Henry VII Part 3 is a play by William Shakespeare that was first published in Get a copy of Henry VI Part 3 at leondumoulin.nl Act II, Scenes iii-vi.
Table of contents
The first example is in Act 1, Scene 1, when Warwick says "[No-one] dares stir a wing if Warwick shake his bells" l. After the news of York's death has reached them, Richard encourages Edward to take York's place; "If thou be that princely eagle's bird" 2. When Clifford is urging Henry to protect the Prince's birthright, he attempts to illustrate to Henry that doing the right thing for his children should be a natural course of action; "Doves will peck in safeguard of their brood" 2.
Bird imagery continues to be used contemptuously in France, where Margaret says of Edward and Warwick, "both of you are birds of selfsame feather" 3. Another commonly recurring animal motif is that of lambs and wolves. After being captured by the Lancastrians, York then refer to Margaret as "She-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France" 1. Prior to the battle of Barnet, Margaret rallies her troops by claiming Edward has destroyed the country and usurped the throne, then pointing out "And yonder is the wolf that makes this spoil" 5.
A third recurring image is that of the lion. This is introduced by Rutland in Act 1, Scene 3; "So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch" l. As Clifford chastises Henry for disinheriting Prince Edward, he asks "To whom do lions cast their gentle looks? Other animals referred to in the play include dogs 1. One of the most obvious themes in the play is revenge, which is cited numerous times by various different characters as the driving force for their actions.
At different points in the play, Henry, Northumberland, Westmorland, Clifford, Richard, Edward and Warwick all cite a desire for revenge as a major factor in guiding their decisions, and revenge becomes a shared objective between both sides of the conflict, as each seek to redress the apparent wrongs perpetrated by the other; "In 3 Henry VI , we witness the final degradation of chivalry: The theme of revenge is introduced in the opening scene.
Northumberland responds to this with "If I be not, heavens be revenged on me" 1. Later, after Henry has resigned the crown to the House of York and has been abandoned by Clifford, Westmorland and Northumberland, Exeter explains, "They seek revenge and therefore shall not yield" 1. And more than so, my father " 3. Revenge, however, is not confined to the Lancastrians.
Upon learning of the death of his father, Richard is almost overwhelmed with a manic thirst for vengeance;. I cannot weep, for all my body's moisture Scarce serves to quench my furnace-burning heart, Nor can my tongue unload my heart's great burden, For selfsame wind that I should speak withal Is kindling coals that fires all my breast And burns me up with flames that tears would quench. To weep is to make less the depth of grief; Tears then for babes, blows and revenge for me.
Richard, I bear thy name, I'll venge thy death, Or die renown'd by attempting it. During his time in France, Warwick again cites revenge as part of his reason for joining the Lancastrians; "Did I let pass th'abuse done to my niece? Indeed, it is perhaps Warwick who sums up the revenge ethic of the play; in Act 2, Scene 6, upon finding Clifford's body, Warwick orders that Clifford's head replace York's at the gates of the city, declaring "Measure for measure must be answer'd" l.
Of all the characters who advocate revenge however, Clifford is by far the most passionate. His obsession with revenge for the death of his father takes root before the play even begins, in the penultimate scene of 2 Henry VI ;. Wast thou ordained, dear father, To lose thy youth in peace, and to achieve The silver livery of advis'd age, And in thy reverence and thy chair-days, thus To die in ruffian battle?
Even at this sight My heart is turned to stone; and while 'tis mine It shall be stony. York not our old men spares; No more will I their babes. Tears virginal Shall be to me even as the dew to fire, And beauty that the tyrant oft reclaims Shall to my flaming wrath be oil and flax. Henceforth I will not have to do with pity. In cruelty will I seek out my fame. Early in 3 Henry VI , Clifford makes it clear that nothing has changed in his desire to revenge his father's death.
The murder of Rutland is particularly important in terms of Clifford's pursuit of vengeance, as the scene is punctuated with a debate about the limits and moral implications of exacting revenge on someone who did no wrong in the first place;. I am too mean a subject for thy wrath; Be thou revenged on men , and let me live. He is a man, and Clifford cope with him. No, if I digged up thy forefathers' graves And hung their rotten coffins up in chains, It could not slake mine ire, nor ease my heart.
- Living Lawfully: Love in Law and Law in Love (Law and Philosophy Library).
- Folger Consort?
- Priory Citings.
- SparkNotes: Henry VI Part 3: Summary.
- Male Nude Photography- Michael Crowe?
- Remote Sensing of Forest Environments: Concepts and Case Studies.
The sight of any of the House of York Is as a fury to torment my soul, And till I root out their accurs'd line And leave not one alive, I live in hell. He lifts his hand. To thee I pray; sweet Clifford pity me. Thou hast one son: Ah, let me live in prison all my days, And when I give occasion of offence, Then let me die, for now thou hast no cause. Clifford subverts all notions of morality and chivalry in his dogged pursuit of revenge, determined to visit onto the House of York the same type of suffering as it delivered onto him with the death of his father.
This culminates during the torture of York in Act 1, Scene 4. Only moments after capturing York, Clifford wants to execute him immediately, but is prevented from doing so by Margaret, who wishes to talk to, and taunt, York prior to killing him. When Margaret tells York that he will die soon, Clifford quickly points out, "That is my office, for my father's sake" l.
