Henry VI (Parts I, II and III) (Signet Classics)

  RICHARD DUKE OF YORK And yet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure.--

  Strumpet, thy words condemn thy brat and thee.

  Use no entreaty, for it is in vain.

  PUCELLE Then lead me hence, with whom I leave my curse:

  May never glorious sun reflex87 his beams

  Upon the country where you make abode:

  But darkness and the gloomy shade of death

  Environ you, till mischief and despair

  Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves!

  Exit [guarded]

  RICHARD DUKE OF YORK Break thou in pieces and consume92 to ashes,

  Thou foul accursed minister93 of hell!

  Enter [Bishop of Winchester, now] Cardinal [attended]

  WINCHESTER Lord Regent, I do greet your excellence

  With letters of commission95 from the king.

  For know, my lords, the states of Christendom,

  Moved with remorse of these outrageous broils97,

  Have earnestly implored a general peace

  Betwixt our nation and the aspiring99 French,

  And here at hand the dauphin and his train

  Approacheth to confer about some matter.

  RICHARD DUKE OF YORK Is all our travail102 turned to this effect?

  After the slaughter of so many peers,

  So many captains, gentlemen and soldiers,

  That in this quarrel have been overthrown

  And sold their bodies for their country's benefit,

  Shall we at last conclude effeminate peace?

  Have we not lost most part of all the towns,

  By treason, falsehood and by treachery,

  Our great progenitors had conquered?

  O Warwick, Warwick, I foresee with grief

  The utter loss of all the realm of France.

  WARWICK Be patient, York: if we conclude113 a peace,

  It shall be with such strict and severe covenants114

  As little shall the Frenchmen gain thereby.

  Enter Charles, Alencon, Bastard [of Orleans] and Reignier

  CHARLES Since, lords of England, it is thus agreed

  That peaceful truce shall be proclaimed in France,

  We come to be informed by yourselves

  What the conditions of that league must be.

  RICHARD DUKE OF YORK Speak, Winchester, for boiling choler chokes

  The hollow passage of my poisoned voice,

  By sight of these our baleful122 enemies.

  WINCHESTER Charles and the rest, it is enacted123 thus:

  That, in regard124 King Henry gives consent,

  Of mere compassion and of lenity125,

  To ease your country of distressful126 war,

  And suffer127 you to breathe in fruitful peace,

  You shall become true liegemen128 to his crown.

  And, Charles, upon condition thou wilt swear

  To pay him tribute130, and submit thyself,

  Thou shalt be placed as viceroy under him,

  And still enjoy thy regal dignity.

  ALENCON Must he be then as shadow of himself?

  Adorn his temples with a coronet134,

  And yet in substance and authority

  Retain but136 privilege of a private man?

  This proffer137 is absurd and reasonless.

  CHARLES 'Tis known already that I am possessed

  With more than half the Gallian139 territories,

  And therein reverenced for140 their lawful king.

  Shall I, for lucre of the rest141 unvanquished,

  Detract so much from that prerogative,

  As to be called but viceroy of the whole?

  No, lord ambassador, I'll rather keep

  That which I have than, coveting for more,

  Be cast146 from possibility of all.

  RICHARD DUKE OF YORK Insulting Charles, hast thou by secret means

  Used intercession to obtain a league,

  And, now the matter grows to compromise149,

  Stand'st thou aloof upon comparison150?

  Either accept the title thou usurp'st,

  Of benefit152 proceeding from our king

  And not of any challenge of desert153,

  Or we will plague thee with incessant wars.

  Aside to Charles

  REIGNIER My lord, you do not well in obstinacy

  To cavil156 in the course of this contract:

  If once it be neglected157, ten to one

  We shall not find like opportunity.

  Aside to Charles

  ALENCON To say the truth, it is your policy

  To save your subjects from such massacre

  And ruthless slaughters as are daily seen

  By our proceeding in hostility:

  And therefore take this compact163 of a truce,

  Although you break it when your pleasure serves.

  WARWICK How say'st thou, Charles? Shall our condition165 stand?

  CHARLES It shall:

  Only reserved167 you claim no interest

  In any of our towns of garrison168.

  RICHARD DUKE OF YORK Then swear allegiance to his majesty,

  As thou art knight, never to disobey

  Nor be rebellious to the crown of England,

  Thou, nor thy nobles, to the crown of England.

