Line Numbers are editorial, for reference and to key the explanatory and textual notes.
Explanatory Notes explain allusions and gloss obsolete and difficult words, confusing phraseology, occasional major textual cruxes, and so on. Particular attention is given to non-standard usage, bawdy innuendo, and technical terms (e.g. legal and military language). Where more than one sense is given, commas indicate shades of related meaning, slashes alternative or double meanings.
Textual Notes at the end of the play indicate major departures from the Folio. They take the following form: the reading of our text is given in bold and its source given after an equals sign. In relation to Part I, "F2" signifies a correction introduced in the Second Folio of 1632, and "Ed" one from the subsequent editorial tradition. With Part II, "Q" means a reading from the First Quarto text of 1594, "Q2" one from the Second Quarto of 1600, "Q3" from the Third Quarto of 1619, "F2" a correction from the Second Folio of 1632, "F4" a correction from the Fourth Folio of 1685, and "Ed" a reading from the subsequent editorial tradition. For Part III, "Q" signifies a reading from the First Octavo text of 1595, "Q3" one from the Third Quarto text of 1619, "F2" a correction from the Second Folio of 1632, "F3" a correction from the Third Folio of 1663-64, and "Ed" one from the subsequent editorial tradition. The rejected Folio reading is then given. Thus, for example, in Part II: "5.1.201 household = Q. F = housed. F2 = house's" means that we have preferred the Quarto reading "household" and rejected the First Folio's "housed" and the Second Folio's "house's" in the phrase "thy household badge." We have also included interestingly different readings even when we have accepted the reading of the First Folio.
HENRY VI PART I:
KEY FACTS
MAJOR PARTS: (with percentage of lines/number of speeches/scenes onstage) Talbot (15%/59/12), Joan la Pucelle (9%/46/10), Richard Plantagenet, later Duke of York (7%/56/7), Duke of Gloucester (7%/48/7), King Henry VI (7%/29/5), Earl of Suffolk (6%/41/3), Charles, King of France (5%/41/8), Winchester (4%/27/6), Edmund Mortimer (3%/9/1), Sir William Lucy (3%/14/3), Duke of Bedford (3%/19/4), Earl of Warwick (3%/24/4), Duke of Somerset (2%/ 27/4), Duke of Exeter (2%/11/5), Reignier (2%/24/6), Duke of Alencon (2%/18/7), John Talbot (2%/11/2), Countess of Auvergne (2%/13/1), Duke of Burgundy (2%/17/6).
LINGUISTIC MEDIUM: 100% verse.
DATE: 1592. Generally assumed to be the "harey the vi" performed at the Rose Theatre in March 1592 (marked as "ne"--new?--by proprietor Philip Henslowe). Nashe's pamphlet Pierce Penniless (registered for publication August 1592) refers to the Talbot scenes inspiring "the tears of ten thousand spectators."
SOURCES: Different chronicle sources seem to have been used, perhaps by the play's different authors. So, for example, Edward Hall's The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and Yorke (1548) is the main source for the civil contention in England, whereas the account of Joan of Arc draws on Holinshed's Chronicles (1587 edition). Strikingly, the scenes most likely to be Shakespeare's--the Temple garden and Talbot with his son--seem to be pure dramatic invention, with no source in the chronicles.
TEXT: 1623 Folio is the only text. There is dispute over whether it was set from (multi-?)authorial holograph or scribal copy, and the extent to which it was influenced by the playhouse bookkeeper. Some textual inconsistencies (e.g. whether Winchester is a bishop or a cardinal) may have been the result of different authors making different assumptions. The Folio editors introduced act and scene divisions that are perhaps more literary than theatrical.
TRILOGY?: Modern scholarship leans to the view that the plays which the Folio calls the second and third parts of Henry the Sixth were originally a two-part "Wars of the Roses" drama (The First Part of the Contention and The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York) and that this play was a (collaborative) "prequel," written later to cash in on their success. This argument supposes that the three plays only became a "trilogy" when they were renamed and ordered by historical sequence in the 1623 Folio. Some scholars, however, adhere to the minority view that all three parts were written in sequence as a trilogy.
