The Third Part of Henry the Sixth

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1. ACT I

   The Yorkists seize Parliament; Henry buys his life by disinheriting his son; Margaret takes the field, and York is captured and murdered at Wakefield after his child Rutland is slaughtered.

   1. Scene 1 — London. The Parliament-house

      The victorious Yorkists storm the Parliament-house and Warwick sets York in the throne. Confronted, King Henry cannot deny York's title and — to his lords' fury — agrees to keep the crown for life but entail it to York's house after his death, disinheriting his own son. Margaret and Prince Edward burst in to disown the king and raise an army.

   2. Scene 2 — Sandal Castle

      At Sandal Castle, York's sons Edward and Richard argue that an oath sworn to a usurper cannot bind; Richard persuades his father to break his vow and seize the crown at once. Word comes that Margaret's army is already upon them.

   3. Scene 3 — Plains near Sandal Castle.

      Fleeing the lost field, York's youngest son — the child Rutland — is overtaken by Lord Clifford, who butchers him in cold blood to avenge his own father, deaf to the boy's and his tutor's pleas.

   4. Scene 4 — The Same

      Captured at Wakefield, York is taunted by Margaret with a napkin dipped in Rutland's blood and crowned with paper. He answers with a towering curse — 'She-wolf of France' — and weeps before Margaret and Clifford stab him to death.

2. ACT II.

   Warwick rallies York's sons; Edward is hailed as heir; at Towton, amid the emblem of a son and father who have killed each other, the Yorkists win, Clifford dies, and Edward is proclaimed king.

   1. Scene 1 — A plain near Mortimer's Cross in Herefordshire.

      Seeing a vision of three suns in the sky, Edward and Richard learn of their father's death; Warwick brings news of his own defeat but rallies them, hailing Edward as Duke of York and marching to make him king.

   2. Scene 2 — Before York

      Before the walls of York the armies parley: Margaret shows Henry the city gates adorned with York's severed head, and the leaders trade venomous insults before joining battle.

   3. Scene 3 — A field of battle between Towton.

      At Towton, Warwick — despairing as the battle turns against him — kills his own horse and swears to fight on foot to the death; the brothers renew their resolve.

   4. Scene 4 — Another Part of the Field.

      Richard seeks out Clifford in the press to avenge his father and Rutland, but his enemy is borne away in the tumult.

   5. Scene 5 — Another Part of the Field.

      As the battle rages, King Henry sits apart on a molehill and longs for a shepherd's quiet life. He watches a son who has unknowingly killed his father and a father who has killed his son mourn over the corpses — the play's central emblem of civil war's horror.

   6. Scene 6 — Another Part of the Field

      The dying Clifford is found by the Yorkist lords, who revile his corpse. Edward is proclaimed king and creates his brothers Richard Duke of Gloucester and George Duke of Clarence.

3. ACT III.

   The wandering Henry is captured; Edward courts Lady Grey and Richard reveals his own designs on the crown; insulted over the marriage, Warwick turns Lancastrian at the French court.

   1. Scene 1 — A Forest in the North of England.

      Two gamekeepers capture the disguised, deposed Henry as he steals home from exile; he muses on the fickleness of crowns and of subjects as they carry him off to the Tower.

   2. Scene 2 — The palace.

      King Edward, hearing the widow Lady Grey sue for her dead husband's lands, is smitten and woos her to be his queen. Left alone, the deformed Richard unfolds in a great soliloquy his resolve to hack his way to the crown, vowing to outdo Machiavel himself.

   3. Scene 3 — France. The King's Palace.

      At the French court Margaret begs King Lewis for aid; Warwick arrives to negotiate Lady Bona's hand for Edward — until news of Edward's marriage shames them all, and the enraged Warwick switches sides, pledging his daughter and his sword to Lancaster.

4. ACT IV.

   Edward's marriage splits his house; Warwick and Clarence invade, capture Edward, and restore Henry; Edward escapes abroad, returns, retakes the crown, and seizes Henry again.

   1. Scene 1 — London. The Palace

      Edward's brothers and lords chafe at his marriage and the favours heaped on the queen's kin. Slighted, Clarence announces he will join Warwick and marry his other daughter, and departs with Somerset; Richard stays behind, biding his time.

   2. Scene 2 — A Plain in Warwickshire

      Warwick and the turncoat Clarence, landed with French troops, embrace their new alliance and plan a night assault on the unguarded Edward.

   3. Scene 3 — Edward's Camp near Warwick.

      Warwick's men surprise King Edward in his tent — his watchmen overrun — and take him prisoner, stripping him of the crown to set Henry back on the throne.