  So, now dismiss your army when ye please:

  Hang up your ensigns174, let your drums be still,

  For here we entertain175 a solemn peace.

  Exeunt

  Act 5 [Scene 5]

  running scene 21

  Enter Suffolk in conference with King [Henry VI], Gloucester and Exeter

  KING HENRY VI Your wondrous rare description, noble earl,

  Of beauteous Margaret hath astonished me:

  Her virtues graced with external gifts

  Do breed love's settled4 passions in my heart,

  And like as rigour5 of tempestuous gusts

  Provokes the mightiest hulk6 against the tide,

  So am I driven by breath of her renown

  Either to suffer shipwreck or arrive

  Where I may have fruition of her love.

  SUFFOLK Tush, my good lord, this superficial tale

  Is but a preface of her worthy praise11:

  The chief perfections of that lovely dame,

  Had I sufficient skill to utter them,

  Would make a volume of enticing lines,

  Able to ravish any dull conceit15:

  And, which is more, she is not so divine,

  So full17 replete with choice of all delights,

  But with as humble lowliness18 of mind

  She is content to be at your command:

  Command, I mean, of virtuous chaste intents,

  To love and honour Henry as her lord.

  KING HENRY VI And otherwise will Henry ne'er presume:

  Therefore, my Lord Protector, give consent

  That Margaret may be England's royal queen.

  GLOUCESTER So should I give consent to flatter25 sin.

  You know, my lord, your highness is betrothed

  Unto another lady of esteem27:

  How shall we then dispense with that contract28,

  And not deface your honour with reproach29?

  SUFFOLK As doth a ruler with unlawful oaths,

  Or one that, at a triumph31 having vowed

  To try his strength, forsaketh yet the lists32

  By reason of his adversary's odds.

  A poor earl's daughter is unequal odds,

  And therefore may be broke35 without offence.

  GLOUCESTER Why, what, I pray, is Margaret more than that?

  Her father is no better than an earl,

  Although in glorious titles he excel.

  SUFFOLK Yes, my lord, her father is a king,

  The King of Naples and Jerusalem,

  And of such great authority in France

  As his alliance will confirm42 our peace

  And keep the Frenchmen in allegiance.
>
  GLOUCESTER And so the Earl of Armagnac may do,

  Because he is near kinsman unto Charles.

  EXETER Beside, his wealth doth warrant46 a liberal dower,

  Where47 Reignier sooner will receive than give.

  SUFFOLK A dower, my lords? Disgrace not so your king,

  That he should be so abject, base and poor,

  To choose for wealth and not for perfect love.

  Henry is able to enrich his queen,

  And not to seek a queen to make him rich:

  So worthless peasants bargain for their wives,

  As market men for oxen, sheep, or horse.

  Marriage is a matter of more worth

  Than to be dealt in by attorneyship56:

  Not whom we will, but whom his grace affects57,

  Must be companion of his nuptial bed.

  And therefore, lords, since he affects her most,

  Most of all these reasons bindeth us,

  In our opinions she should be preferred61.

  For what is wedlock forced but a hell,

  An age of discord and continual strife?

  Whereas the contrary bringeth bliss,

  And is a pattern65 of celestial peace.

  Whom should we match with Henry, being a king,

  But Margaret, that is daughter to a king?

  Her peerless feature68, joined with her birth,

  Approves69 her fit for none but for a king:

  Her valiant courage and undaunted spirit,

  More than in women commonly is seen,

  Will answer our hope in issue of a king72.

  For Henry, son unto a conqueror,

  Is likely to beget more conquerors,

  If with a lady of so high resolve75,

  As is fair Margaret, he be linked in love.

  Then yield, my lords, and here conclude with me

  That Margaret shall be queen, and none but she.

  KING HENRY VI Whether it be through force of your report,

  My noble lord of Suffolk, or for that80

  My tender youth was never yet attaint81

  With any passion of inflaming love,

  I cannot tell: but this I am assured,

  I feel such sharp dissension84 in my breast,

  Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear,

  As I am sick with working of my thoughts.

  Take therefore shipping: post87, my lord, to France:

  Agree to any covenants, and procure88

  That Lady Margaret do vouchsafe to come

  To cross the seas to England, and be crowned

  King Henry's faithful and anointed91 queen.

