Henry VI Part 3

The Folger Libary is one of the best companys to present the Bard's plays. they have created many editions of Shakespeare's plays. All of which carefuly presnted, all of which providing annotated notes that help to translate the spoken language of the play. in short this is a fine company. for a long time they have published many of Shakespeare's plays. however there was one complaint that i had about them that has now been rectified. the folger libary did NOT have the complet collection of Shakespeare's work. in point of fact is this very volume that they have not previously published. in the past they had published Henry VI Part One and Part Two. however they had never published part three. not till now. they may have gotten confused with Henry IV which has two parts. but in the past they have only published the first two parts of Henry VI. they have never published the third part not until now. and its been a long time in the coming. now at last they have the full contents of Shakespeare's work. this third volume is very important to the collection. the second part of Henry VI has the forshadowings of civil war. this third part shows the full extent of what is called the 'Wars of the Roses'. this third part shows the battles between Henry VI and Edward IV. it shows Edward IV's reign, allthough berifly. (for some reason Shakespeare did not want to dwell to much on Edward's reign. perhaps not wanting to show to much the breif peace the son of York had brought.) the play ends with the death of Henry VI and Edward's time of peace. however in this third part we see the first glimses of shakespeare's cunning villain, Richard III. here Richard is still young and just begining to start his career. here Richard has so many splended lines and he begins to dominate the action. all this leades up to Shakespeare's play Richard III. which Richard becomes king and fights Henry Tudor and loses. it is true Shakespeare's Richard is an untrue depiction of Richard, based on early tudor history (I doubt Shakespear knew the truth, remeamber he was born around the later part of the rule of Elizabeth and spent most of his life under king James). however dispite the historical inacruacy Richard is an excellent villain! at any rate this volume has at last completed the Folger libary of Shakespeare plays and presnts part of one of the best series of plays.

If you read Part 2, you know that York and his sons Edward and Richard (in quest for the crown) won a battle against King Henry VI, Queen Margaret, and their allies. These defeated parties fled. But one won battle does not mean the war. If York is to be king, he needs some degree of public approval. (King Henry IV in Shakespeare AND history suffered many uprisings due to a flawed claim to the crown!) In 1.1, York and Henry VI have a verbal conflict. York shows some degree of conscience in that he will let Henry VI reign for life, if Henry declares York or his surviving sons the heir to the crown. (But this peace is short lived. It is not good enough for the queen or her son.) In her 4 appearances, this is Queen Margaret's strongest one. She takes control of the king's forces, and along with Clifford and others defeats York most brutally. (You may recall Clifford's father was killed in Part 2, and Clifford vowed revenge.) York's sons (despite their father's death) and their ally Warwick continue to fight. In this play Shakespeare shows us the true horrors of war with 'the son that hath killed the father' and 'the father that hath killed his son.' Some realities take the glory out of war. Edward, Richard, and Warwick are triumphant. Soon afterwards, poor Henry Vi is captured. Despite Edward's role as the villain, Shakespeare gives him some decent treatment. (He was after all Elizabeth's great grandfather.) Richard receives no such treatment. Rather, Shakespeare prepares Richard's brewing evil for the next play ("Richard III"). Moving on, Warwick encourages Edward IV to marry Lady Bona of France and thus secure relations with France. (After all, it would be dangerous i Margaret and the exiled Lancastrians make an ally of France.) Well, Edward falls in love with Elizabeth Woodville, and marries her. To make along story short, Warwick learns about this, and in a fury, forms an alliance with Margaret and vows to take Edward down and restore Henry VI. There were actually several reasons in history why Warwick switched sides, but Shakespeare only has so much he can put in one play. Moving on, the Lancastrians with the help of France strike back, and Edward IV is defeated. Henry VI is then restored to the throne. We also see the eventual King Henry VII who will put an end to the war. (But not until the next play.) Sadly, this moment of happiness is short lived, and one by one the tragic heroes of this play are killed. Queen Margaret fought especially well, but she too is defeated. Richard himself murders Henry VI and proudly compares himself to Judas Iscariot. (Talk about Shakespeare terror!) Oxford is captured, but (as in history) he will escape eventually and join Henry VII. The bad guys win in this play, but we can also see that division is brewing. (That will come full force in the next play "Richard III.")

