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King Henry VI, Part 1
King Henry VI, Part 1
King Henry VI, Part 1
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King Henry VI, Part 1

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 1, 1962
King Henry VI, Part 1
Author

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is arguably the most famous playwright to ever live. Born in England, he attended grammar school but did not study at a university. In the 1590s, Shakespeare worked as partner and performer at the London-based acting company, the King’s Men. His earliest plays were Henry VI and Richard III, both based on the historical figures. During his career, Shakespeare produced nearly 40 plays that reached multiple countries and cultures. Some of his most notable titles include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. His acclaimed catalog earned him the title of the world’s greatest dramatist.

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Rating: 3.407284651655629 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Simply awful. Very much had the feel of being thrown together which, appropriately enough, seems to have been the case. An afterthought prequel to Parts II and III. The caricature of Joan of Arc was outrageous. Even if one believed she was a lunatic, it was a bit over the top.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    William Shakespeare's "Henry VI, part one" certainly doesn't live up to the bard's later historical plays. The Henry VI series was apparently one of his first plays and it shows -- the language lacks sparkle and the writing seems a little flat. That said, I enjoyed it more than I expected to, mostly due to Joan of Arc, who is given an interesting yet fiercely anti-French portrayal as you'd expect from an Elizabethan playwright. The story starts with the unexpected death of Henry V, who leaves an infant as his heir. Powerful lords fight in the War of the Roses for control all while England and France remain at war.I'm interested to find out what happens in parts two and three.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a confusing play, where BIG Bill follows a principal source, and then fits in some humanizing bits. It seems WS didn't write all of it, and the group of scenarists have some fights before production. Henry V being quite unexpectedly dead, the nobles of England attempt to bring the war in France to a successful conclusion. Joan of Arc, who is seriously defamed in the play, appears and re-animates the French defence. The losing English nobles fall to quarreling with each other, and we are worried about what will happen next. The play ends with Joan's execution, and the proposal of peace by the marriage of Henry VI, to Margaret a French lady the daughter of the Titular King of Jerusalem, a title with no territory to go with it. I think it's a hint that Henry will always go for form over substance, and the land will suffer for it.This play is recorded as being produced in 1592, and it's very early WS. it seems I've been over nine times, looking for good bits.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A very good - although unabashedly idiosyncratic - approach to one of the more challenging plays in the Shakespeare canon.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the play noted for a couple of things: It's one of the earliest, if not the earliest play in the First Folio and; It lacks "dramatic unity" (lots of scenes and very episodic) and has an abundance of anachronisms— and the worse off for it all— so much so that its authorship has been questioned since 1735! Nonetheless, it's still Canon and in the play itself there are a few highlights: the scene set in the Inns of Court wherein red and white roses are picked to denote sides in "The War of the Roses"; the scene in which Talbot and his son are surrounded and fight together and; the incredible slander against Joan of Arc. While of course she would be the villain from the English point-of-view, the viciousness of the attacks against her are nonetheless surprising. She is basically reduced to a lying witch and whore in the play, reflecting contemporary thought. True, she would not be made a saint until 1920 but still, I can see why late-twentieth and twenty-first stages don't really groove on this play so much: The timelines have been telescoped so much that long-dead people at that time are fighting on the court and on the battlefield, people not of age are speaking as adults and; just a general jumble of events out of order. And too, that aforementioned slander against Joan of Arc now seems so transparently propaganda, it's pretty cringeworthy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The more I read these history plays, the more I enjoy them. As I read them and research some of the actual history behind them, they make more sense and have a continuity.This play, in particular, had a can't-set-it-down quality to it. I had to see what was going on with Talbot, who would win the battle? What were the dastardly deeds that would work against him? Will the boy king be able to survive his "mentors?" Even though I know the answers from history, I don't know how William Shakespeare interpreted the history, so the tension of the read is still there.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The text of Henry VI, Part I is easier to interpret than that of most other Shakespearean plays I’ve read. There seems to be academic contention about how many lines of Part I are due to Shakespeare, so it’s tempting to claim the language is easy because William didn’t write very much of it.Be that as it may, Part I is rather dull. Welcome exceptions to the dullness, when excitement fills the stage, include when the nobles are plucking the white and red roses and whenever Joan la Pucelle appears. Joan of Arc must have been quite a historical figure to witness, not that we could count on impartial witness coinciding well with the Joan presented in this play. Concerning her, Part I would have benefited from changes of attitude on the part of the playwright(s). What an interesting play we then could have had. The next Henry VI, called Part II, is, in contrast to Part I, a rouser.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Shakespeare’s histories have always felt less accessible to me than his other work. But I realized the other day that it’s probably because I’m not that familiar with the people involved. What is the musical “Hamilton” if not our version of Shakespeare's histories? It’s a theatrical show based on our own country’s history. Shakespeare's histories are not as easy for us to understand because we they are covering a time period that we don’t always learn about. But during Shakespeare's time everyone knew who those dukes and kings were, just as we know names like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.Anyway, all of that to say that these three plays worked much better for me than some of the other histories of his I've tackled and I think it’s because I finally made that connection. It was also incredibly helpful to me to watch the Hollow Crown series before reading the plays. It covers all three of these plays although it's called Henry VI Part one and two, it's really a combination of parts 1, 2 and 3.They are so well done and watching those first helped me picture a face with a name while reading the place, which helped me keep all the characters straight.These plays are part of the eight plays that make up the War of the Roses. Henry VI Part 1 includes the original scene where the characters pick a white or red rose to declare their allegiance. From there it’s a constant stream of battle and betrayal as they all fight for the thrown. Poor King Henry VI is thrust into his role as monarch when he’s only a baby. The death of his father meant a life time watching others attempt to steal his throne. Almost everyone in the plays comes to a bloody end by the final curtain. A few thoughts: Margaret was such a bad ass. She was conniving, but she was strong where her husband, King Henry VI, was weak. I have to admire her and she certainly has some of the best lines. We meet the infamous Richard in these plays. I'd read and seen Richard III before, so reading these gave me a better understanding of his character's background. He’s a delicious villain and one that I loved getting to know. “Why, I can smile and murder whiles I smile,And cry 'content' to that which grieves my heart,And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,And frame my face for all occasions”BOTTOM LINE: I ended up loving them. I was surprised by how hooked I got on the War of the Roses drama, but it’s like a soap opera. It’s amazing to see how power seems to corrupt all the touch it. Even those who are not driven with a desire for power are often the easiest to steal power from, because they aren’t as vicious as others. I would definitely read part 1, 2, and 3 back-to-back because they work better as one continuous story. I also highly recommend watching the Hollow Crown series first, but just dive into the plays and enjoy them! “Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.”“For where thou art, there is the world itself,With every several pleasure in the world,And where thou art not, desolation.”“Unbidden guests are often welcomest when they are gone.”
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    For a play about Henry VI, he was barely even in it! There is quite a bit of jockeying for power that is easy to forget if you do not read this in one setting (and I did not). The first half is a bit lacking, but the back half is better. Joan of Arc (de Pucelle in the play) intrigued me, especially with her proclamations. Is she prophetic or deluded? The end is a fascinating cliffhanger, however, with hints that the move Henry is making will indeed be a bad one.