  For your expenses and sufficient charge92,

  Among the people gather up a tenth93.

  Be gone, I say, for, till you do return,

  I rest perplexed with a thousand cares.

  And you, good uncle, banish all offence96:

  If you do censure me by what you were97,

  Not what you are, I know it will excuse

  This sudden execution of my will.

  And so conduct me where from company100

  I may revolve and ruminate my grief101.

  Exit

  GLOUCESTER Ay, grief, I fear me, both at first and last.

  Exit [with Exeter]

  SUFFOLK Thus Suffolk hath prevailed, and thus he goes

  As did the youthful Paris once to Greece104,

  With hope to find the like event105 in love,

  But prosper better than the Trojan did:

  Margaret shall now be queen, and rule the king:

  But I will rule both her, the king, and realm.

  Exit

  TEXTUAL NOTES

  F = First Folio text of 1623, the only authority for the play

  F2 = a correction introduced in the Second Folio text of 1632

  Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor

  SD = stage direction SH = speech heading (i.e. speaker's name)

  List of parts = Ed

  1.1.60 Champaigne = F. Ed = Compiegne Rouen = Ed. Not in F, but implicit in the text 92 dauphin = Ed. F = Dolphin 94 Reignier = Ed. F = Reynold 131 Falstaff = F. Ed = Fastolf 176 steal = Ed. F = send

  1.2.21 fly = F. Ed = flee 30 bred = Ed. F = breed 47 SH CHARLES = Ed. F = Dolph. 65 SH PUCELLE = Ed. F = Puzel 99 five = Ed. F = fine

  1.3.6 SH FIRST SERVINGMAN = Ed. F = Glost. I. Man. 19 The Cardinal = F. Ed = My lord 29 umpire = F2. F = Vmpheir 30 Peeled spelled Piel'd in F 42 scarlet = F. Ed = purple 49 cardinal's hat = F. Ed = bishop's mitre 56 scarlet = F. Ed = cloaked 56 SD [Bishop of Winchester's] = Ed. F = Cardinalls 73 SH OFFICER = Ed. Not in F 79 Cardinal = F. Ed = Bishop 84 cardinal's = F. Ed = bishop is

  1.4.10 Wont = Ed. F = Went 27 Earl = F. Ed = Duke 66 lords = F. Ed = Lou 69 SD shoot = Ed. F = shot SD fall = Ed. F = falls 89 Bear ... it moved from its position in F two lines before, since the body referred to cannot be that of Salisbury, and must be that of Gargrave 95 Nero = Ed

  1.6.21 pyramid = Ed. F = pyramis 22 of = Ed. F = or

  2.1.5 SH FIRST SENTINEL = Ed. F = Sent. 80 SD [The French] fly = Ed. F = they flye (F has additional "Exeunt" cue for the French one line above)

  2.2.20 Arc = Ed. F = Acre

  2.4.0 SD Suffolk = Ed. F = Poole 1 SH RICHARD PLANTAGENET = Ed. F = Yorke 41 are ... tree = F. Ed = from the tree are cropped 57 law = Ed. F = you 118 wiped = F2 (wip't). F = whipt 133 gentles = Ed. F = gentle. Ed = gentle sirs/gentlemen

  2.5.33 SH FIRST JAILER = Ed. F = Keeper 71 King = Ed. F2 = K. Not in F 75 the = F2. Not in F 76 the king = Ed. F = hee 129 mine ill = Ed. F = my will

  3.1.56 see = F. Ed = so 167 that = Ed. F = that all

  4.1.19 Patay = Ed. F = Poictiers. Probably an authorial error, since the battle of Poitiers took place much earlier 48 my = Ed. Not in F 173 SD Flourish = Ed. F places in stage direction eight lines later 180 wist = Ed. F = wish

  4.2.15 SH GENERAL = Ed. F = Cap. 29 rive = F. Ed = fire

  4.3.17 SH LUCY = Ed. F = 2. Mes. 53 lauds = F. Ed = lands

  4.4.16 legions = Ed. F = Regions. Suggested compositorial confusion between Shakespeare's lowercase "l" and "r," which similarly occurs in other plays 19 in advantage = F. Ed = unadvantaged 31 host = F. Ed = horse

  4.7.17 SD Enter ... borne = Ed. F places one line earlier 63 Washford = F. Ed = Wexford 89 them = Ed. F = him 94 them = Ed. F = him

