Filling the Cheap Seats
Page 5
about whether or not he has anything he can risk, Talbot falls in battle and dies, confirming the loss of France.
The villain of the play is Joan of Arc. Today she's a saint (literally) who is to France what George Washington is to the United States. Shakespeare portrays her as an immoral, opportunistic witch who deserves to be burned at the stake. That doesn’t go down well with modern audiences, so the play isn't performed often these days.
The Second Part of Henry the Sixth —Kill all the lawyers!
The War of the Roses part 2
The First Part of Henry VI set the stage for the War of The Roses. Henry VI, a weak king, cannot hold the French Kingdom conquered by his father nor can he hold his courtiers in check. They fight among themselves for power and influence, neglecting their duties to England and their King.
In the Second Part, Richard Plantagenet Duke of York has a new grievance. Though King Henry returned to him the family title lost years before when York’s father was condemned for treason and executed, York is not grateful and he wants more. A dying uncle tells York that as a descendant of an elder branch of Edward III's sons, he has a stronger claim to England's crown than does Henry. King Henry is merely a descendent of Henry IV, who was only a usurper who seized the crown from Richard II.
And so to war! Richard leads the House of York and sports a white rose. His adversaries supporting Henry VI's House of Lancaster, spurred on in the earlier play by the Duke of Somerset, sport a red rose.
Meanwhile, William de la Pole returns from France with King Henry's intended bride, Margaret. William and Margaret fall in love, but the innocent royal weakling notices nothing.
Chaos ensues. Richard's tenuous claim inspires others of a lesser lineage to follow suit. Jack Cade, a mere butcher, decides he can do the job as well as anyone and leads a popular uprising. He takes London. King Henry and the court flee, leaving behind a poor magistrate and his son. "Kill all the lawyers" screams Cade. The mob cuts off the father's head along with his son's and parades them on spikes before the audience.
Cade's rebellion is put down and Cade is killed. The King's forces are still weak and Richard of York waits, poised to strike. Queen Margaret is ready to meet him.
The Third Part of Henry the Sixth—The intruder within
The War of the Roses part 3
Fans of the original Star Trek series no doubt remember the episode where a transporter malfunction caused Captain James Kirk to split in two. At first, Kirk appears to have materialized normally but a few seconds after everyone leaves the transporter room, a double appears. Except that he's not a double: he is the wicked half of the whole Kirk while the first Kirk is really just the nice half of the whole man.
At first neither knows of the other's existence. The first Kirk carries out his duties conscientiously, manning the bridge even though he doesn't feel well. The second Kirk prowls the ship, thinking only of gratifying his wants. However, when a crisis unfolds, the first Kirk is weak and cannot make decisions for fear of the consequences to others. The second Kirk makes one decision after another but they all harm someone because he doesn't care. Everyone likes and respects the first Kirk, but he knows he's useless. The two parts of the man need to merge back together. The point is clear. Love, diligence and responsibility aren't enough. Leadership demands strength and an iron will or the leader fails.
Which brings us back to Henry VI Part Three. In this cycle we are shown what happens when the crown is set on the head of a weakling. In the previous two plays, Shakespeare blames ambitious courtiers fighting one another for the woes that befall England, leaving Henry more of a spectator. Here, events overtake Henry because his weakness keeps him from defending himself and his realm. The pious Henry is a good likable man, but he would have been better suited to quiet prayer than to war.
The three parts of Henry VI and Richard III are tightly bound. Henry VI Part Three begins with a battle started in Part Two. Richard of York believes he has a better claim to the English Crown than does Henry, throwing the country into civil war. In the very first scene, Richard's son Edward and his ally Montague show York swords stained with the blood of his enemies. His younger son Richard of Gloucester outdoes them and holds up the head of the Duke of Somerset, the man who in Part One first stood against York by sporting a red rose to York’s white one.
But what of the evil counterpart to the good Henry? What of willful evil men? Henry VI is captured and killed. His assassin is Richard of Gloucester, who will later become Richard III. It's in that final play of the cycle that we see what happens when the crown is set on the head of a strong but evil man.