Clifford remains relatively silent throughout most of the scene, speaking only immediately prior to his stabbing of York, and again, citing revenge as foremost in his mind; "Here's for my oath, here's for my father's death" l. However, even with the death of his father's killer, Clifford seems to remain obsessed with revenge. During his single combat with Richard at the Battle of Towton, Clifford attempts to evoke a desire for revenge in Richard by pointing out how he killed two members of Richard's family;.
Now Richard, I am here with thee alone, This is the hand that stabbed thy father York And this the hand that slew thy brother Rutland, And here's the heart that triumphs in their death And cheers these hands that slew thy sire and brother To execute the like upon thyself; And so have at thee. Despite the prevalence of revenge in the earlier parts of the play, it loses significance as a motivating factor as the nature of the conflict changes and develops into a pursuit of power, without recourse to past antagonisms.
Revenge ceases to be the primary driving force for many of the characters, with lust for power taking over, and past conflicts rendered unimportant as each side desperately races for victory; "the revenge ethic has been outstripped by expedient violence with no aim other than the seizure of power. Later, echoing Warwick's statement about his reasons for joining the Lancastrians, Richard outlines why he has remained loyal to the Yorkists; "I stay not for the love of Edward but the crown" 4.
Another example is when Prince Edward is killed in Act 5, Scene 5. His death is brought about because he taunts the Plantagenet brothers, and they lose their temper with him, not because they are exacting revenge for an ongoing feud with his family. Similarly, when Richard kills Henry, his motives have nothing to do with the conflict between his family and Henry's.
He murders him simply because Henry stands in the way of his attempts to gain the throne. As Michael Hattaway writes, "family loyalties may have been the initial cause of the feuds, but an audience watching 3 Henry VI is likely to feel that individual ambition rather than family honour is what fuels the vendettas that inform the play. Both [families] seem to have forgotten that the quarrel between [them] originally was a dynastic one: You're into a time of change in which there is no code except survival of the fittest — who happens to be Richard.
The play depicts what happens when "a nation turns on itself in epic savagery, dissolving its own social foundations. For example, the opening moments of the play see Richard introduced carrying the head of the Duke of Somerset, who he killed at the end of 2 Henry VI. The degradation of chivalric customs and human decency is emphasised when York responds to Richard's arrival by 'talking' to the head itself; "But is your grace dead, my lord of Somerset" 1.
Michael Hattaway sees this scene as an important prologue to the play insofar as "the act of desecration signifies the extinguishing of the residual chivalric code of conspicuous virtue, the eclipsing of honour by main force. Another example of barbarism perpetrated by the Yorkists is the abuse of Clifford's body in Act 2, Scene 6, where Edward, Richard, Clarence and Warwick all speak to the corpse in derision, sardonically wondering why it doesn't answer them.
Richard's treatment of Henry's body in the final scene is another example of the lack of reverence for the dead; after Henry's death, Richard stabs the corpse, proclaiming "Down, down to hell, and say I sent thee hither" 5. As such, with power being seen by many of the characters as the ultimate goal, the play also deals with themes of disloyalty and betrayal , and outlines the results of political factionalism and social breakdown; a once calm world is seen spiralling toward chaos as barbarism and immorality come to the fore.
Tillyard has written of the Henry VI trilogy; "The second part had showed us the murder of Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, the rise of York, the destruction of two of Humphrey's murderers and the enmity of the two survivors, York and Queen Margaret. Through these happenings the country had been brought to the edge of chaos. In the third part, Shakespeare shows us chaos itself, the full prevalence of civil war, the perpetration of one horrible deed after another. In the second part there had remained some chivalric feeling [ Just as revenge gives way to a desire for power, so too does national political conflict give way to a petty interfamily feud.
For example, the play opens in the aftermath of the First Battle of St Albans , and immediately dramatises the agreement between Henry and York that the House of Lancaster will cede the throne to the House of York upon Henry's death. However, in reality, this agreement was brought about not by the First Battle of St Albans but by the Battle of Northampton in , which Shakespeare chose not to dramatise. Furthermore, the legal settlement whereby Henry agreed to relinquish the crown to the House of York upon his death came about due to lengthy parliamentary debate, not a personal agreement between Henry and York, as it is depicted in the play.
As such, a wide-ranging political debate spanning five years, and involving virtually every peer in the country is telescoped in the play to an immediate agreement between two men, thus illustrating the personal nature of the conflict. Another example of a character who also personalises the national conflict and turns it from a political struggle into a personal quest is Clifford, whose desire for revenge for the death of his father seems to be his only reason for fighting. Clifford seems unconcerned with Henry's ability to lead the country, and his desire for personal vengeance seems to outweigh any sense he has of aiding the House of Lancaster because he believes it to be the right thing to do.
Similarly, Warwick's later actions in the play, as he himself acknowledges, have nothing to do with ensuring Henry remain king, but are based wholly on his personal feelings towards Edward; he is more concerned with bringing down the House of York than elevating the House of Lancaster. As such, "the York-Warwick alliance degenerates into an inter-family feud, even more petty in its tit-for-tat predictability than York and Lancaster's squabbles. This concentration on the personal and familial aspects of the war leads to another major theme in the play; the dissolution of Family.
Throughout the play, family ties are shown to be fragile and constantly under threat. The first breach of familial bonds comes when Henry agrees to pass the crown to the House of York after his death. This disinherits his son and renders the crown a piece of transferable property, rather than a symbol of dynastic heritage or monarchic succession.
