If in one sense King Henry VI, Part 3 can be seen as a continuation of Shakespeare’s dramatic meditation on the horrors of unchecked human appetite visible in the Wars of the Roses, in another it reveals a unique understanding of the tragedy that has befallen England. The object that has motivated the action is the crown, but here it is stripped of all dignity, a bone fought over by hungry dogs. The word ‘crown’ itself appears more often than in any other play, but rather than establishing its value, the repetition gradually erodes its meaning. The oscillations of rule, as power shifts back and forth from Henry to Edward, further evacuate what sacred authority might once have inhered in the crown. In this world, the pious Henry is clearly unsuited to rule, as he himself knows: the crown he seeks ‘is call’d content’. This world demands harder men, and by the end the sinister figure of Richard of Gloucester emerges, the nightmare fulfilment of the play’s deepest logic.
On the modern stage, the play has usually been seen in two-part conflations of the three plays, as in that by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1988. In 1977, however, Terry Hands directed all three parts of King Henry VI in sequence at Stratford-upon-Avon, where in 1994 Katie Mitchell directed Part 3 independently at The Other Place, and in 2000–1 the RSC staged all three plays as part of its chronological series ‘This England, the Histories’.
The Arden text is based on the 1623 First Folio.
LIST OF ROLES
KING HENRY the Sixth
Edward, PRINCE of Wales
his son
KING LEWIS the Eleventh
of France
of King Henry’s party
his sons
of the Duke of York’s Party
uncles to the Duke of York
HENRY, Earl of Richmond
a youth
Earl RIVERS
brother to Lady Grey
Sir William Stanley
Sir John MONTGOMERY
Sir John SOMERVILLE
TUTOR
to Rutland
MAYOR of York
LIEUTENANT
of the Tower
NOBLEMAN
TWO KEEPERS
HUNTSMAN
SON
that has killed his father
FATHER
that has killed his son
QUEEN MARGARET
LADY Elizabeth GREY
afterwards Queen to Edward the Fourth
BONA
sister to the French Queen
Soldiers, Attendants, Messengers, Watchmen, etc.
King Henry VI, Part 3
1.1 Alarum. Enter the DUKE OF YORK, EDWARD, RICHARD, NORFOLK, FALCONBRIDGE, WARWICK and soldiers, with white roses in their hats.
WARWICK I wonder how the King escap’d our hands!
YORK While we pursu’d the horsemen of the north,
He slily stole away and left his men:
Whereat the great Lord of Northumberland,
Whose war-like ears could never brook retreat,
5
Cheer’d up the drooping army; and himself,
Lord Clifford, and Lord Stafford, all abreast,
Charg’d our main battle’s front, and breaking in
Were by the swords of common soldiers slain.
EDWARD Lord Stafford’s father, Duke of Buckingham,
10
Is either slain or wounded dangerous;
I cleft his beaver with a downright blow:
That this is true, father, behold his blood.
FALCONBRIDGE
And, brother, here’s the Earl of Wiltshire’s blood,
Whom I encounter’d as the battles join’d.
15
RICHARD
Speak thou for me, and tell them what I did.
[throwing down the Duke of Somerset’s head]
YORK Richard hath best deserv’d of all my sons.
But is your Grace dead, my Lord of Somerset?
NORFOLK Such hap have all the line of John of Gaunt!
RICHARD Thus do I hope to shake King Henry’s head.
20
WARWICK And so do I. Victorious Prince of York,
Before I see thee seated in that throne
Which now the house of Lancaster usurps,
I vow by heavens these eyes shall never close.
This is the palace of the fearful King,
25
And this the regal seat: possess it, York;
For this is thine and not King Henry’s heirs’.
YORK Assist me then, sweet Warwick, and I will;
For hither we have broken in by force.
NORFOLK We’ll all assist you; he that flies shall die.
30
YORK Thanks, gentle Norfolk. Stay by me, my lords;
And, soldiers, stay and lodge by me this night.
[They go up.]
WARWICK
And when the King comes, offer him no violence,
Unless he seek to thrust you out perforce.
YORK The Queen this day here holds her Parliament,
35
But little thinks we shall be of her Council:
By words or blows here let us win our right.
RICHARD Arm’d as we are, let’s stay within this house.
WARWICK The bloody parliament shall this be call’d,
Unless Plantagenet, Duke of York, be king,
40
And bashful Henry be depos’d, whose cowardice
Hath made us by-words to our enemies.
YORK Then leave me not, my lords; be resolute;
I mean to take possession of my right.
WARWICK
Neither the King, nor he that loves him best,
45
The proudest he that holds up Lancaster,
Dares stir a wing if Warwick shake his bells.
I’ll plant Plantagenet, root him up who dares.
Resolve thee, Richard; claim the English crown.
Flourish. Enter KING HENRY, CLIFFORD, NORTHUMBERLAND, WESTMORELAND, EXETER and the rest, with red roses in their hats.
KING HENRY
My lords, look where the sturdy rebel sits,
50
Even in the chair of state! Belike he means,
Back’d by the power of Warwick, that false peer,
To aspire unto the crown and reign as king.