THE FIRST PART OF HENRY THE SIXTH
The English side
KING HENRY VI, probably a boy player Duke of BEDFORD, Regent of France Duke of GLOUCESTER, Lord Protector, brother of the late Henry V, uncle of the king Duke of EXETER, uncle of the late Henry V, great-uncle of the king Bishop of WINCHESTER, later a Cardinal, Exeter's younger brother, family name Beaufort Duke of SOMERSET, Exeter's nephew RICHARD PLANTAGENET, later DUKE OF YORK and Regent of France Earl of WARWICK
Earl of SALISBURY
Earl of SUFFOLK, William de la Pole Lord TALBOT, later Earl of Shrewsbury JOHN Talbot, his son Edmund MORTIMER, Earl of March Sir Thomas GARGRAVE
Sir William GLASDALE
Sir John FALSTAFF (historically Fastolf, not the same character as in Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor) Sir William LUCY
WOODVILLE, Lieutenant of the Tower of London MAYOR of London
OFFICER to the Mayor of London VERNON
BASSET
A LAWYER
A Papal LEGATE
JAILERS
English CAPTAIN
FIRST SERVINGMAN
FIRST MESSENGER
SECOND MESSENGER
THIRD MESSENGER
FIRST WARDER
SECOND WARDER
The French side
CHARLES the Dauphin, later King of France REIGNIER, Duke of Anjou, King of Naples MARGARET, his daughter Duke of ALENCON
BASTARD of Orleans Duke of BURGUNDY
French GENERAL
Joan la PUCELLE, also called Joan of Arc SHEPHERD, father of Joan MASTER GUNNER of Orleans Master Gunner's BOY, his son COUNTESS of Auvergne Her PORTER
French SERGEANT
FIRST SENTINEL WATCH
FIRST SOLDIER
French SCOUT
Soldiers, Attendants, Ambassadors, the Governor of Paris, French herald, Servingmen, Messengers, Sentinels, Captains, Fiends, Trumpeters
Act 1 Scene 1
running scene 1
Dead march. Enter the funeral of King Henry the Fifth, attended on by the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France; the Duke of Gloucester, Protector; the Duke of Exeter, [the Earl of] Warwick, the Bishop of Winchester, and the Duke of Somerset, [and Heralds]
BEDFORD Hung be the heavens with black1: yield, day, to night!
Comets, importing change of times and states2,
Brandish your crystal tresses3 in the sky,
And with them scourge the bad revolting stars4
That have consented unto5 Henry's death:
King Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long6:
England ne'er lost a king of so much worth.
GLOUCESTER England ne'er had a king until his time:
Virtue9 he had, deserving to command:
His10 brandished sword did blind men with his beams:
His arms spread wider than a dragon's wings:
His sparkling eyes, replete with12 wrathful fire,
More dazzled and drove back his enemies
Than midday sun, fierce bent against their faces.
What should I say?15 His deeds exceed all speech:
He ne'er lift up his hand but conquered16.
EXETER We mourn in black: why mourn we not in blood17?
Henry is dead and never shall revive18:
Upon a wooden19 coffin we attend,
And death's dishonourable victory
We with our stately presence glorify,
Like captives bound to a triumphant car22.
What, shall we curse the planets of mishap23,
That plotted24 thus our glory's overthrow?
Or shall we think the subtle-witted25 French
Conjurers and sorcerers, that, afraid of him,
By magic verses have contrived27 his end?
WINCHESTER He was a king blessed of the King of Kings28.
Unto the French the dreadful judgement day29
So dreadful30 will not be as was his sight.
&n
bsp; The battles of the Lord of hosts31 he fought:
The church's prayers made him so prosperous32.
GLOUCESTER The church? Where is it? Had not churchmen prayed33,
His thread of life34 had not so soon decayed.
None do you like but an effeminate prince35,
Whom like a schoolboy you may overawe36.
WINCHESTER Gloucester, whate'er we like, thou art Protector37
And lookest38 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 lov'st the flesh41,
And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'st
Except it be to pray against thy foes.
BEDFORD Cease, cease these jars44, and rest your minds in peace:
Let's to the altar: heralds, wait on us:
[Exeunt funeral procession]
Instead of gold, we'll offer up our arms:
Since arms avail not47 now that Henry's dead:
Posterity, await for48 wretched years,
When, at their mothers' moistened eyes, babes shall suck,49
Our isle be made a nourish50 of salt tears,
And none but women left to wail the dead.
Henry the Fifth, thy ghost I invocate52:
Prosper this realm, keep it from civil broils53,
Combat with adverse planets54 in the heavens:
A far more glorious star thy soul will make
Than Julius Caesar56, or bright--
Enter a Messenger
FIRST MESSENGER My honourable lords, health to you all:
Sad tidings bring I to you out of France,
Of loss, of slaughter and discomfiture59:
Guyenne, Champaigne60, Rouen, Rheims, Orleans,
Paris, Gisors, Poitiers, are all quite lost.
BEDFORD What say'st thou, man, before dead Henry's corpse?
Speak softly, or the loss of those great towns
Will make him burst his lead64 and rise from death.
GLOUCESTER Is Paris lost? Is Rouen yielded up?
If Henry were recalled to life again,
These news would cause him once more yield the ghost67.
EXETER How were they lost? What treachery was used?
FIRST MESSENGER No treachery, but want69 of men and money.
Amongst the soldiers this is muttered:
That here you maintain several71 factions,
And whilst a field should be dispatched72 and fought,
You are disputing of73 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 guileful77 fair words peace may be obtained.
Awake, awake, English nobility!
Let not sloth dim your honours new-begot79:
Cropped are the flower-de-luces in your arms80:
Of England's coat81, one half is cut away.
