page_title: Henry VI, Part 2
section_title: Henry's weakness
hierarchical_section_title: Henry VI, Part 2 / Analysis and criticism / Themes / Henry's weakness
caption_attribution_description: English: The Duchess of Gloucester forced to walk through the streets as punishment for necromancy. Carnegie Museum of Art - Pittsburgh, PA (United States) Dates: 1900 Dimensions: Height: 124.46 cm (49 in.), Width: 215.9 cm (85 in.) Medium: Painting - oil on canvas
context_page_description: Henry VI, Part 2 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 Henry VI, Part 1 deals primarily with the loss of England's French territories and the political machinations leading up to the Wars of the Roses, and Henry VI, Part 3 deals with the horrors of that conflict, 2 Henry VI focuses on the King's inability to quell the bickering of his nobles, the death of his trusted adviser Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the rise of the Duke of York and the inevitability of armed conflict. As such, the play culminates with the opening battle of the War, the First Battle of St Albans.
  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.
context_section_description: A major theme of the play is Henry's inherent weakness and his inability to control the country or even his own court. According to Martin, Henry's weakness as king was the main reason that many nineteenth century critics judged 2 Henry VI to lack emotion: Henry was so inept that audiences could not empathise with him, and hence, his tragedy was diminished. There are numerous examples throughout the play which such critics could have focused on. For example, Henry fails to unite his bickering nobles, and instead allows them to push him around as they decide for themselves how to act and what to do, and at the same time, he allows himself to be utterly dominated by Margaret. He is so subservient that he consents to the imprisonment of a man (Gloucester) he loves and knows to be innocent, and then attempts to hide from the implications of this decision, trying to leave the court after Gloucester's arrest:
  KING HENRY
  
  My lords, what to your wisdoms seemeth best
  
  Do or undo, as if ourself were here.
  QUEEN MARGARET
  
  What, will your highness leave the parliament?
  KING HENRY
  
  Ay Margaret, my heart is drowned with grief,
  
  Whose flood begins to flow within mine eyes.
   (3.1.195–199)
  This leads Henry to a realisation of how he has failed Gloucester, and to lament his own lack of decisiveness and resolution:
  And as the butcher takes away the calf,
  
  And binds the wretch, and beats it when it strains,
  
  Bearing it to the bloody slaughterhouse,
  
  Even so remorseless have they borne him hence;
  
  And as the dam runs lowing up and down,
  
  Looking the way her harmless young one went,
  
  And can do naught but wail her darling's loss,
  
  Even so myself bewails good Gloucester's case
  
  With sad unhelpful tears, and with dimmed eyes
  
  Look after him, and cannot do him good,
  
  So mighty are his vowèd enemies.
   (3.1.210–220)
  Another example of his weakness as ruler is seen in his utter indifference to the vital decision of choosing a new French regent; as Somerset and York debate the issue, each trying to convince Henry that they should be the one to get the job, Henry dismissively declares, "For my part, noble Lords, I care not which:/Or Somerset or York, all's one to me" (1.3.102–103). This lack of concern is forcibly emphasised when Somerset later tells Henry that all French territories have been lost, and Henry responds nonchalantly, "Cold news, Lord Somerset; but God's will be done" (3.1.86). His lack of decisive leadership is even referred to by others; Margaret claims that "Henry my lord is cold in great affairs,/Too full of foolish pity" (3.1.224–225). Later, when the Irish post appears with news of rebellion, York says he will do whatever Henry deems necessary, to which Suffolk responds "Why, our authority is his consent,/And what we do establish he confirms" (3.1.316–317).
  Henry is presented as a good man, but a poor king, to whom Roger Warren refers as "a man of deep religious conviction but no political acumen." He is a weak leader, and it is partly his failure to assert his authority that is responsible for the chaos that takes over the country. As director Peter Hall says, "In theory, Henry should be a good king. He applies Christian ethics to government. But he is up against men who don't. They justify their behaviour by invoking the great sanctions – God, the King, Parliament, the People – that unscrupulous statesmen, motivated by the naked desire to be on top, have used throughout the ages. Here is the central irony of the play: Henry's Christian goodness produces evil."
caption: The Penance of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester by Edwin Austin Abbey (1900)
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