All of Henry's followers are aghast at this decision, none more so than Margaret, who exclaims,. Ah, wretched man, would I had died a maid And never seen thee, never borne thee son, Seeing thou hast proved so unnatural a father. Hath he deserved to lose his birthright thus? Hadst thou but loved him half so well as I, Or felt that pain which I did for him once, Or nourished him as I did with my blood, Thou wouldst have left thy dearest heart-blood there, Rather than have made that savage Duke thine heir And disinherited thine only son.
Margaret is not alone in her efforts to convince Henry that his decision is wrong. Clifford also attempts to persuade him, arguing that fathers who do not pass on their successes to their sons are unnatural;. Ambitious York, did level at thy crown, Thou smiling, while he knit his angry brows.
In This Section
He but a duke would have his son a king And raise his issue like a loving sire, Thou being a king, blessed with a goodly son Didst yield consent to disinherit him, Which argued thee a most unloving father. Unreasonable creatures feed their young, And though man's face be fearful to their eyes, Yet in protection of their tender ones, Who hath not seen them, even with those wings Which sometime they have used with fearful flight, Make war with him that climbed unto their nest, Offering their own lives in their young's defence?
For shame, my liege, make them your precedent. Were it not pity that this goodly boy Should lose his birth-right by his father's fault, And long hereafter say unto his child, 'What my great-grandfather and grandsire got, My careless father fondly gave away'? Ah what a shame were this! Look on the boy, And let his manly face, which promiseth Successful fortune, steel thy melting heart, To hold thine own and leave thine own with him. Henry however, disagrees with Clifford, arguing that passing on the burden of kingship is not necessarily the natural thing for a father to do, as it brings no reward when that title was unlawfully obtained in the first place "things ill got, had ever bad success": By disinheriting his son, Henry seems to think he is protecting the Prince, ensuring that he will never suffer the hardships he himself experienced when he was left a usurped inheritance by his own father "I'll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind and would my father had left me no more" ;.
But Clifford tell me, didst thou never hear That things ill got, had ever bad success? And happy always was it for that son Whose father for his hoarding went to hell? I'll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind, And would my father had left me no more, For all the rest is held at such a rate As brings a thousandfold more care to keep Then in possession any jot of pleasure.
As such, while Margaret and Clifford argue that Henry has destroyed his family in his deal with York, Henry himself seems to feel that he has done his offspring a favour and prevented him from experiencing future suffering. York's deal with Henry doesn't just have implications for Henry's family however, it also has implications for York's. York willingly sacrifices personal glory for the sake of his heirs, electing not to become King himself with the promise that his sons and grandsons will be kings instead.
However, almost immediately after his deal with Henry, York's family is torn apart. Act 1, Scene 2 symbolically begins with Edward and Richard arguing; "No quarrel but a slight contention" l. Act 1, Scene 3 then depicts the murder of York's youngest son, whilst in Act 1, Scene 4, York himself is tortured and murdered, with the knowledge that Rutland is already dead. In this sense, York functions as a symbolic character insofar as "the personal losses underlining York's political 'tragedy' [magnify] the play's theme of civil war's destruction of family relationships.
The dissolution of the House of York however doesn't end with the death of York himself. Later, in Act 3, Scene 2, Richard further dissolves the family by revealing his ambition to usurp Edward's throne, and thereby disinherit Edward's children, his own nephews; "Ay, Edward, use women honourably. After murdering Henry, Richard then outlines his plan to bring this about, vowing to turn Edward against Clarence:. Clarence beware, thou keep'st me from the light, But I will sort a pitchy day for thee, For I will buzz abroad such prophecies That Edward shall be fearful of his life, And then to purge his fear, I'll be thy death.
In this ambition, Richard proves successful, utterly destroying his own family in the process. Also important to the theme of family dissolution is Act 2, Scene 5, where a father unwittingly kills his son, and a son unwittingly kills his father. Stuart Hampton-Reeves [55] argues that this scene is a symbolic one referring to the conscription debate in England during the s and s. The Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Empire had begun in , and although England and France were both supporting the Dutch, they had officially remained neutral for fear of angering the Spanish.
However, in , Elizabeth I signed the Treaty of Nonsuch , which officially brought England into the conflict, with the promise of 6, troops which was then changed to 8, troops for the Dutch. As such, to supply these troops, mobilisation was needed and the government thus replaced the traditional feudal system, whereby local nobles raised armies from among their own tenantry, with national conscription.
This was not without controversy, and the incident involving the fathers and sons allude to both practices; the feudal system and the national system. Upon discovering he has killed his father, the son laments "From London by the king was I pressed forth. The son had left the family home and travelled to London, where he had been conscripted into the king's army upon the outbreak of war.
The father had stayed at home and had been compelled to join the army of the local noble i. Thus they ended up on opposite sides in the conflict, as regional stability gives way to national discord and social breakdown, and the war begins quite literally to tear families apart. After the original performances, the complete text of 3 Henry VI seems to have been very rarely acted. The first definite performance in England after Shakespeare's day did not occur until , when F. Benson presented the play at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in a production of Shakespeare's two tetralogies, performed over eight nights.
As far as can be ascertained, this was not only the first performance of the octology, but was also the first definite performance of both the tetralogy and the trilogy. Benson himself played Henry and his wife, Constance Benson , played Margaret. Although little was removed from the text, it did end differently from the written play.
Henry VI, Part 3 - Wikipedia
After Edward has spoken his last lines, everyone leaves the stage except Richard, who walks towards the throne, then turns and looks out to the audience, speaking the first thirty lines of his opening speech from Richard III from "Now is the winter of our discontent" to "I am determin'd to prove a villain" , at which point the curtain falls. Additionally, in this production, Boxall as Margaret fully participated in the Battle of Tewkesbury, which was considered a bold move at the time.
Although the production was only moderately successful at the box office, it was critically lauded at the time for Alan Howard's unique portrayal of Henry. Howard adopted historical details concerning the real Henry's madness into his performance, presenting the character as constantly on the brink of a mental and emotional breakdown. Possibly as a reaction to a recent adaptation of the trilogy under the general title Wars of the Roses , which was strongly political, Hands attempted to ensure his own production was entirely apolitical; " Wars of the Roses was a study in power politics: But that's not Shakespeare.
Shakespeare goes far beyond politics. Politics is a very shallow science. The Battle for the Throne. The introduction of the head of Somerset was also removed, with the play beginning instead at line 25, "This is the palace of the fearful king. The Histories the first time the RSC had ever attempted to stage the eight plays as one sequence. When the Complete Works wrapped in March , the history plays remained on stage, under the shorter title The Histories , as part of a two-year thirty-four actor ensemble production. At the end of the two-year programme, the entire octology was performed over a four-day period under the title The Glorious Moment ; Richard II was staged on a Thursday evening, followed by the two Henry IV plays on Friday afternoon and evening, the three Henry VI plays on Saturday two afternoon performances and one evening performance , and Richard III on Sunday evening.
Boyd's production garnered much attention at the time because of his interpolations and additions to the text. Most notably, Boyd introduced a new character into the trilogy. The actor playing the body would then stand up and allow himself to be led off-stage by the figure. The production was also particularly noted for its realistic violence.
Henry VI, Part 3 Characters
According to Robert Gore-Langton of the Daily Express , in his review of the original production, "blood from a severed arm sprayed over my lap. A human liver slopped to the floor by my feet. An eyeball scudded past, then a tongue. In , the trilogy was staged at Shakespeare's Globe as part of the Globe to Globe Festival , with each play performed by a different Balkans based company and offered as a commentary on the recent history of violence in that region.
All three plays were performed each day, beginning at midday, under the overall title Henry VI: The True Tragedy of the Duke of York. Each of the plays was edited down to two hours, and the entire trilogy was performed with a cast of fourteen actors. It was noted as being a rare opportunity to see the play on its own and was well received — particularly for its staging of the conclusion, in which Henry's corpse remained onstage, doused in a steady rain of blood, throughout Edward IV's final scene, after which a naked and feral Richard bolts onstage and delivers the opening lines of Richard III , before literally eating the throne.
In Europe, unedited stagings of the play took place at the Weimar Court Theatre in Directed by Franz von Dingelstedt , it was performed as the seventh part of the octology, with all eight plays staged over a ten-day period. A major production was staged at the Burgtheater in Vienna in Jocza Savits directed a production of the tetralogy at the Munich Court Theatre in and again in This production was unique insofar as a woman Katharina Schmoelzer played Henry.
Margaret was played by Katharina von Bock. Writing at the time of Popish Plot , Crowne, who was a devout royalist , used his adaptation to warn about the danger of allowing England to descend into another civil war, which would be the case should the Whig party rise to power. Changes to the text include a new, albeit silent scene just prior to the Battle of Wakefield where York embraces Rutland before heading out to fight; an extension of the courtship between Edward and Lady Grey, and the edition of two subplots; one concerning a mistress of Edward's whom he accidentally kills in battle an allusion to Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher 's Philaster , the other involving an attempt by Warwick to seduce Lady Grey after her husband's death at the Second Battle of St.
Albans this is later used as a rationale for why Warwick turns against Edward. The play was half Shakespeare, half new material. Performed at Drury Lane , Colley appeared as Winchester. As had Crowne, Cibber created a new scene involving Rutland; after the death of York, he and Rutland are laid side by side on the battlefield. In , Edmund Kean appeared in J. Material from 3 Henry VI included the opening few scenes involving York taking the throne from Henry, preparing for battle, and then the battle itself.
Following Merivale's example, Robert Atkins adapted all three plays into a single piece for a performance at The Old Vic in as part of the celebrations for the tercentenary of the First Folio. Atkins himself played Richard. The success of the — Douglas Seale stand-alone productions of each of the individual plays in Birmingham prompted him to present the three plays together at the Old Vic in under the general title The Wars of the Roses. Barry Jackson adapted the text, altering the trilogy into a two-part play; 1 Henry VI and 2 Henry VI were combined with almost all of 1 Henry VI eliminated and 3 Henry VI was edited down, with most of Act 4 removed, thus reducing the importance of Edward in the overall play.
In all, 1, lines written by Barton were added to 6, lines of original Shakespearean material, with a total of 12, lines removed. Barton and Hall were both especially concerned that the plays reflect the contemporary political environment, with the civil chaos and breakdown of society depicted in the plays mirrored in the contemporary milieu , by events such as the building of the Berlin Wall in , the Cuban Missile Crisis in and the assassination of John F.
Hall allowed these events to reflect themselves in the production, arguing that "we live among war, race riots, revolutions, assassinations, and the imminent threat of extinction. The theatre is, therefore, examining fundamentals in staging the Henry VI plays. Both Barton and Hall were also supporters of E. Tillyard's book Shakespeare's History Plays , which was still a hugely influential text in Shakespearian scholarship, especially in terms of its argument that Shakespeare in the tetralogy was advancing the Tudor myth. Another major adaptation was staged in by the English Shakespeare Company , under the direction of Michael Bogdanov.
This touring production opened at the Old Vic, and subsequently toured for two years, performing at, amongst other places, the Panasonic Globe Theatre in Tokyo, Japan as the inaugural play of the arena , the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto , Italy and at the Adelaide Festival in Adelaide , Australia.
Also like Barton and Hall, Bogdanov concentrated on political issues, although he made them far more overt than had his predecessors. For example, played by June Watson , Margaret was closely modelled after the British Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher , even to the point of having similar clothes and hair. The production was noted for its pessimism as regards contemporary British politics, with some critics feeling the political resonances were too heavy handed.
Another adaptation of the tetralogy by the Royal Shakespeare Company followed in , performed at the Barbican. This play ended with the line "Now is the winter of our discontent;" the opening line from Richard III. Michael Bogdanov and the English Shakespeare Company presented a different adaptation at the Swansea Grand Theatre in , using the same cast as on the touring production. All eight plays from the history cycle were presented over a seven night period, with each play receiving one performance only, and with only twenty-eight actors portraying the nearly five hundred roles. This production was noted for how it handled the violence of the play.
The set was designed to look like an abattoir , but rather than attempt to present the violence realistically as most productions do , Hall went in the other direction; presenting the violence symbolically. Whenever a character was decapitated or killed, a red cabbage was sliced up whilst the actor mimed the death beside it. Condensing all fours plays into one, Markus named the play Queen Margaret , doing much the same with the character of Margaret as Merivale had done with York.
Another unusual adaptation of the tetralogy was entitled Shakespeare's Rugby Wars. Presented as if it were a live rugby match between York and Lancaster, the 'play' featured commentary from Falstaff Stephen Flett , which was broadcast live for the audience. The 'match' itself was refereed by 'Bill Shakespeare' played by Coculuzzi , and the actors whose characters names all appeared on their jerseys had microphones attached and would recite dialogue from all four plays at key moments. Revenge in France and Henry VI: Also in , Edward Hall and the Propeller Company presented a one-play all-male cast modern dress adaptation of the trilogy at the Watermill Theatre.
Under the title Rose Rage , Hall used a cast of only thirteen actors to portray the nearly one hundred and fifty speaking roles in the four-hour production, thus necessitating doubling and tripling of parts. After a successful run at the Haymarket, the play moved to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Outside England, a major European adaptation of the tetralogy took place in in Weimar under the direction of Franz von Dingelstedt, who, seven years previously had staged the play unedited.
Dingelstedt turned the trilogy into a two-parter under the general name Die weisse rose. The first play was called Haus Lancaster , the second Haus York. This adaptation was unique insofar as both plays were created by combining material from all three Henry VI plays. Following this structure, Alfred von Walzogen also produced a two-part play in , under the general title Edward IV. Another European adaptation was in at the Teatro Piccolo in Milan. Using Barton and Hall's structure, Strehler also added several characters, including a Chorus, who used monologues from Richard II , both parts of Henry IV , Henry V , Macbeth and Timon of Athens , and two gravediggers called Bevis and Holland after the names of two of Cade's rebels in the Folio text of 2 Henry VI , who commented with dialogue written by Strehler himself on each of the major characters as they set about burying them.
Although 3 Henry VI itself has never been adapted directly for the cinema, extracts from it have been used in many of the cinematic adaptations of Richard III. The first such adaptation was twenty-two-minute silent version of Richard III , directed by and starring F. Filmed as part of a series intended by Benson to promote the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford, the piece was pure filmed theatre, with each scene shot on-stage in a single take by an unmoving camera. Each single shot scene is prefaced by a scene-setting intertitle and a brief quotation from the text.
The play was also used in one of the earliest sound films ; the John G. Adolfi movie The Show of Shows ; a revue -style production featuring extracts from numerous plays, musicals and novels. Richard's soliloquy from Act 3, Scene 2 was used in the film, recited by John Barrymore although Barrymore incorrectly attributes the speech to 1 Henry VI , who delivers the speech after the opening dialogue of 3 Henry VI concerning Somerset's head.
Barrymore had recently starred in a hugely successful five-hour production of Richard III on Broadway , and this speech had been singled out by critics as the best in the entire production. As such, when offered the chance to perform on film, Barrymore chose to reproduce it. Film critics proved just as impressed with the speech as had theatrical critics, and it was generally regarded as the finest moment of the film. The film begins with the coronation of Edward IV, which happens between 3. Apart from the omission of some lines, the most noticeable departure from the text of 5.
Buckingham is a major character throughout Richard III , where he is Richard's closest ally for a time. Jane Shore is mentioned several times in Richard III , and although she never features as a character, she is often included in productions of the play. However, after twenty-three lines, it then moves back to 3 Henry VI , quoting from Richard's soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 2;.
Why, love forswore me in my mother's womb, And for I should not deal in her soft laws, She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe To shrink mine arm up like a withered shrub, To make an envious mountain on my back Where sits deformity to mock my body, To shape my legs of an unequal size, To disproportion me in every part Like to a chaos, or an unlicked bear-whelp That carries no impression like the dam. Then since this earth affords no joy to me But to command, to check, to o'erbear such As are of better person than myself, I'll make my heaven to dream upon the crown, And, whiles I live, t'account this world but hell, Until my misshaped trunk that bears this head Be round impaled with a glorious crown.
And yet I know not how to get the crown, For many lives stand between me and home, And I, like one lost in a thorny wood, That rents the thorns and is rent with the thorns, Seeking a way and straying from the way, Not knowing how to find the open air, But toiling desperately to find it out, Torment myself to catch the English crown, And from that torment I will free myself, Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.
Why, I can smile, and murder while I smile, And cry, 'content' to that which grieves my heart, And wet my cheeks with artificial tears, And frame my face to all occasions.
Log in or Register
I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall, I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk ; I'll play the orator as well as Nestor , Deceive more slyly than Ulysses could, And, like a Sinon , take another Troy. I can add colours to the chameleon, Change shapes with Proteus for advantages, And set the murd'rous Machiavel to school Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
The opening scene depicts Henry and his son Edward played by Christopher Bowen preparing for the forthcoming battle. However, a surprise attack is launched on their headquarters by Richard, and both are killed. This scene is without dialogue. The last line of 3 Henry VI is also used in the film; Edward's "For here I hope begins our lasting joy" appears as a subtitle after the coronation of Edward and is altered to read "And now, they hope, begins their lasting joy", with "they" referring to the House of York.
The film then moves on to the coronation of Edward IV again without dialogue , before Richard delivers the opening speech of Richard III as an after-dinner toast to the new king. Loncraine's film also used a line from 3 Henry VI in its poster campaign — "I can smile and murder whiles I smile" 3. The film then moves on to the arrest of George. The show comprised fifteen sixty- and seventy-five-minute episodes which adapted all eight of Shakespeare's sequential history plays. The twelfth episode, "The Morning's War" covers Acts 1, 2 and Act 3, Scenes 1 and 2, concluding with Richard's soliloquy wherein he vows to attain the crown.
With each episode running one hour, a great deal of text was necessarily removed, but aside from truncation, only minor alterations were made to the original. For example, in "The Morning's War", the character of Edmund, Earl of Rutland is played by an adult actor, whereas in the text, he is a child and Margaret is present during the murder of Rutland, and we see her wipe his blood on the handkerschief which she later gives to York.
Additionally, Richard fights and kills Clifford during the Battle of Towton. In the text, they fight, but Clifford flees and is mortally wounded off-stage when hit by an arrow. Also, the end of the episode differs slightly from the end of the play. After Edward expresses his wish that all conflict has ceased, a large celebration ensues. As the credits role, Richard and George stand to one side, and George almost slips into a barrel of wine, only to be saved by Richard. As George walks away, Richard thinks to himself and then smiles deviously at the camera.
Directed for television by Robin Midgley and Michael Hayes , the plays were presented as more than simply filmed theatre, with the core idea being "to recreate theatre production in televisual terms — not merely to observe it, but to get to the heart of it. Additionally, camera platforms were created around the theatre.
In all, twelve cameras were used, allowing the final product to be edited more like a film than a piece of static filmed theatre. Filming was done following the run of the plays at Stratford-upon-Avon, and took place over an eight-week period, with fifty-two BBC staff working alongside eighty-four RSC staff to bring the project to fruition. The sixth episode, "The Kingmaker" , presented Act 2, Scene 2 up to Act 3, Scene 3, concluding with Warwick's avowal to remove Edward from the throne and restore Henry.
Another television version of the play was produced by the BBC in for their BBC Television Shakespeare series, although the episode didn't air until Howell's presentation of the complete first historical tetralogy was one of the most lauded achievements of the entire BBC series, and prompted Stanley Wells to argue that the productions were "probably purer than any version given in the theatre since Shakespeare's time. Inspired by the notion that the political intrigues behind the Wars of the Roses often seemed like playground squabbles, Howell and production designer Oliver Bayldon staged the four plays in a single set resembling a children's adventure playground.
However, little attempt was made at realism. For example, Bayldon did not disguise the parquet flooring "it stops the set from literally representing [ Many critics felt these set design choices lent the production an air of Brechtian verfremdungseffekt. The plays, to this director, are not a dramatisation of the Elizabethan World Picture but a sustained interrogation of residual and emergent ideologies in a changing society [ Although Howell's The Third Part of Henry the Sixt was based on the folio text rather than the octavo, it departed from that text in a number of places.
For example, it opens differently from the play, with the first twenty-four lines absent. Instead it begins with Edward, Richard, Clarence, Warwick and Norfolk hacking down the door of parliament and Warwick proclaiming "This is the palace of the fearful king" 1. The opening scene also differs from the play insofar as Clarence is present from the start whereas in the play he is only introduced in Act 2, Scene 2 Clarence was introduced, along with Edward and Richard, in the final scene of the preceding adaptation.
As well as the opening twenty-four lines, numerous other lines were cut from almost every scene. Also absent from this scene is some of the dialogue between Warwick and Northumberland as they threaten one another ll. In Act 2, Scene 1, all references to Clarence's entry into the conflict l. During the ensuing debate between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians, Richard's "Northumberland, I hold thee reverentially" l. In Act 3, Scene 3, Oxford and Prince Edward's speculations as to the contents of the newly arrived letters is absent ll.
All references to Lord Bourbon are also absent from this scene ll. In Act 4, Scene 4, the first twelve lines are absent where Elizabeth reports to Rivers that Edward has been captured. However, there were also some additions to the text, most noticeably some lines from True Tragedy. In Act 1, Scene 1, for example, four lines are added at the beginning of Henry's declaration that he would rather see civil war than yield the throne.
Between lines and , Henry states "Ah Plantagenet, why seekest thou to depose me? Also in Act 1, Scene 1, a line is inserted between lines and When York asks Henry if he agrees to the truce, Henry replies "Convey the soldiers hence, and then I will. Others changes include the transferral of lines to characters other than those who speak them in the Folio text, particularly in relation to Clarence, who is given numerous lines in the early part of the play.
Also worth noting is that Elizabeth's son, the Marquess of Dorset , is introduced just after the marriage of Elizabeth and Edward Act 4, Scene 1. A notable stylistic technique used in the adaptation is the multiple addresses direct to camera. For example, Henry's "I know not what to say, my title's weak" 1. Specifically focused upon is Act 2, Scene 5; the scene of the son killing his father and the father killing his son. The cast list from this production has been lost. Der Kreig der Rosen 1. The second part, Eduard IV: Der Kreig der Rosen 2 , was screened in The tetralogy was adapted into a trilogy but in an unusual way.
The reason for this was explained by Dover Wilson, who argued that 1 Henry VI is "patchwork in which Shakespeare collaborated with inferior dramatists. In , BBC Radio 4 presented a part serialisation of the eight sequential history plays under the general title Vivat Rex long live the King. Comprising three sixty-minute episodes aired a week apart, the adaptation was written by Vernon Radcliffe and starred Henry Herbert as Henry and Janet Nolan as Margaret.
There is no known cast information for this production. In , German radio channel Sender Freies Berlin broadcast a heavily edited seventy-six-minute two-part adaptation of the octology adapted by Rolf Schneider, under the title Shakespeare's Rosenkriege.
Under its referencing system, 4. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Berry, Patterns of Decay: Hhvi v ; Holinshed Making the Televised Canon North Carolina: Archived from the original on 12 October Retrieved 16 January Retrieved 9 February Retrieved 7 February Battlefield Performances, Shakespeare's Globe, Towton". A Year of Plays. Retrieved 21 November Archived from the original on 11 October Archived from the original on 4 September An Age of Kings ", in Robert Shaughnessy ed. Making the Televised Canon Carolina: Shakespeare in film and television", in Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield eds.
Essays in Cultural Materialism , 2nd edition Manchester: Brechtian Break-out or Just Good Television? Arden, , See also Edward Burns ed. A Study in Form Cambridge: The Twentieth Century Cambridge: Retrieved 12 March Shakespeare's Early Histories Charlottesville: Virginia University Press, Born, Hanspeter. English Drama to New York: Peter Bedrick, , — Bullough, Geoffrey. Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare Volume 3: Early English History Plays Columbia: Columbia University Press, Candido, Joseph.
- Turkish Hands: Gesturing Your Way Home, A Hand Guide for Tourists?
- Henry VI Part III | Royal Shakespeare Company!
- The Confederate General Rides North: A Novel;
- Genetic Methods for Diverse Prokaryotes: 29 (Methods in Microbiology)!
Shakespeare at the Old Vic, Volume 4 — Black, Conn Liebler, Naomi. Velz editor , Shakespeare's English Histories: The Making of the National Poet: A Source Book Stroud: Sutton Publishing, Doran, Madeleine. In this the heaven figures some event. I think it cites us, brother, to the field, That we, the sons of brave Plantagenet, Each one already blazing by our meeds, Should notwithstanding join our lights together And over-shine the earth as this the world. Whate'er it bodes, henceforward will I bear Upon my target three fair-shining suns.
Yonder's the head of that arch-enemy That sought to be encompass'd with your crown: Doth not the object cheer your heart, my lord? To see this sight, it irks my very soul. Withhold revenge, dear God! To whom do lions cast their gentle looks? Not to the beast that would usurp their den.
Whose hand is that the forest bear doth lick? Not his that spoils her young before her face. Who 'scapes the lurking serpent's mortal sting? Not he that sets his foot upon her back. The smallest worm will turn being trodden on, And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood. Ambitious York doth level at thy crown, Thou smiling while he knit his angry brows: He, but a duke, would have his son a king, And raise his issue, like a loving sire; Thou, being a king, blest with a goodly son, Didst yield consent to disinherit him, Which argued thee a most unloving father. Unreasonable creatures feed their young; And though man's face be fearful to their eyes, Yet, in protection of their tender ones, Who hath not seen them, even with those wings Which sometime they have used with fearful flight, Make war with him that climb'd unto their nest, Offer their own lives in their young's defence?
For shame, my liege, make them your precedent! Were it not pity that this goodly boy Should lose his birthright by his father's fault, And long hereafter say unto his child, 'What my great-grandfather and his grandsire got My careless father fondly gave away'? Ah, what a shame were this!
Look on the boy; And let his manly face, which promiseth Successful fortune, steel thy melting heart To hold thine own and leave thine own with him. But, Clifford, tell me, didst thou never hear That things ill-got had ever bad success? And happy always was it for that son Whose father for his hoarding went to hell? I'll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind; And would my father had left me no more!
For all the rest is held at such a rate As brings a thousand-fold more care to keep Than in possession and jot of pleasure. You promised knighthood to our forward son: Unsheathe your sword, and dub him presently. Suppose this arm is for the Duke of York, And this for Rutland; both bound to revenge, Wert thou environ'd with a brazen wall. This is the hand that stabb'd thy father York; And this the hand that slew thy brother Rutland; And here's the heart that triumphs in their death And cheers these hands that slew thy sire and brother To execute the like upon thyself; And so, have at thee!
Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea Forced by the tide to combat with the wind; Now sways it that way, like the selfsame sea Forced to retire by fury of the wind: Sometime the flood prevails, and then the wind; Now one the better, then another best; Both tugging to be victors, breast to breast, Yet neither conqueror nor conquered: So is the equal of this fell war. Here on this molehill will I sit me down. To whom God will, there be the victory! For Margaret my queen, and Clifford too, Have chid me from the battle; swearing both They prosper best of all when I am thence.
Would I were dead! When this is known, then to divide the times: So many hours must I tend my flock; So many hours must I take my rest; So many hours must I contemplate; So many hours must I sport myself; So many days my ewes have been with young; So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean: So many years ere I shall shear the fleece: So minutes, hours, days, months, and years, Pass'd over to the end they were created, Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.
Ah, what a life were this! Gives not the hawthorn-bush a sweeter shade To shepherds looking on their silly sheep, Than doth a rich embroider'd canopy To kings that fear their subjects' treachery? O, yes, it doth; a thousand-fold it doth. And to conclude, the shepherd's homely curds, His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle. His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade, All which secure and sweetly he enjoys, Is far beyond a prince's delicates, His viands sparkling in a golden cup, His body couched in a curious bed, When care, mistrust, and treason waits on him.
Enter a Son that has killed his father, dragging in the dead body. O Lancaster, I fear thy overthrow More than my body's parting with my soul! My love and fear glued many friends to thee; And, now I fall, thy tough commixture melts. Impairing Henry, strengthening misproud York, The common people swarm like summer flies; And whither fly the gnats but to the sun? And who shines now but Henry's enemies? O Phoebus, hadst thou never given consent That Phaethon should cheque thy fiery steeds, Thy burning car never had scorch'd the earth! And, Henry, hadst thou sway'd as kings should do, Or as thy father and his father did, Giving no ground unto the house of York, They never then had sprung like summer flies; I and ten thousand in this luckless realm Had left no mourning widows for our death; And thou this day hadst kept thy chair in peace.
For what doth cherish weeds but gentle air? And what makes robbers bold but too much lenity? Bootless are plaints, and cureless are my wounds; No way to fly, nor strength to hold out flight: The foe is merciless, and will not pity; For at their hands I have deserved no pity. The air hath got into my deadly wounds, And much effuse of blood doth make me faint. Come, York and Richard, Warwick and the rest; I stabb'd your fathers' bosoms, split my breast. A forest in the north of England.
Enter two Keepers, with cross-bows in their hands First Keeper Under this thick-grown brake we'll shroud ourselves; For through this laund anon the deer will come; And in this covert will we make our stand, Culling the principal of all the deer. Second Keeper I'll stay above the hill, so both may shoot. First Keeper That cannot be; the noise of thy cross-bow Will scare the herd, and so my shoot is lost. Here stand we both, and aim we at the best: And, for the time shall not seem tedious, I'll tell thee what befell me on a day In this self-place where now we mean to stand.
Second Keeper Here comes a man; let's stay till he be past. Her suit is now to repossess those lands; Which we in justice cannot well deny, Because in quarrel of the house of York The worthy gentleman did lose his life. I see the lady hath a thing to grant, Before the king will grant her humble suit. May it please your highness to resolve me now; And what your pleasure is, shall satisfy me.
Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow. I'll try this widow's wit. I was, I must confess, Great Albion's queen in former golden days: But now mischance hath trod my title down, And with dishonour laid me on the ground; Where I must take like seat unto my fortune, And to my humble seat conform myself. Seats her by him. Hath not our brother made a worthy choice? The king by this is set him down to sleep.
Second Watchman What, will he not to bed? First Watchman Why, no; for he hath made a solemn vow Never to lie and take his natural rest Till Warwick or himself be quite suppress'd. Second Watchman To-morrow then belike shall be the day, If Warwick be so near as men report. Third Watchman But say, I pray, what nobleman is that That with the king here resteth in his tent? First Watchman 'Tis the Lord Hastings, the king's chiefest friend.
Third Watchman O, is it so? But why commands the king That his chief followers lodge in towns about him, While he himself keeps in the cold field? Second Watchman 'Tis the more honour, because more dangerous. Third Watchman Ay, but give me worship and quietness; I like it better than a dangerous honour. If Warwick knew in what estate he stands, 'Tis to be doubted he would waken him. First Watchman Unless our halberds did shut up his passage. Second Watchman Ay, wherefore else guard we his royal tent, But to defend his person from night-foes?
And, as I further have to understand, Is new committed to the Bishop of York, Fell Warwick's brother and by that our foe. Warwick may lose, that now hath won the day. And I the rather wean me from despair For love of Edward's offspring in my womb: This is it that makes me bridle passion And bear with mildness my misfortune's cross; Ay, ay, for this I draw in many a tear And stop the rising of blood-sucking sighs, Lest with my sighs or tears I blast or drown King Edward's fruit, true heir to the English crown. Guess thou the rest; King Edward's friends must down, But, to prevent the tyrant's violence,-- For trust not him that hath once broken faith,-- I'll hence forthwith unto the sanctuary, To save at least the heir of Edward's right: There shall I rest secure from force and fraud.