Earl of Northumberland, he slew thy father,
And thine, Lord Clifford; and you both have vow’d revenge
On him, his sons, his favourites, and his friends.
NORTHUMBERLAND
If I be not, heavens be reveng’d on me!
CLIFFORD
The hope thereof makes Clifford mourn in steel.
WESTMORELAND
What! shall we suffer this? Let’s pluck him down:
My heart for anger burns: I cannot brook it.
60
KING HENRY Be patient, gentle Earl of Westmoreland.
CLIFFORD Patience is for poltroons, such as he:
He durst not sit there had your father liv’d.
My gracious lord, here in the parliament
Let us assail the family of York.
65
NORTHUMBERLAND
Well hast thou spoken, cousin: be it so.
KING HENRY Ah, know you not the city favours them,
And they have troops of soldiers at their beck?
EXETER But when the Duke is slain they’ll quickly fly.
KING HENRY
Far be the thought of this from Henry’s heart,
70
To make a shambles of the parliament-house!
Cousin of Exeter, frowns, words, and threats,
Shall be the war that Henry means to use.
Thou factious Duke of York, descend my throne,
And kneel for grace and mercy at my feet;
75
I am thy sovereign.
YORK I am thine.
EXETER
For shame, come down: he made thee Duke of York.
YORK ’T
was mine inheritance, as the earldom was.
EXETER Thy father was a traitor to the crown.
WARWICK Exeter, thou art a traitor to the crown
80
In following this usurping Henry.
CLIFFORD
Whom should he follow but his natural king?
WARWICK
True, Clifford: that is Richard, Duke of York.
KING HENRY
And shall I stand, and thou sit in my throne?
YORK It must and shall be so: content thyself.
85
WARWICK Be Duke of Lancaster: let him be King.
WESTMORELAND
He is both King and Duke of Lancaster;
And that the Lord of Westmoreland shall maintain.
WARWICK And Warwick shall disprove it. You forget
That we are those which chas’d you from the field
90
And slew your fathers, and with colours spread
March’d through the city to the palace gates.
NORTHUMBERLAND
Yes, Warwick, I remember it to my grief;
And, by his soul, thou and thy house shall rue it.
WESTMORELAND
Plantagenet, of thee and these thy sons,
95
Thy kinsmen and thy friends, I’ll have more lives
Than drops of blood were in my father’s veins.
CLIFFORD Urge it no more; lest that, instead of words,
I send thee, Warwick, such a messenger
As shall revenge his death before I stir.
100
WARWICK
Poor Clifford, how I scorn his worthless threats!
YORK Will you we show our title to the crown?
If not, our swords shall plead it in the field.
KING HENRY What title hast thou, traitor, to the crown?
Thy father was, as thou art, Duke of York.
105
Thy grandsire, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March.
I am the son of Henry the Fifth,
Who made the Dauphin and the French to stoop,
And seiz’d upon their towns and provinces.
WARWICK Talk not of France, sith thou hast lost it all.
110
KING HENRY The Lord Protector lost it, and not I:
When I was crown’d I was but nine months old.
RICHARD
You are old enough now, and yet, methinks, you lose.
Father, tear the crown from the usurper’s head.
EDWARD Sweet father, do so; set it on your head.
115
FALCONBRIDGE
Good brother, as thou lov’st and honourest arms,
Let’s fight it out and not stand cavilling thus.
RICHARD
Sound drums and trumpets, and the King will fly.
YORK Sons, peace!
NORTHUMBERLAND
Peace thou, and give King Henry leave to speak.
120
WARWICK Plantagenet shall speak first: hear him, lords;
And be you silent and attentive too,
For he that interrupts him shall not live.
KING HENRY
Plantagenet, why seek’st thou to depose me?
Are we not both Plantagenets by birth,
125
And from two brothers lineally descent?
Suppose by right and equity thou be king,
Think’st thou that I will leave my kingly throne,
Wherein my grandsire and my father sat?
No: first shall war unpeople this my realm;
130
Ay, and their colours, often borne in France,
And now in England to our heart’s great sorrow,
Shall be my winding-sheet. Why faint you, lords?
My title’s good, and better far than his.
WARWICK Prove it, Henry, and thou shalt be king.
135
KING HENRY
Henry the Fourth by conquest got the crown.
YORK ’Twas by rebellion against his king.
KING HENRY [aside]
I know not what to say: my title’s weak.
Tell me, may not a king adopt an heir?
YORK What then?
140
KING HENRY And if he may, then am I lawful king;
For Richard, in the view of many lords,
Resign’d the crown to Henry the Fourth,
Whose heir my father was, and I am his.
YORK He rose against him, being his sovereign,
145
And made him to resign his crown perforce.
WARWICK Suppose, my lords, he did it unconstrain’d,
Think you ’twere prejudicial to his crown?
EXETER No: for he could not so resign his crown
But that the next heir should succeed and reign.
150
KING HENRY Art thou against us, Duke of Exeter?
EXETER His is the right, and therefore pardon me.
YORK Why whisper you, my lords, and answer not?
The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works Page 230