   4. Scene 4 — London. The Palace

      Hearing of Edward's capture, the pregnant Queen Elizabeth resolves to flee into sanctuary to save her unborn heir.

   5. Scene 5 — A park near Middleham Castle in Yorkshire

      Richard, Hastings, and Stanley spring the loosely-guarded Edward during a hunt and spirit him across the sea to Flanders.

   6. Scene 6 — London. The Tower

      The freed Henry hands the rule to Warwick and Clarence as joint protectors. He blesses the young Earl of Richmond as England's future hope, then learns Edward has escaped abroad.

   7. Scene 7 — Before York

      Edward returns to England, claims at first only his dukedom of York to gain entry to the city, then proclaims himself king again and marches on the captured Henry.

   8. Scene 8 — London. The Palace.

      Warwick musters his allies' forces at Coventry as Edward advances on London to seize Henry once more.

5. ACT V.

   Clarence rejoins his brothers; Warwick falls at Barnet; the Lancastrians are destroyed at Tewkesbury and Prince Edward killed; Richard murders Henry in the Tower as Edward celebrates a fragile peace.

   1. Scene 1 — Coventry.

      At Coventry Warwick awaits his allies, but the arriving Clarence dramatically tears off the red rose and rejoins his brothers, leaving Warwick outnumbered.

   2. Scene 2 — A Field of Battle near Barnet.

      At the battle of Barnet the mortally wounded Warwick reflects on the vanity of all his greatness — parks, walls, and titles worth nothing now — and dies.

   3. Scene 3 — Another Part of the Field

      Victorious, Edward learns that Margaret and her son have landed with fresh forces, and marches to meet them at Tewkesbury.

   4. Scene 4 — Plains wear Tewkesbury

      Margaret rallies her dispirited troops with the image of a pilot who must weather the storm rather than abandon the ship, before the final battle.

   5. Scene 5 — Another part of the Field.

      The Lancastrians are crushed. The captured Prince Edward defies his captors and is stabbed to death by Edward, Richard, and Clarence together; Richard slips away toward the Tower to kill Henry.

   6. Scene 6 — London. The Tower.

      In the Tower, Richard murders the prophesying King Henry, then exults that he has neither pity, love, nor fear; he reveals he means to clear his own brothers from his path to the crown.

   7. Scene 7 — London. The Palace.

      His enemies dead and a son newly born, King Edward proclaims lasting peace — while Richard kisses the infant prince and mutters his treachery aside, a Judas-kiss that promises the horrors to come.

Characters

• King Henry VI major

  The gentle, devout king, helpless in war, who to buy peace agrees to disinherit his own son and entail the crown to the house of York after his death. Deposed, captured, restored by Warwick, and deposed again, he is at last stabbed to death in the Tower by Richard of Gloucester, prophesying the horrors Richard will bring.

• Queen Margaret major

  Henry's fierce French queen, who takes command of the Lancastrian cause when her husband yields it away. She crowns the captured York with a paper crown and taunts him with a napkin steeped in his murdered son Rutland's blood before stabbing him; later her own son is butchered before her eyes at Tewkesbury.

• Edward, Prince of Wales supporting

  The spirited Lancastrian heir, son of Henry VI and Margaret, disinherited by his father's treaty with York. Captured after Tewkesbury, he defies Edward IV to his face and is stabbed to death by Edward, Richard, and Clarence together. NOT to be confused with Edward IV.

• Richard, Duke of York major

  Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, whose hereditary claim to the crown opens the play. He agrees to let Henry reign for life in exchange for the succession, but is persuaded by his sons to seize the throne at once; captured at Wakefield, he is mocked and stabbed by Margaret and Clifford.

• Edward IV major

  York's eldest son, Earl of March, who avenges his father and seizes the crown as Edward IV. His impulsive marriage to Lady Grey enrages Warwick and drives him into Lancaster's camp; briefly captured and deposed, Edward escapes, regroups, and wins back the throne at Barnet and Tewkesbury.

• Richard Plantagenet (Gloucester) antagonist

  York's deformed, brilliant youngest son, created Duke of Gloucester — the future Richard III. In a great soliloquy he declares the crown his one desire and his readiness to 'set the murderous Machiavel to school.' He stabs the captured Prince Edward and murders Henry VI in the Tower, hinting at the brothers he will destroy next.

• George, Duke of Clarence supporting

  York's middle surviving son, made Duke of Clarence by Edward. He deserts his brother for Warwick (marrying Warwick's daughter), then dramatically changes sides again on the battlefield, casting away his red rose to rejoin Edward and Richard. Printed early as GEORGE, later as CLARENCE.

