William Shakespeare - Henry VI: Part Three (1591)
Play – read on the fantastic Shakespeare iPhone app during November 2011
- 4 nods out of 5 -
We’ve mulled over Part One; we’ve discussed and rejoiced over Part Two; now here comes the third instalment: Henry VI, Part Three! That’s right, three plays centring on a failed and almost forgotten king. Perhaps this would seem a tad excessive to the modern reader; but to Mr Shakespeare, the reign of Henry VI was momentous in providing the fall of honour and chivalry, of the Wars of the Roses, and the eventual triumph of the Tudors and seeming redemption of England.
With Henry having lost all the French lands (Part One), and then his most trusted advisors (Part Two); all out war is declared between his house (Lancaster, the Red Rose) and that of York (the White Rose). The ever scheming Duke of York is on the march, his fortunes rising and receding with the changing of the seasons and the movement of the sun. The Duke has plotted for two whole plays, and is now eager to wear the English crown: ‘Why do we linger thus? I cannot rest / Until the white rose that I wear be dy’d / Even in the lukewarm blood of Henry’s heart.’
With the death and carnage of the previous plays, there are vendettas and revengeful killings to be had. Clifford is out to avenge his father’s death: ‘The sight of any of the house of York / Is as a fury to torment my soul; / And until I root out their accursed line, / And leave not one alive, I live in hell.’ Clifford finds satisfaction in the killing of one of York’s innocent youthful sons, before stabbing his sword into the Duke himself. Defeated and in torment, a paper crown is placed upon his head, as he dies at the feet of Clifford and Queen Margaret:
‘Off with his head, and set it on York gates,
So York may overlook the town of York.’
Whilst the death toll mounts as high as a Die Hard movie, King Henry finally comes into his own, philosophising over the civil war that has ripped his family, friends and country apart:
‘The battle fares like the morning’s war,
When dying clouds contend with growing light,
What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails,
Can neither call it perfect day nor night.
Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea
Forc’d to retire by fury of the wind.
Sometime the flood prevails, and then the wind;
Now one the better, then another best;
Both tugging to be victors, breast to breast,
Yet neither conqueror nor conquered;
So is the equal poise of this fell war.’
It is a homily to rival that of Hamlet or Richard III; and it is clear to see how Shakespeare made his name in this line of plays on Henry VI. As our ill-fated King continues on hearing of suffering:
‘O piteous spectacle! O bloody times!
Whiles lions war and battle for their dens,
Poor harmless lambs abide their enmity.
Weep, wretched man; I’ll aid thee tear for tear,
And let our hearts and eyes, like civil war,
Be blind with tears, and break o’ercharg’d with grief.’
Such words are in contrast to the previous two plays, when Henry is nothing more than a lame duck, watching chaos descend all around him and unable to do anything; he is a mere spectator to events, and his commentary on the state of affairs is not heard nor anywhere to be seen. Perhaps this is Shakespeare’s evolution of Henry’s character, from mere boy king, to naïve ruler of factional squabbles, to become the philosopher king on the ruin of his country. But alas, the time is too late to merely discuss; and this is the reason for Henry’s demise at the hands of York’s sons.
The Duke of York’s son, Edward, becomes king; but soon faces an almighty coalition in the form of Queen Margaret, Warwick (“the Kingmaker”), and the Duke of Clarence, Edward’s very own brother. But they are no match for these sons of York, and the sheer weight of Richard, whose sun is now burning bright. Clarence double deals with his brothers, whilst Warwick dies; leaving Henry to lament: ‘Farewell, my Hector, and my Troy’s true hope’
The house of Lancaster is snuffed out, and the house and sun – indeed, the sons – of York prevail with Edward defending his throne. But fitting for an end of one of Shakespeare’s plays, all is not well. The King’s brother, the spiteful Richard, lets in the reader to his secret: to covet the crown himself. The ominous ending, as with the previous plays of Henry VI, lead to the mayhem and disaster that befalls in Shakespeare’s Richard III. The Worm reads on, in search of the final redemption and justice of the house of York.
