# The Inquisitor — Saint Joan character guide

> The Inquisitor in Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** The Inquisitor Master de Courcelles, The Inquisitor The blessed St. Athanasius, The Inquisitor One

**First appearance:** 0048-scene-vi

## Snapshot

A Dominican inquisitor who prosecutes Joan not from malice but from a calm, procedural conviction that her voices are heresy.

## Who they are

The Inquisitor arrives at Rouen as the Church's professional conscience, methodical where Stogumber is rabid and Cauchon is political. He genuinely believes Joan's private revelations threaten the authority of the Church, and he pursues her with the patience of a man doing necessary work. His reasoned cruelty is the play's most chilling argument: that institutions destroy saints not by accident but by principle.

## Relationships

### [Joan of Arc](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/saint_joan_se/characters/joan_of_arc)

_rivalry_

The Inquisitor represents the ruthless ecclesiastical machinery that condemns Joan for her unorthodox spirituality.

### [Peter Cauchon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/saint_joan_se/characters/peter_cauchon)

_professional_

Cauchon and the Inquisitor work together in Joan's trial, representing church and inquisitional authority.

## In the story

### [Preface to Saint Joan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/saint_joan_se/chapters/preface-to-saint-joan)

Representative of the Inquisition; Shaw discusses the role of the Inquisition in Joan's trial and the broader conflict between individual conscience and institutional authority.

### [Was Joan Innocent or Guilty?](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/saint_joan_se/chapters/was-joan-innocent-or-guilty)

The Inquisition is defended as having given Joan a fairer trial than modern secular courts would provide.

### [Tragedy Not Melodrama](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/saint_joan_se/chapters/tragedy-not-melodrama)

Portrayed as a capable and eloquent exponent of The Church Litigant, not as a cruel figure, to maintain high tragedy.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/saint_joan_se/characters/the_inquisitor
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/saint_joan_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/saint_joan_se/characters