[Exit]
EXETER Were our tears wanting to82 this funeral,
These tidings would call forth her flowing tides83.
BEDFORD Me they concern: Regent84 I am of France:
Give me my steeled coat85: I'll fight for France.
He removes his mourning robes
Away with these disgraceful wailing robes!
Wounds will I lend the French instead of eyes,
To weep their intermissive88 miseries.
Enter to them another Messenger
SECOND MESSENGER Lords, view these letters, full of bad mischance89.
France is revolted from the English quite90,
Except some petty91 towns of no import.
The dauphin92 Charles is crowned king in Rheims:
The Bastard93 of Orleans with him is joined:
Reignier, Duke of Anjou, doth take his part:
The Duke of Alencon flieth to his side.
Exit
EXETER The dauphin crowned king! All fly to him?
O whither shall we fly from this reproach97?
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 forwardness100?
An army have I mustered in my thoughts,
Wherewith already France is overrun.
Enter another Messenger
THIRD MESSENGER My gracious lords, to add to your laments,
Wherewith you now bedew104 King Henry's hearse,
I must inform you of a dismal fight105
Betwixt the stout Lord Talbot and the French.
WINCHESTER What? Wherein Talbot overcame -- is't so?
THIRD MESSENGER O no: wherein Lord Talbot was o'erthrown:
The circumstance109 I'll tell you more at large.
The tenth of August last, this dreadful110 lord,
Retiring from the siege of Orleans,
Having full scarce112 six thousand in his troop,
By three and twenty thousand of the French
Was round encompassed114 and set upon:
No leisure had he to enrank115 his men.
He wanted pikes116 to set before his archers:
Instead whereof, sharp stakes plucked out of hedges
They pitched in the ground confusedly118,
To keep the horsemen off from breaking in.
More than three hours the fight continued,
Where valiant Talbot above human thought121
Enacted wonders with his sword and lance.
Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand123 him:
Here, there, and everywhere, enraged he slew.
The French exclaimed the devil was in arms:
All the whole army stood agazed on126 him.
His soldiers spying his undaunted spirit
'A Talbot! A Talbot!' cried out amain128
And rushed into the bowels129 of the battle.
Here had the conquest fully been sealed up130,
If Sir John Falstaff131 had not played the coward.
He, being in the vanguard, placed behind
With133 purpose to relieve and follow them,
Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke.
Hence grew the general wrack135 and massacre;
Enclosed136 were they with their enemies.
A base Walloon, to win the dauphin's grace137,
Thrust Talbot with a spear into the back,
Whom all France with their chief assembled strength
Durst not presume to look once in the face.
BEDFORD Is Talbot slain then? I will slay myself,
For living idly here in pomp142 and ease,
Whilst such a worthy leader, wanting aid,
Unto his dastard foemen144 is betrayed.
THIRD MESSENGER O no, he lives, but is took prisoner,
And Lord Scales with him, and Lord Hungerford:
Most of the rest slaughtered, or took likewise.
BEDFORD His ransom there is none but I shall pay.
I'll hale149 the dauphin headlong from his throne:
His crown shall be the ransom of my friend:
Four of their lords I'll change151 for one of ours.
Farewell, my masters: to my task will I.
Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make,
To keep our great Saint George's feast withal154.
Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take,
Whose bloody deeds shall make all Europe quake.
THIRD MESSENGER So you had need, for Orleans is besieged.
The English army is grown weak and faint:
The Earl of Salisbury craveth supply159,
And hardly160 keeps his men from mutiny,
Since they, so few, watch such a multitude.
[Exit]
EXETER Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry sworn:
Either to quell163 the dauphin utterly,<
br />
Or bring him in obedience to your yoke.
BEDFORD I do remember it, and here take my leave,
To go about my preparation.
Exit Bedford
GLOUCESTER I'll to the Tower167 with all the haste I can,
To view th'artillery and munition,
And then I will proclaim young Henry king.
Exit Gloucester
EXETER To Eltham170 will I, where the young king is,
Being ordained his special governor171,
And for his safety there I'll best devise.
Exit
WINCHESTER Each hath his place and function to attend:
I am left out; for me nothing remains:
But long I will not be Jack-out-of-office175.
The king from Eltham I intend to steal
And sit at chiefest stern of public weal177.
Exit
[Act 1 Scene 2]
running scene 2
Sound a flourish. Enter Charles [the Dauphin, the Duke of] Alencon and Reignier [Duke of Anjou], marching with Drum and Soldiers
CHARLES Mars his true moving1, even as in the heavens
So in the earth, to this day is not known.
Late3 did he shine upon the English side:
Now we are victors: upon us he smiles.
What towns of any moment5 but we have?
At pleasure here we lie near Orleans;
Otherwhiles7 the famished English, like pale ghosts,
Faintly besiege us one hour in a month.
ALENCON They want their porridge and their fat bull-beeves9: