Henry VI

By William Shakespeare

"Henry VI Part 1" explores the tumultuous reign of King Henry VI, focusing on the early stages of the Wars of the Roses. The play delves into political intrigue, military conflicts, and personal rivalries as England faces internal strife. It introduces key characters such as Joan of Arc and the ambitious Duke of York, setting the stage for the power struggles that will unfold in subsequent plays. Themes of loyalty, honor, and the consequences of unchecked ambition are central to this historical drama, showcasing Shakespeare's masterful storytelling and complex characterizations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Interactive Media
• Release date: Sep 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781910833704

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".

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William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare

Henry VI

Part 1

Published by Sovereign

This edition first published in 2015

Copyright © 2015 Sovereign

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 9781910833704

Contents

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

ACT I

ACT II

ACT III

ACT IV

ACT V

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

KING HENRY THE SIXTH

DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, uncle to the King, and Protector

DUKE OF BEDFORD, uncle to the King, and Regent of France

THOMAS BEAUFORT, DUKE OF EXETER, great-uncle to the king

HENRY BEAUFORT, great-uncle to the King, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, and afterwards CARDINAL

JOHN BEAUFORT, EARL OF SOMERSET, afterwards Duke

RICHARD PLANTAGENET, son of Richard late Earl of Cambridge, afterwards DUKE OF YORK

EARL OF WARWICK

EARL OF SALISBURY

EARL OF SUFFOLK

LORD TALBOT, afterwards EARL OF SHREWSBURY

JOHN TALBOT, his son

EDMUND MORTIMER, EARL OF MARCH

SIR JOHN FASTOLFE

SIR WILLIAM LUCY

SIR WILLIAM GLANSDALE

SIR THOMAS GARGRAVE

MAYOR of LONDON

WOODVILLE, Lieutenant of the Tower

VERNON, of the White Rose or York faction

BASSET, of the Red Rose or Lancaster faction

A LAWYER

GAOLERS, to Mortimer

CHARLES, Dauphin, and afterwards King of France

REIGNIER, DUKE OF ANJOU, and titular King of Naples

DUKE OF BURGUNDY

DUKE OF ALENCON

BASTARD OF ORLEANS

GOVERNOR OF PARIS

MASTER-GUNNER OF ORLEANS, and his SON

GENERAL OF THE FRENCH FORCES in Bordeaux

A FRENCH SERGEANT

A PORTER

AN OLD SHEPHERD, father to Joan la Pucelle

MARGARET, daughter to Reignier, afterwards married to King Henry

COUNTESS OF AUVERGNE

JOAN LA PUCELLE, Commonly called JOAN OF ARC

Lords, Warders of the Tower, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, English and French Attendants. Fiends appearing to La Pucelle

SCENE: England and France

ACT I

SCENE I. WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

Dead March. Enter the Funeral of KING HENRY the Fifth, attended on by Dukes of BEDFORD, Regent of France; GLOUCESTER, Protector; and EXETER, Earl of WARWICK, the BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, Heralds, & c

BEDFORD

Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night!

Comets, importing change of times and states,

Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky,

And with them scourge the bad revolting stars

That have consented unto Henry’s death!

King Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long!

England ne’er lost a king of so much worth.

GLOUCESTER

England ne’er had a king until his time.

Virtue he had, deserving to command:

His brandish’d sword did blind men with his beams:

His arms spread wider than a dragon’s wings;

His sparking eyes, replete with wrathful fire,

More dazzled and drove back his enemies

Than mid-day sun fierce bent against their faces.

What should I say? his deeds exceed all speech:

He ne’er lift up his hand but conquered.

EXETER

We mourn in black: why mourn we not in blood?

Henry is dead and never shall revive:

Upon a wooden coffin we attend,

And death’s dishonourable victory

We with our stately presence glorify,

Like captives bound to a triumphant car.

What! shall we curse the planets of mishap

That plotted thus our glory’s overthrow?

