num_pages: 248
description: A series of outstanding productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company and others have recently demonstrated the theatrical vitality of Shakespeare's plays about the reign of Henry VI. In the Third Part Shakespeare extends his essay on monarchical politics by contrasting two kings, the good but ineffective Henry VI with his rival, the sensual and victorious Edward IV. He also offers more evidence of the perils of aristocratic factionalism in a series of scenes that display the grievous wounds caused by the Wars of the Roses. Here we watch the savage death of the Duke of York at the hands of Queen Margaret, the moving lament of King Henry as he witnesses the slaughter of the battle of Towton where the Lancastrians were defeated, and finally, Henry's death at the hands of Richard of Gloucester, later King Richard III.
language: English
title: The Third Part of King Henry VI
titlecomplete: The Third Part of King Henry VI
characters: George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, Nurse to Prince Edward, John Sutton, 6th Baron Dudley, Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, Louis XI of France, Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, Humphrey Stafford, 1st Earl of Devon, Ralph Neville, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, Henry VII of England, Sir Hugh Mortimer, Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset, Somerville, John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, A Nobleman, Son That Hath Killed His Father, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu, John Brett, Mayor of Coventry, John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester, John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford, Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, Sir William Stanley, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, Edward IV of England, Thomas of Beverley, Mayor of York, Richard III of England, Father That Hath Killed His Son, Sir John Mortimer, Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland, John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, Henry VI of England, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, Jean V de Bueil, Count of Rousillon, Lord Bourbon, Margaret of Anjou, Robert Aspell, William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, Two Aldermen of York, William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, Three Watchmen, Soldiers Who Guard King Edward, Sir John Montgomery, Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, A Huntsman Who Guards King Edward, Two Gamekeepers, Lady Bona of Savoy, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, Elizabeth Woodville
genres: Fiction, Plays, Theatre, Historical, Poetry, Drama, Literature, Classics, Historical Fiction, 16th Century
ratings_count: 7100
series: The Arden Shakespeare, Wars of the Roses, Shakespeare's Minor Tetralogy, Henry VI
publisher: Cambridge University Press