    It seems as if both Shakespeare and George R.R. Martin drew inspiration from history for their work, and I am curious to see how Shakespeare pulls me into the royal drama. On to Part II!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first part of a tetralogy consisting of Henry VI parts 2 and 3 and Richard III. Critics agree it was one of the earliest of Shakespeare's plays and was performed in 1592, but they do not agree that it was the first play written of the tetralogy. Some critics claim that part 2 was written first closely followed by part 3 and then part1 and so I have read them in that order. There are no very famous lines from the play and it is the only one of the plays that I have read that does not have that "stand alone" feeling: it feels more obviously part of a series. It is a historical drama which does not aim to subvert the known facts, but does play havoc with the time line for dramatic effect. The play starts with the funeral of Henry V. England is in mourning and the nobility are already arguing amongst themselves. The new king Henry VI has not reached the age of majority and does not yet appear in the play. Messengers arrive to interrupt the pageantry and the news is bad. Henry V's conquests in France are already falling apart and Talbot the warrior knight and scourge of the French has been captured. The Duke of Bedford the regent of France says he will take 10,000 troops across the channel. The scene shifts to France who has found a new military leader - the peasant girl Joan of Arc. Back in England the disorder amongst the nobility grows worse The young kings protector the Duke of Gloucester finds himself locked out of the Tower of London by the Bishop of Winchester and the first of many fighting scenes is the English fighting amongst themselves. Back in France Talbot has escaped, but his attempts to regain the conquered territories are meeting with fierce resistance from the French led by the young Dauphin Charles and Joan Purcelle (Joan of Arc). In England the new king is crowned, but in the famous Temple garden scene the nobility choose their sides in the coming power struggle by selecting a red or white rose. Henry VI and his entourage travel to Paris where he will be crowned again as king of France, meanwhile Talbot is still involved in a see-saw struggle of arms with Joan and the French, but he attends the coronation and there are glimmers of unity, but Richard Plantagenet the Duke of York has been instructed by old Mortimer that he has a legitimate claim to the throne. Talbot is soon back in arms and the fighting continues, he and his son are slaughtered outside Bordeaux, but the Duke of York who failed to provide the necessary support for him has captured Joan of Arc outside Rouen. He instructs that she be burnt at the stake as a witch. A truce is brokered and as part of the agreement the Duke of Suffolk has arranged for Margaret of Anjou to be the young king Henry's bride. The play ends with Margaret arriving in London, but already being wooed by Suffolk himself. There is a lot of fighting: a continuous display of arms seems to take up the first three quarters of the play, all is bravado and derring-do and ends with the tragedy on the battlefield of the death of Talbot and his son. Then suddenly there is a truce and the play switches to a more romantic mode as Suffolk intrigues to get Margaret of Anjou wedded to the young king. On a first reading the play seems unbalanced and this readers attention was taken up by trying to work out who was fighting who and where, but it became clearer on a second read through. The play does have a logic to it and events follow each other as the play makes its dramatic points. The most obvious theme is the disunity caused by a king who has not reached the age of majority and of a disputed right of accession. Another is the end of chivalry, the French are being led by a female peasant for goodness sake and Talbot who is of the old school is mortally offended and says:"My thoughts are whirled like a Potters Wheele,I know not where I am, nor what I doe:A Witch by feare, not force, like Hannibal,Driues back our troupes, and conquers as she lists............ Seignior hang: base Muleters of France,Like Pesant foot-Boyes doe they keepe the Walls,And dare not take vp Armes, like GentlemenJoan is burnt as a witch and is treated with disdain by the Duke of York. Sir John Falstaff who runs away from battle is publicly stripped of his royal garter by Talbot who then lectures his fellow nobles on the significance of being awarded the order.Shakespeare is setting the scene in this play for his depiction of the wars of the roses and the descent of England into chaos. The English are fighting amongst themselves and the French change sides when it suits them, this changing of allegiance will soon cross the channel and become a feature of part 2 of the tetralogy. The characters that will populate the later plays start to emerge. The fiercely proud Duke of York, the peace-loving King Henry VI whose courtiers snigger at his naiveté behind the scenes. The old protector the Duke of Gloucester who sees his control slipping away and the entrance of Margaret of Anjou who Suffolk thinks he can manipulate, but will find that it is he who is being played. The BBC produced plays of this series has kept the same actors in their roles as the events move on, that is of course until they meet their end, this process is started by Talbot and son in this play and will accelerate until the bloodbath in part 3. Shakespeare does repeat scenes in this: one of his earliest plays and although the language is recognisably Shakespearian it never rises to the heights of his subsequent efforts. His play does however fit together quite well and with its rousing battle scenes would have provided entertainment for its Elizabethan audience. It has been produced a number of times on the modern stage and most successfully when it is followed by the other plays in the series. The poignant scene of the deaths of Talbot and his son John may have been Shakespeare's first tilt at tragedy:Come, come, and lay him in his Fathers armes,My spirit can no longer beare these harmes.Souldiers adieu: I haue what I would haue,Now my old armes are yong Iohn Talbots graue.I suppose it has to be said that this early play is one for Shakespeare completists, but if you are going to read the more substantial King Henry VI parts 2 and 3 then it would be amiss to leave out this one 3.5 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great play. I am not one who loves all Shakespeare (especially the histories) but this one is very accessible. The language isn't too arcane plus it involves historical events that many will recognize (Joan of Arc, the War of the Roses, the 100 Years War etc.)

    Read as part of my Kindle edition of "The Complete Works of Shakespeare"

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King Henry VI, Part 1 - William Shakespeare

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