"Henry V" and "Richard III" seem to be the most popular history plays of Shakespeare. But I myself lean towards this one. The play starts with the wedding of King Henry VI and Queen Margaret. At this point in the war between France and England, France has gained the upper hand, but England does still control Calais, Anou, Maine, Normandy, and some areas around Bordeaux. Well, the virtuous Gloucester (and the only remaining son of King Henry IV) is shocked that Anjou and Maine have to be returned to france as well. This angers York, and he thinks this is just reason to act on his claim to the crown. (In history, York was VERY LOYAL to Henry VI, and it was SEVERAL things including some threats from Margaret that made him take up arms.) Moving on, we later see that Glouceter's wife has her eyes on the crown. Meanwhile, Margaret is growing weary of King Henry VI, and her affair with Suffolk becomes more prevalent. Act 1 ends with the dramatic scene of Pagan Prophecies and Lady Glouceter's arrest. Act 2 begins with the comical scene of the false miracle. Though the comedy breaks when Gloucester learns of his wife's treason. York gathers his alies Salisbury and Warwick and plans his moves to seize the crown. In one of his stronger moments, King Henry VI orders the execution of those who plotted against him. Though he is smart and treats Lady Glouceter more gently. (Public Penance) Later, we learn that England has lost all of its land in France. (Thoughin history they still held Calais, and would continue to do so even in the later reigns of King Henry VIII and his son Edward VI.) Moving on, York, Somerset, the Cardinal, Suffolk, and Queen Margaret all accuse Gloucester of treason. He defends himself with dignity, but is arrested. King Henry VI is often rebuked for his weakness here, but he does recover to banish the vile Suffolk. Perhaps one of the greatest scenes is 3.3 when the Cardinal dies in the midst of insanity (quite possiblyover the guilt of Gloucester). Yet King Henry VI forgives him: "Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all." Act 4 is dominated mostly by the rebel Jack Cade. He has launched an uprising against the king, and is quite theatrical and offers some comical moments. He gets far, but is eventually defeated by Buckingham and Clifford. Cade escapes, but is soon killed by Iden. Onto the final act. York returns from Ireland in arms, but Buckingham convinces him that King Henry has consented to his demands and imprisoned Somerset. This proves not to be, and York and his sons Edward and Richard take up arms, and the war begins. York does gain the advantage here, but things aren't over. King Henry VI and Margaret escape. And Young Clifford finds his father killed by the Yorks. (And now Clifford wants revenge.) This passage on revenge combines hatred, beauty, and sorrow well. Overall, this is arguably the strongest of the history plays.

This was one of Shakespeare's earliest plays. (possibly his third) Yet, there is nothing to indicate he was only starting out. Right away he grabs our attention with the funeral of King Henry V. Henry V's brothers Bedford and Gloucester help us to see the virtues and strengths of the deceased king. The Bishop of Winchester is well drawn as a comical villain who plots and plans, but never succeeds in doing any real damage. (Not until the next play anyway.) Talbot is memorable as the selfless hero of the play. York is memorable as the hero who defeats Joan of Arc. King Henry VI himself is interesting. First we see him as a helpless infant. By the third act, we see that he has both strengths and weaknesses. He makes the mistake of dividing the command between the rivals Somerset and York. But also, we see that he does not tolerate treason or neglect of duty. There are also many memorable scenes. The garden scene that foreshadows the War of the Roses is well drawn. The scene where York comforts his dying uncle is tragic beauty. Bedford's death in 3.2 has almost a divine tone. The death of Talbot and his son is very lamentable. York's sudden rise to power is captivating. Perhaps Shakespeare's greatest achievement in this play is that he simultaneously shows us England's war with France and the dissension with England itself.

This is not quite as good as 1 or 2, but it is still excellent! Shakespeare grabs us with the dispute between Henry VI and York. While it seems to end peacefully it does not, and the war goes on! York's death in 1.4 is another landmark in Shakespeare's writing. The scene (2.5) where Henry finds true terror is horror, sorrow, and yet beauty and yet another moving part of the play. (The son that hath killed his father and the father that hath killed his son.) The war pauses in disaster for Henry and some comic relief is offered. But the horror starts all over again when Edward IV and Warwick have a falling out. The war starts over again, and the King of France gets involved! The scene where King Henry VI is reinstated is a scene of beauty and hope. While all of this is happening, Shakespeare carefully prepares the monstrously satanic character of Richard III. From here, the play just gets more and more bloody. A final moment of horror is offered when the eventual Richard III proudly compares himself to the one who betrayed Christ. In part 4 "Richard III," the real terror begins!