv'st.
  PUCELLE. Come, come, 'tis only I that must disgrace thee.
                                               [Here they fight]
  TALBOT. Heavens, can you suffer hell so to prevail?
    My breast I'll burst with straining of my courage.
    And from my shoulders crack my arms asunder,
    But I will chastise this high minded strumpet.
                                              [They fight again]
  PUCELLE. Talbot, farewell; thy hour is not yet come.
    I must go victual Orleans forthwith.
             [A short alarum; then enter the town with soldiers]
    O'ertake me if thou canst; I scorn thy strength.
    Go, go, cheer up thy hungry starved men;
    Help Salisbury to make his testament.
    This day is ours, as many more shall be.                Exit
  TALBOT. My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel;
    I know not where I am nor what I do.
    A witch by fear, not force, like Hannibal,
    Drives back our troops and conquers as she lists.
    So bees with smoke and doves with noisome stench
    Are from their hives and houses driven away.
    They call'd us, for our fierceness, English dogs;
    Now like to whelps we crying run away.
                                                [A short alarum]
    Hark, countrymen! Either renew the fight
    Or tear the lions out of England's coat;
    Renounce your soil, give sheep in lions' stead:
    Sheep run not half so treacherous from the wolf,
    Or horse or oxen from the leopard,
    As you fly from your oft subdued slaves.
                                 [Alarum. Here another skirmish]
    It will not be-retire into your trenches.
    You all consented unto Salisbury's death,
    For none would strike a stroke in his revenge.
    Pucelle is ent'red into Orleans
    In spite of us or aught that we could do.
    O, would I were to die with Salisbury!
    The shame hereof will make me hide my head.
                                    Exit TALBOT. Alarum; retreat

 Talbot laments that he cannot get his troops to keep fighting and that they're being chased off by a woman in armor. Talbot expresses very clearly his view that Joan is a witch, and her supernatural power comes from the devil and not God. He also says he'll kill her in battle. Joan replies that she will disgrace him in battle, and they fight. Talbot cries on the heavens to help him, invoking God's supernatural power against what he perceives to be the devil's. He says he'll strain his utmost to chastise Joan, and he calls her a strumpet . They keep fighting. Joan says she has to go to take care of other things, and taunts Talbot, claiming "This day is ours, as many more shall be" . Talbot laments that Joan's sorcery has made his men afraid, and mourns that the English fierceness has gone. He encourages the troops and leads another skirmish, but then they have to retreat; Talbot says his shame is so great he wishes he'd died with Salisbury. Joan flies the French flag over Orleans and proclaims that they've rescued it from the English. The Dauphin praises Joan with classical allusions and calls her "glorious prophetess" . Orleans celebrates with bells and bonfires, kind of like that extra ending that George Lucas added to Return of the Jedi with crazy fireworks all over the galaxy. Alencon says France will celebrate when it's known how brave and masculine the French armies were; Charles says the victory is Joan's. He also makes elaborate promises, like sharing the crown and having the priests sing praises to her . A bit ominously, he also promises to revere her ashes when she has died. This may be a bit of foreshadowing. Charles the character in the play can't know this yet, but historically Shakespeare's audience knows that Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the English. Charles is really heaping it on--he even suggests displacing St. Denis, the patron saint of France, with Joan. Then they head in to a victory banquet.

