Henry VI, Part 3

Henry VI, Part 3
(Shakespeare)
   Probably written early in 1591, Henry VI, Part 3 is the third work in William Shakespeare’s tetralogy (or four-play cycle) depicting the WARS OF THE ROSES. Like the other plays in the series (HENRY VI, PART 1; HENRY VI, PART 2; and RICHARD III), this play is based largely on Edward Hall’s chronicle,THE UNION OFTHE TWO NOBLE AND ILLUSTRIOUS FAMILIES OF LANCASTER ANDYORK. The play begins and ends with the house of YORK triumphant; it runs from the Battle of ST. ALBANS in May 1455, which briefly put Richard PLANTAGENET, duke of York, in power, to the Battle of TEWKESBURY and the murder of HENRY VI in May 1471, which destroyed the direct male line of the house of LANCASTER (see First Protectorate; Henry VI, Murder of).
   The main themes of the play—the dissolution of the state and the degradation of its political leadership—tie into the main theme of the tetralogy, which is that the accession of the house of TUDOR in 1485 rescued England from the suffering and chaos that arose from the various usurpations of the throne carried out by ambitious Lancastrians and Yorkists between 1399 and 1483. To serve these themes, Shakespeare compresses what were actually brief periods of active warfare separated by long periods of relative peace into a few weeks of horrific fighting that split both state and society (see Military Campaigns, Duration of).
   In the play, the disruption of families, both royal and common, illustrates the general dissolution of the realm. Under pressure from York, Henry VI disinherits his son, Prince EDWARD OF LANCASTER, an act that drives Queen MARGARET OF ANJOU to declare herself divorced from Henry. On the Yorkist side, George PLANTAGENET, duke of Clarence, abandons his brother EDWARD IV, while Edward’s own lust and indolence alienate his kinsman Richard NEVILLE, earl of Warwick, who allies with Margaret and reopens the wars. In a foreshadowing of the crimes he will commit in Richard III, Richard, duke of Gloucester (see Richard III, King of England), plots against both his brothers and against anyone else who stands between him and the Crown. Meanwhile, in act 2, Henry VI, seeking to escape the carnage at the Battle of TOWTON, witnesses the unspeakable grief of two characters known simply as the “son that hath killed his father” and the “father that hath killed his son.” Each carries the body of a slain enemy from the field for purposes of plunder, only to discover that his victim is his son/father. Until modern historical research showed that Wars of the Roses campaigns were brief and had relatively little effect on the vast majority of English people below the PEERAGE and GENTRY, this Shakespearean image of widespread political, social, and economic devastation largely shaped popular views of the conflict.
   Further Reading: Norwich, John Julius, Shakespeare’s Kings (New York: Scribner, 1999); Saccio, Peter, Shakespeare’s English Kings, 2d ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000); the text of Henry VI, Part 3 can be found at http://shakespeare.about.com/arts/shakespeare/library/bl3kh6scenes.htm.

Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses. . 2001.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Henry VI, Part 3 — Henry the Sixth, Part 3 , is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written in approximately 1590, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. It prepares the ground for one of his best known and most controversial plays:… …   Wikipedia

  • Henry IV, Part 1 — This article is about Shakespeare s play. For other uses, see Henry IV. Title page of the first quarto (1598) Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in… …   Wikipedia

  • Henry IV, Part 2 — This article is about the Shakespeare s play. For other uses, see Henry IV. Facsimile of the first page of The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth from the First Folio, published in 1623 Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare …   Wikipedia

  • Henry VI, Part 1 — believed written in approximately 1588–1590. It is the first in the cycle of four plays often referred to as The First Tetralogy .ourcesShakespeare s primary source for Henry VI, Part 1 , as for most of his chronicle histories, was Raphael… …   Wikipedia

  • Henry VI, Part 2 — The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth , or Henry VI, Part 2 , is a history play by William Shakespeare believed written in approximately 1590 91. It is the second part of the trilogy on Henry VI, and often grouped together with Richard III as a …   Wikipedia

  • Henry VI, Part 1 — ▪ work by Shakespeare       chronicle play in five acts by William Shakespeare (Shakespeare, William), written sometime in 1589–92 and published in the First Folio of 1623. Henry VI, Part 1 is the first in a sequence of four history plays (the… …   Universalium

  • Henry VI, Part 2 — (Shakespeare)    Henry VI, Part 2, is the second play in William Shakespeare’s tetralogy (i.e., four play series) depicting the characters and events of the WARS OF THE ROSES.    If the traditional belief that the four plays were written in… …   Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses

  • Henry IV, Part 1 — ▪ work by Shakespeare  chronicle play in five acts by William Shakespeare (Shakespeare, William), written about 1596–97 and published from a reliable authorial draft in a 1598 quarto edition. Henry IV, Part 1 is the second in a sequence of four… …   Universalium

  • Henry IV, Part 2 — ▪ work by Shakespeare       chronicle play in five acts by William Shakespeare (Shakespeare, William), written in 1597–98 and published in a corrupt text based in part on memorial reconstruction in a quarto edition in 1600; a better text, printed …   Universalium

  • Henry VI, Part 1 — (Shakespeare)    Written probably in early 1590, Henry VI, Part 1, is the first work in William Shakespeare’s tetralogy (i.e., series of four plays) depicting the people and events of the WARS OF THE ROSES. The play is probably Shakespeare’s… …   Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”