  Act 5 Scene 1 = Ed. F = Scena secunda

  Act 5 Scene 2 = Ed. F = Scoena Tertia

  5.3.57 her = Ed. F = his 159 country = F. Ed = countries 184 modestly = F2. F = modestie

  5.4.10 an't = Ed. F = and 37 one = Ed. F = me 49 Arc = Ed. F = Aire 93 SD Enter ... Cardinal = Ed. F places two lines earlier

  5.5.60 Most = F. Ed. = It most or That most

  HENRY VI PART II:

  KEY FACTS

  MAJOR PARTS: (with percentage of lines/number of speeches/scenes onstage) Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (12%/58/9), King Henry VI (10%/82/11), Duke of Gloucester (10%/69/7), Duke of Suffolk (10%/67/7), Queen Margaret (10%/61/9), Jack Cade (8%/61/6), Earl of Warwick (4%/32/8), Cardinal Beaufort (4%/31/6), Eleanor (4%/21/5), Earl of Salisbury (3%/17/8), Duke of Buckingham (2%/24/9), Lord Clifford (2%/17/4), Captain (2%/11/1), Lord Say (2%/13/2), Alexander Iden (2%/9/2), Young Clifford (2%/4/2), Dick (1%/24/4).

  LINGUISTIC MEDIUM: 85% verse, 15% prose.

  DATE: 1591? Unquestionably precedes the play now known as The Third Part, a line of which was parodied in a pamphlet entered for publication in September 1592. Almost certainly played as a two-parter with the following play by Pembroke's Men, who were active in 1592. The possibility of an earlier pre-Shakespearean version and a later Shakespearean revision cannot be ruled out.

  SOURCES: The main historical source seems to have been either Edward Hall's The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and Yorke (1548) or Richard Grafton's abridged and very slightly altered version thereof (1569); Holinshed's Chronicles also seems to have been used, but there are fewer signs of its influence than in any of the other
English histories. The false miracle of Simpcox was added by Grafton to Hall, but Shakespeare almost certainly read it in John Foxe's hugely influential protestant martyrology Actes and Monuments (perhaps read in the enlarged edition of 1583).

  TEXT: A short version was published in Quarto form in 1594, entitled The First Part of the Contention betwixt the two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster, with the death of the good Duke Humphrey: And the banishment and death of the Duke of Suffolke, and the Tragicall end of the proud Cardinall of Winchester, with the notable Rebellion of Iacke Cade: And the Duke of Yorkes first claime vnto the Crowne, reprinted 1600 and, with attribution to Shakespeare and title combined with that of the following play, 1619 (The Whole Contention betweene the two Famous Houses, Lancaster and Yorke). The Quarto text is a reconstruction of a playing version, but there is much dispute over whether it is a short and often poorly remembered version of the play that is preserved in full in the Folio or the text of an early version (not by Shakespeare? partly by Shakespeare?) that Shakespeare then revised into the play that was printed in the Folio. It is equally unclear whether the possible linguistic signs of a non-Shakespearean hand (or hands) in the Folio text are vestiges of an older version or the result of active collaboration/coauthorship. We use the Folio text, which has the authority of Hemings and Condell; it is usually thought to represent a fairly close approximation of Shakespeare's manuscript, though the Third Quarto sometimes seems to have been consulted. The Quarto remains valuable for certain details of staging and the more significant of its variations are recorded in the textual notes.

  THE SECOND PART OF

  HENRY THE SIXTH, WITH

  THE DEATH OF THE GOOD

  DUKE HUMPHREY

  Lancastrians

  KING HENRY VI

  QUEEN MARGARET

  Duke Humphrey of GLOUCESTER, Lord Protector, the king's uncle ELEANOR, Duchess of Gloucester CARDINAL Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, the king's great-uncle Duke of SOMERSET, the Cardinal's nephew Duke of BUCKINGHAM, Humphrey Stafford Marquis, later Duke, of SUFFOLK, William de la Pole Old Lord CLIFFORD

  YOUNG CLIFFORD, his son Yorkists

  Richard Plantagenet, Duke of YORK

  EDWARD, Earl of March, his son RICHARD (who will eventually become King Richard III), another son Earl of SALISBURY, Richard Neville Earl of WARWICK, his son The conjuration