The Shakespeare Book

44

THIS BRAWL TODAY...

SHALL SEND BETWEEN

THE RED ROSE AND THE

WHITE A THOUSAND

SOULS TO DEATH AND

DEADLY NIGHT

HENRY VI PART 1 (1591)

A

t the funeral of Henry V, a

fight breaks out between

the young King Henry VI’s

uncles, Gloucester and Winchester.

Messengers arrive from France.

Town after town has fallen to the

French, and England’s hero Talbot

has been captured. Outside

besieged Orléans, the Dauphin

Charles meets the maid Joan la

Pucelle, whose visions promise

victory for France. Talbot is freed

in a prisoner exchange. The French

triumph over the English. Joan

beats Talbot in a duel but spares

his life. Talbot retakes Orléans.

In the garden of the Temple in

London’s lawyers’ quarter, a quarrel

between Richard Plantagenet and

DRAMATIS

PERSONAE

Henry VI King of England.

Duke of Gloucester Henry’s

uncle and Protector of England.

Duke of Bedford Henry’s

uncle and Regent of France.

Bishop of Winchester Later

Cardinal, Henry’s great-uncle.

Duke of Somerset  The

Duke of Exeter’s nephew.

Richard Plantagenet

Later Third Duke of York.

Earls of Warwick,

Salisbury, and Suffolk

Lord Talbot Commander

of English forces in France.

Charles Dauphin of France.

Margaret French noble

betrothed to Henry.

Duke of Burgundy

Henry’s uncle.

Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc)