page_title: Henry VI, Part 3
section_title: True Tragedy as a reported text
hierarchical_section_title: Henry VI, Part 3 / Analysis and criticism / Critical history / True Tragedy as a reported text
caption_attribution_description: Henry VI, Act 2, Scene 5: Henry sees a father's grieving over the killing of his son, and a son's grieving over the killing of his father during the Battle of Towton, 1461. This engraving of a painting was published on 4 June 1794 by John &amp; Josiah Boydell, Shakspeare Gallery Pall Mall, &amp; No. 90, Cheapside.
context_page_description: Henry VI, Part 3 is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591 and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas 1 Henry VI deals with the loss of England's French territories and the political machinations leading up to the Wars of the Roses and 2 Henry VI focuses on the King's inability to quell the bickering of his nobles, and the inevitability of armed conflict, 3 Henry VI deals primarily with the horrors of that conflict, with the once stable nation thrown into chaos and barbarism as families break down and moral codes are subverted in the pursuit of revenge and power.
  Although the Henry VI trilogy may not have been written in chronological order, the three plays are often grouped together with Richard III to form a tetralogy covering the entire Wars of the Roses saga, from the death of Henry V in 1422 to the rise to power of Henry VII in 1485. It was the success of this sequence of plays that firmly established Shakespeare's reputation as a playwright.
  Henry VI, Part 3 features the longest soliloquy in all of Shakespeare and has more battle scenes than any other of Shakespeare's plays.
context_section_description: Over the years, critics have debated the connection between True Tragedy and 3 Henry VI. Four main theories have emerged:
  True Tragedy is a reconstructed version of a performance of Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI; a "bad octavo", an attempt by actors to reconstruct the original play from memory and sell it. The theory originated with Samuel Johnson in 1765, and was refined by Peter Alexander in 1928.
  True Tragedy is an early draft of Shakespeare's play published in the 1623 First Folio as The third Part of Henry the Sixt. The theory originated with Edmond Malone in 1790 as an alternative to Johnson's memorial reconstruction theory, and is championed today by critics such as Steven Urkowitz.
  True Tragedy is both a reported text and an early draft of Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI. This theory gained increasing support in the latter half of the 20th Century, and is supported by several modern editors of the play.
  Shakespeare was not the author of the True Tragedy, but made use of the anonymous play as the basis for his 3 Henry VI. The theory originated with Georg Gottfried Gervinus in 1849, and remained popular throughout the 19th century, with Thomas Lodge and George Peele the leading candidates as possible authors of the True Tragedy. The theory fell out of favour in the twentieth century.
  Critical opinion originally favoured Samuel Johnson's theory that the True Tragedy is a bad quarto, a memorial reconstruction. Edmond Malone challenged Johnson's theory in 1790, suggesting that the True Tragedy could be an early draft of Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI. Malone's view was the dominant one until 1929, when Peter Alexander re-established the dominance of the bad quarto theory.
  One of his Alexander's main arguments hinged on the start of Act 4, Scene 1, where Richard and Clarence reproach Edward for favouring his wife's relatives over themselves. In True Tragedy, after Edward has been informed of Warwick's allegiance with the Lancastrians, he is upbraided by his brothers for his recent actions;
  CLARENCE
  
  ...Lord Hastings well deserves,
  
  To have the daughter and heir of the Lord Hungerford.
  EDWARD
  
  And what then? It was our will it should be so.
  CLARENCE
  
  Ay, and for such a thing too the Lord Scales
  
  Did well deserve at your hands, to have the
  
  Daughter of the Lord Bonfield, and left your
  
  Brothers to go seek elsewhere.
  (ll.2074–2083)
  This implies that Lord Hastings is set to marry the daughter of Lord Hungerford, and Lord Scales is set to marry the daughter of Lord Bonfield. In 3 Henry VI, however, the lines are different;
  CLARENCE
  
  ...Lord Hastings well deserves
  
  To have the heir of the Lord Hungerford.
  EDWARD
  
  What of that? It was my will and grant,
  
  And for this once, my will shall stand as law.
  RICHARD
  
  And yet methinks your Grace hath not done well
  
  To give the heir and daughter of Lord Scales
  
  Unto the brother of your loving bride;
  
  She better would have fitted me, or Clarence,
  
  But in your bride you bury brotherhood.
  CLARENCE
  
  Or else, you would not have bestowed the heir,
  
  Of the Lord Bonville on your new wife's son,
  
  And leave your brothers to go speed elsewhere.
  (4.1.48–59)
  This explains that it was Lord Scales' daughter (Elizabeth de Scales) who was to marry Lady Grey's brother (Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl of Rivers), and Lady Grey's son (Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset) who was to marry the daughter of Lord Bonville (Cecily Bonville). As such, based on the inconsistency between Scales marrying Bonfield's daughter in True Tragedy and Scales' daughter marrying Grey's brother in 3 Henry VI, Alexander argued that the representation of the scene in True Tragedy is completely nonsensical and probably came about because the reporter became confused about who was married whom. Furthermore, unlike the account in True Tragedy, the version in 3 Henry VI corresponds closely to the chronicle material found in Hall ("the heir of the Lord Scales [Edward] hath married to his wife's brother, the heir also of the Lord Bonville and Harrington he hath given to his wife's son, and the heir of the Lord Hungerford he hath granted to the Lord Hastin
caption: Josiah Boydell illustration of the father and son tragedy from Act 2, Scene 5, engraved by John Ogborne for the Shakspeare Gallery Pall Mall (1794)
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