42
H
enry VI Part 3 is the last of
Shakespeare’s three plays
about the reign of Henry VI
(1422–61 and 1470–71). It covers the
bloodiest period of the Wars of the
Roses, in which the Yorkist faction
gained ascendancy over Henry’s
Lancastrians in the battle for the
throne, and the eldest of the Duke
of York’s sons snatched the crown
from Henry to become Edward IV.
It ends with the murder of Henry
in the Tower of London in 1471 by
another son of York, Richard of
Gloucester, later Richard III.
Henry VI Part 3 was performed
first in about 1591. England was
wracked by the violent aftermath of
Henry VIII’s break from Rome and
Elizabeth I’s hold on the throne was
still under threat. The depiction of
leaders cynically playing for power
would have struck a chord with
audiences. The Yorkists Edward
and Richard are portrayed in a
very poor light, while the Earl
of Richmond, later Henry VII, and
Elizabeth’s grandfather, is praised.A molehill for a kingdom
In this vicious world, the weak but
well-intentioned Henry is entirely
lost. When he is banned from the
Battle of Towton, he meekly agrees,admitting with unwitting irony:
“They prosper best of all when I am
thence” (2.5.18). But his abdication
of responsibility turns him, like the
audience, into an appalled spectator
watching the tragedy unfold. As
he sits away from the battle on
the molehill to which his kingdom
has shrunk, he witnesses the real
horror of civil war in the affecting
tableau of a soldier who has killed
his son and another who has
killed his father. He laments, “And
let our hearts and eyes, like civil
war, / Be blind with tears, and break,
o’ercharged with grief” (2.5.77–78).
But there is self-indulgence too
when he sighs, “Here sits a king
more woeful than you are” (2.5.124).
Henry’s absence allows two
characters to dominate the action—
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and
Queen Margaret. Both are seen as
“monstrous,” freaks of nature that
have thrived in the absence of
normal moral values—Richard,
physically deformed at birth with
his “crookback” and shriveled arm,
and Margaret, unnaturally manly.A tiger’s heart
As Margaret stands exultant over
Richard of York, handing him a
handkerchief soaked in his son’sHENRY VI PART 3
My Crown is in my heart,
not on my head;
Not decked with diamonds
and Indian stones
Henry VI
Act 3, Scene 1Why, what is pomp, rule, reign,
but earth and dust?
And, live we how we can, yet
die we must.
Earl of Warwick
Act 5, Scene 2IN CONTEXT
THEMES
Kingship, revenge,
betrayal, civil war, battlesSETTING
London, Yorkshire,
Warwickshire, and various
towns around EnglandSOURCES
1513 Thomas More’s History
of King Richard III.1545 Edward Halle’s Union of
the Two Noble and Illustrious
Families of Lancaster and
York, a biased, Tudor-friendly
account of the events covered
in the play.1587 Raphael Holinshed’s
Chronicles of England,
Scotland, and Ireland.LEGACY
1592 Playwright Robert
Greene makes reference
to the play to express his
contempt for Shakespeare.
This indicates that the play
had been performed, although
no records survive.1595 The play is first
published with the title The
True Tragedy of Richard Duke
of York and the Death of King
Henry the Sixth, with the
Whole Contention of the two
Houses Lancaster and York.1681 Thomas Crowne stages
an adaptation of the play called
The Misery of Civil War.
1977 At the Swan Theatre in
Stratford-upon-Avon, Helen
Mirren plays an acclaimed
Margaret as the play receives
a rare, almost-uncut treatment.