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Table of Contents OVERALL ANALYSES: Characters: King Henry VI Son of Henry V--He succeeded the throne when he was nine months old in 1422. While he was a minor, England was ruled through a council, his uncle good Duke Humphrey of Gloucester being protector. His reign was not a peaceful one and it was a period of war between nations and within the kingdom. It was also a time of dynastic strife which showed in the contests between allegiance to the monarchy and alliance between the nobles. King Henry is portrayed as a gentle, young and pious man who is able to know what is right but is unable to prevent what is wrong. To his courtiers he seems inefficient and effete, and according to his wife, he is more suited and interested in observing the papal rights and rituals than concentrating on his kingly duties. Because he does not feel secure about his right to the crown, his insecurities and inabilities to rule are exacerbated, enough to where Henry unnaturally yields the crown to York and weakly allows himself to be silenced whenever he tries to intervene. The Queen mocks the King's cowardice in preferring his life to his honor and says that she would surely prefer to die at the hands of the enemy rather than do this cowardly and unmanly act. When he loses his throne and is banished to Scotland, he roams about in the forest with a prayer book and says his crown is not on his head but in his heart and it is called Content. This contentment of mind is attained by him, which is very rare among Kings. At last when he gets back his crown, he abdicates in favor of Warwick and Clarence and makes them the protectors of the state, while he spends the later part of his life praising God. Although he is a beneficent king and spiritually endowed, he is out of touch with the atmosphere of the times which demands a ruler with an iron fist who can quell the unrest and bring the country out of disorder. He is more a prophet than a king as can be seen in the scene where is murdered and the stature he attains at foretelling the bloodshed that will spill due to Richard's ambitions. Queen Margaret She is the daughter of Reignier, who married Henry VI at Nancy in 1445. She is portrayed as a very determined woman unlike her husband. When Henry proves himself an unnatural father and disinherits his son, she is provoked to divorce him both from bed and board. She laments her fate of having been born as a queen to a worthless king and attempts to be a leader through her own cunning ambitions. She is bold enough to face the future and its consequences. Her maternal love manifests itself in her concern about her son's future and her determination to regain his inheritance. Yet like many of Shakespeare's female characters, she harbors her own ambtions and selfish motivations. When her husband is banished and deprived of his throne, she seeks the help of the French King Lewis. As a leader of the army, she fares very well and proves herself a brave tyrant when she mercilessly mocks York before killing him. She is ferocious and undaunted by the rage and despair around her. Yet when the York brothers kill her son, she weeps desperately, very unusual for her and curses them as 'butchers, cannibals, murderers.' Even she is affected finally by the death and destruction around her especially of innocents. Her martial strength and capability as a leader is shown when she inspires her troops to fight bravely and not weep about their losses. She encourages them to be brave and be ready to face all adversities like the captain of a ship. All these qualities of hers prove that she is indeed a bold, shrewd, and outspoken woman and an able queen. Table of Contents | |
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