The Tragedy of Richard the Third—A tragic anti-hero
The War of the Roses part 4
Few characters in English literature are as evil, manipulative, and Machiavellian as Shakespeare's Richard III.
The House of York has deposed the House of Lancaster. Edward IV won the crown in Henry VI Part Three. As the play begins, the king's brother Richard of Gloucester appears on stage alone. Peace brings him no happiness. He reveals his true character to the audience. A courageous warrior but a poor lover, he has nothing to do under the new reign. So Richard unfolds his plan and outlines the plot of the play. He will remove his brother George from the line of succession, marry well, and orchestrate events so that he can seize the crown for himself.
His royal brother is ill and might die. George, Duke of Clarence, and his nephews stand between Richard and the throne. Richard arouses the King’s suspicions that George wants to seize power and manipulates the King into imprisoning him. Richard later has George killed. When the King dies, Richard makes himself regent and he eventually kills the young princes who stood between him and the throne. He picks off his enemies one by one. He courts the widow of a rival who spurns him but eventually accepts him simply because no one can protect her. He then turns on his allies and in his paranoia he has them executed. He must deal with rebellions. He is finally killed in battle on Bosworth Field, a wild enraged madman.
A character needs inner tension to be interesting. It wouldn't do to have a purely evil character so Richard is not without redeeming qualities. From his first appearance in the Second Part of Henry VI, he has proven himself a courageous and formidable soldier. He fights and he wins. He kills mercilessly and with alacrity. He revels in war because there, unlike in love, his misshapen body does not hinder him.
Richard III is a tragic anti-hero. A classic tragic hero is a great man who because of a single flawed action loses everything. With Richard III we have an ignoble man who could nevertheless have won everything if his one virtue, courage, had been kept in check. Evil blossomed then withered. The War of the Roses ended, the Plantagenet line ended, and Henry VII, first King of the Tudor dynasty came to power.
Some Personal Favorites
A Midsummer Night’s Dream—Erotica
We know we are in for a romantic comedy when we are given a story with four couples: Theseus & Hippolyta, Lysander & Hermia, Demetrius & Helena, and Oberon & Titania.
The plot
Theseus rules Athens and he is about to marry a new queen, Hippolyta. Festivities are prepared in Athens to celebrate the nuptials.
Another couple in the city is in love- Lysander and Hermia- but Hermia's father wants her to marry another suitor, Demetrius. Another woman, Helena, loves Demetrius but he shows no interest. Hermia and Lysander decide to run away through the forest to a neighboring city and marry there. Demetrius learns of this and pursues them, and Helena follows him. All of them lose their way in the woods.
Beautiful, magical, powerful, dangerous faeries live in the woods surrounding Athens. Titania, their queen, nags her husband Oberon, their king, for his philandering. Oberon wants to be left alone but he fears confronting Titania openly. He prefers to have his mischievous servant Puck help him.
Meanwhile, a small troupe of clueless but good-hearted workmen prepar
es an amateur production of a love story to present to Theseus and Hippolyta as part of their nuptial celebrations. They rehearse in the woods and the faeries run into them too.
Puck magically induces Lysander and Demetrius to forget Hermia and fall for Helena. Hermia is left alone. Helena, now pursued by two men, is convinced they are only toying with her. Puck also works on Titania and has her fall in love with Bottom, one of the workmen rehearsing the play, but only after having given Bottom the head of a donkey.
After much running and sleeping around, everything turns out right and all couples join as they should. But we are left with the memory of a dark forest filled with powerful forces we dare not disturb with impunity.
The erotic element
Shakespeare wrote many plays about love but because this play takes place at night, because it involves magical creatures we don't understand or control, because of the mood of danger always found in any forest at night, the play is more about sex and its fickle passions than any other Shakespeare play.
The faeries are particularly erotic. Who knows why someone falls in love? Why are we attracted to this man or to that woman? There's no rational cause, there's just a magical feeling and I mean just that: if there's no rational cause, there must be a supernatural