Category Archives: Henry VI Part One

I know Shakespeare is trying to get about fifty years of history crammed into three plays, but things went from bad to worse very fast in Act V. York came back from Ireland with his army and played nice with the king for about two seconds before turning on him and proclaiming his intention toContinue reading “Well that escalated quickly”

I have now finished the first play in my journey to read all of Shakespeare’s writings. Henry VI Part One was good, but it did feel like the first part in a trilogy. We got a lot of setup to what must be a more dramatic story than the one contained in these five acts.Continue reading “The Fellowship is broken”

The final act of Henry VI Part One begins in London, with Henry receiving messages from the Pope and other powerful figures around Europe to end the violence with France. Gloucester brings up the idea of a tactical marriage with the daughter of the Earl of Armangac in an effort to strengthen his ties toContinue reading “It ends with a wedding (sort of)”

Act IV sees Henry crowned as king of France in Paris. Immediately after the coronation ceremony, he learns Burgundy has switched sides, so Talbot is dispatched to deal with the traitor. Vernon and Bassett, the partisans who want to fight each other in the name of their respective roses, arrive and demand satisfaction from theContinue reading “Fight!”

Act III of Henry VI Part One begins in Parliament with Gloucester and the Bishop of Winchester bickering much as they did in the first act. Only now, Gloucester says that Winchester is his illegitimate uncle, the product of his grandfather’s indiscretion. Somerset seems to be sympathetic to Winchester and we know already that heContinue reading “How many years have passed?”

Act II starts off with Orleans changing hands again when Talbot takes advantage of the French celebrating their victory and runs them off while half-naked. Charles, ever the chivalrous and beneficent Dauphin, immediately blames Joan for treachery. She in turn blames another nobleman and the finger-pointing goes on for a while before a soldier shoutingContinue reading “Swords ‘n’ Roses”

My original thought for this project was to read all the introductory material by G.B. Harrison and give you my thoughts on what he had to say about the Bard back in 1948. I scrapped that idea when I realized most of the introduction is endless comparative analysis of the text of Folio 1 versusContinue reading “So It Begins…”