• Edmund, Earl of Rutland minor

  York's youngest child, a boy, slaughtered in cold blood by Lord Clifford after Wakefield despite his tutor's desperate pleas — the murder that sets the play's cycle of revenge in motion.

• Earl of Warwick major

  Richard Neville, 'the Kingmaker,' the mightiest subject in the realm, who sets Edward on the throne. Sent to France to woo Lady Bona for Edward and then publicly shamed by news of Edward's marriage, he turns Lancastrian, restores Henry VI, and is finally killed at the battle of Barnet.

• Lord Clifford antagonist

  The pitiless Lancastrian lord (the Young Clifford of Part 2, now grown), who avenges his father's death at St Albans by murdering the child Rutland and helping Margaret kill York. He dies of an arrow-wound at Towton, and the Yorkists rail at his lifeless head.

• King Lewis XI supporting

  Lewis XI, King of France, courted at once by Margaret (begging aid) and by Warwick (suing for Lady Bona's hand for Edward). News of Edward's marriage insults him and Bona, and he sends Warwick home with French troops to topple the Yorkist king.

• Lady Grey (Queen Elizabeth) supporting

  Elizabeth Woodville, a Lancastrian widow who comes to petition Edward for her dead husband's lands; charmed, he marries her, making her Queen Elizabeth — an impulsive match that costs him Warwick's loyalty and France's friendship.

• Earl of Northumberland minor

  A Lancastrian peer, moved to tears by York's suffering even as he stands among his enemies.

• Earl of Westmoreland minor

  A Lancastrian lord who scorns Henry for disinheriting his own son and storms out of the Parliament-house.

• Duke of Exeter minor

  A Lancastrian noble who follows Henry even as he privately admits York's title is the stronger in law.

• Earl of Oxford minor

  A staunch Lancastrian who joins Warwick's reconciliation with Margaret and fights for Henry to the last at Barnet and Tewkesbury.

• Duke of Somerset minor

  A Lancastrian duke who, with Oxford, throws in his lot with the turned Warwick to restore Henry VI.

• Marquess of Montague minor

  Warwick's brother, who follows him from the Yorkist into the Lancastrian camp and dies beside him at Barnet.

• Duke of Norfolk minor

  A loyal Yorkist peer who backs York's claim and Edward's cause.

• Lord Hastings minor

  A Yorkist lord, brother-in-law to Warwick, who stays loyal to Edward when Warwick defects.

• Lord Rivers minor

  Brother to Lady Grey, who rises with his sister's marriage to the king.

• Sir John Montgomery minor

  A captain who brings troops to the returning Edward and presses him to claim the crown outright, not merely his dukedom.

• Sir John Somerville minor

  Warwick's officer, who reports the approach of Clarence's forces before the clash at Coventry.

• Lady Bona minor

  Sister to the French Queen, whose hand Warwick negotiates for Edward; humiliated by news of his marriage to Lady Grey, she urges France to back his enemies.

• Rutland's Tutor minor

  A chaplain who vainly begs Clifford to spare the child Rutland.

• Sir John Mortimer minor

  An uncle of the Duke of York who counsels him at Sandal Castle before Wakefield.

• First Keeper minor

  One of two gamekeepers in the north who recognize and arrest the wandering, deposed King Henry.

• Second Keeper minor

  The second gamekeeper who helps take the deposed King Henry into custody.

• Huntsman minor

  A keeper set to guard the captured Edward, who slips away with Richard and Hastings during a hunt.

• First Watchman minor

  One of the watchmen guarding King Edward's tent at night, surprised and overrun when Warwick's forces seize the sleeping king.

• Second Watchman minor

  A watchman at Edward's tent who reflects that guarding the king is the more honourable for being the more dangerous.

• Third Watchman minor

  A watchman at Edward's tent who would rather have quiet and worship than dangerous honour.

• Nobleman minor
• Lieutenant of the Tower minor

  The officer who courteously keeps Henry VI in the Tower, just before Richard comes to murder him.

• Mayor minor

  The Mayor (of York, and later of Coventry) who must decide whether to open the city gates to the returning Edward.

• A Son that has killed his Father minor

  A nameless soldier who, looting a corpse on the field at Towton, discovers he has killed his own father — half of the play's central emblem of civil war's horror.

• A Father that has killed his Son minor

  A nameless soldier who finds he has killed his own son in the battle — the other half of the Towton emblem watched in silence by the helpless King Henry.

• Post minor

  A messenger (post-rider) who carries news between the courts and camps.

• Soldier minor
• Messenger minor
• All ensemble

Cross-references

• Folger Shakespeare
• MIT plain text
• Wikipedia