Or shall we think the subtle-witted French

Conjurers and sorcerers, that afraid of him

By magic verses have contrived his end?

BISHOP

OF WINCHESTER

He was a king bless’d of the King of kings.

Unto the French the dreadful judgement-day

So dreadful will not be as was his sight.

The battles of the Lord of hosts he fought:

The church’s prayers made him so prosperous.

GLOUCESTER

The church! where is it? Had not churchmen pray’d,

His thread of life had not so soon decay’d:

None do you like but an effeminate prince,

Whom, like a school-boy, you may over-awe.

BISHOP

OF WINCHESTER

Gloucester, whate’er we like, thou art protector

And lookest to command the prince and realm.

Thy wife is proud; she holdeth thee in awe,

More than God or religious churchmen may.

GLOUCESTER

Name not religion, for thou lovest the flesh,

And ne’er throughout the year to church thou go’st

Except it be to pray against thy foes.

BEDFORD

Cease, cease these jars and rest your minds in peace:

Let’s to the altar: heralds, wait on us:

Instead of gold, we’ll offer up our arms:

Since arms avail not now that Henry’s dead.

Posterity, await for wretched years,

When at their mothers’ moist eyes babes shall suck,

Our isle be made a nourish of salt tears,

And none but women left to wail the dead.

Henry the Fifth, thy ghost I invocate:

Prosper this realm, keep it from civil broils,

Combat with adverse planets in the heavens!

A far more glorious star thy soul will make

Than Julius Caesar or bright--

Enter a Messenger

Messenger

My honourable lords, health to you all!

Sad tidings bring I to you out of France,

Of loss, of slaughter and discomfiture:

Guienne, Champagne, Rheims, Orleans,

Paris, Guysors, Poictiers, are all quite lost.

BEDFORD

What say’st thou, man, before dead Henry’s corse?

Speak softly, or the loss of those great towns

Will make him burst his lead and rise from death.

GLOUCESTER

Is Paris lost? is Rouen yielded up?

If Henry were recall’d to life again,

These news would cause him once more yield the ghost.

EXETER

How were they lost? what treachery was used?

Messenger

No treachery; but want of men and money.

Amongst the soldiers this is muttered,

That here you maintain several factions,

And whilst a field should be dispatch’d and fought,

You are disputing of your generals:

One would have lingering wars with little cost;

Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings;

A third thinks, without expense at all,

By guileful fair words peace may be obtain’d.

Awake, awake, English nobility!

Let not sloth dim your horrors new-begot:

Cropp’d are the flower-de-luces in your arms;

Of England’s coat one half is cut away.

EXETER

Were our tears wanting to this funeral,

These tidings would call forth their flowing tides.

BEDFORD

Me they concern; Regent I am of France.

Give me my steeled coat. I’ll fight for France.

Away with these disgraceful wailing robes!

Wounds will I lend the French instead of eyes,

To weep their intermissive miseries.

Enter to them another Messenger

Messenger

Lords, view these letters full of bad mischance.

France is revolted from the English quite,

Except some petty towns of no import:

The Dauphin Charles is crowned king of Rheims;

The Bastard of Orleans with him is join’d;

Reignier, Duke of Anjou, doth take his part;

The Duke of Alencon flieth to his side.

EXETER

The Dauphin crowned king! all fly to him!

O, whither shall we fly from this reproach?

GLOUCESTER

We will not fly, but to our enemies’ throats.

Bedford, if thou be slack, I’ll fight it out.

BEDFORD

Gloucester, why doubt’st thou of my forwardness?

An army have I muster’d in my thoughts,

Wherewith already France is overrun.

Enter another Messenger

Messenger

My gracious lords, to

Reviews for Henry VI

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[amerynth · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

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.

[therebelprince · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very good - although unabashedly idiosyncratic - approach to one of the more challenging plays in the Shakespeare canon.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.”

[dypaloh · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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"