Henry VI, Part III: Analysis of Setting
"Henry VI, Part III" is a historical play by William Shakespeare that explores the tumultuous period of the Wars of the Roses through its vivid settings. Key locations in the play include the small Yorkshire town of Towton, where a significant and brutal battle takes place, symbolizing the devastating impact of civil war. The battlefield serves as a backdrop for personal and familial conflict, portraying the tragic consequences of divided loyalties among family members.
Another critical setting is the Tower of London, where the former king Henry VI meets his tragic end, illustrating the themes of powerlessness and prophetic insight. This setting highlights Henry’s transition from a ruler to a victim of his own ineffectiveness, as he foresees the rise of a future king and the threat posed by Richard. Lastly, the royal palace provides a contrasting environment filled with courtly intrigue and romance, yet it remains a place of underlying tension, foreshadowing further conflict in the narrative. Collectively, these settings contribute to the play’s exploration of political discord, personal tragedy, and the cyclical nature of violence in leadership and family dynamics.
Henry VI, Part III: Analysis of Setting
First published: 1595
First produced: c. 1590-1591
Type of work: Drama
Type of plot: Historical
Time of work: 1455-1471
Asterisk denotes entries on real places.
Places Discussed
*Towton
*Towton. Small Yorkshire town near which a great battle is fought. For Shakespeare’s audience, the Battle of Towton represented the Wars of the Roses at their worst. On stage political discord appears as familial discord when fathers and sons, fighting on opposite sides, kill each other. Elizabethans believed that civil war dismembered the body politic, and on the battlefield physical bodies are dismembered as when Lord Clifford’s head is cut off and put on the gates of York to replace the duke of York’s head. The battlefield also juxtaposes King Henry’s political weakness with his moral stature. Henry, dismissed by his own supporters and forgotten in this battle for his crown, sits on a molehill, a symbol of his departed authority. However, while the king sits stripped of his royal dignity, he serves as a chorus, testifying to the human costs of the battle around him.
*Tower of London
*Tower of London. Famous castle and prison alongside the River Thames in London. Richard of Gloucester murders King Henry in the Tower, foreshadowing Richard’s more famous Tower murders in Shakespeare’s earlier play Richard III (1592-1593). In the tower, Henry VI, once the king of England and France, lives and dies as a helpless prisoner, an almost fitting end for a man who could not rule his powerful nobles. Paradoxically, however, it is inside this prison that the ineffectual Henry grows into a prophet, foreseeing in young Henry of Richmond a great future king and in Richard a tyrant.
*Royal palace
*Royal palace. Edward IV’s court in London. In a play dominated by battle scenes the royal palace serves as a theatrical respite. Edward, while at court and apparently secure on his throne, pursues the widow Elizabeth Grey as he had once pursued the crown. Romantic intrigues replace military strategy, and battles yield to bawdy jokes and double entendres. But any security here is temporary; the discord produced by civil war continues. Edward’s wooing of and subsequent marriage to Elizabeth will only renew the Wars of the Roses. More ominously, it is at the court that Richard of Gloucester gives his famous soliloquy, announcing his ambition to become king.
Bibliography
Evans, Gareth Lloyd. The Upstart Crow: An Introduction to Shakespeare’s Plays. London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1982. A comprehensive discussion of the dramatic works of William Shakespeare. While emphasis is on critical reviews of the plays, there are also discussions of sources, as well as material on the circumstances which surrounded the writing of the plays.
Leggatt, Alexander. Shakespeare’s Political Drama: The History Plays and the Roman Plays. New York: Routledge, 1988. A discussion of Shakespeare’s history plays, dealing with English history from the reign of King Henry II to that of Henry VIII, as well as three plays dealing with Roman history: Julius Caesar (1599-1600), Antony and Cleopatra (1606-1607), and Coriolanus (1607-1608).
Pierce, Robert B. Shakespeare’s History Plays: The Family and the State. Columbus: University of Ohio Press, 1971. A general discussion of Shakespeare’s history plays. The three plays on King Henry VI are discussed in a relatively positive way but are still generally treated as experimental.
Ribner, Irving. The English History Play in the Age of Shakespeare. London: Methuen, 1965. A revised edition of the 1957 work first published in the United States by Princeton University Press. A discussion of history plays in the Elizabethan era of English drama, including a discussion of Shakespeare’s contributions in the field. The development of the form through the period is discussed, and its sources are considered.
Shakespeare, William. The Third Part of King Henry VI. Edited by Andrew S. Cairncross. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1964. Part of the Arden Shakespeare series. This volume contains more than sixty pages’ worth of introductory notes, including discussion of the various original texts, the sources of the play, and a critical evaluation of the work, as well as genealogical tables.