Michael Finocchiaro's Reviews > Henry VI, Part 1

Henry VI starts his reign with strife and confronts the improbable heroine Joan The Pucelle (Joan of Arc) in this first of the Henry VI trilogy. It also sets the stage for the War of the Roses which will occupy the trilogy as well as Richard III which brings it to an incredibly bloody conclusion.

The play is full of foreboding:
WARWICK: And here I prophesy: this brawl today ... Shall send, between the red rose and the white,
A thousand souls to death and deadly night.
Henry VI, Part 1, Act 2, scene iv

Just a little later, the King has a similar reflection:
Believe me, lords, my tender years can tell/Civil dissension is a viperous worm/That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth.
Henry VI, Part 1, Act 3, scene i

More ominously, Exeter makes this prediction:
And now I fear that fatal prophecy ... That Henry born at Monmouth should win all,
And Henry born at Windsor should lose all.
Henry VI, Part 1, Act 3, scene i
This prophecy will take a few decades to be realized, but it fatalistically telegraphs how the series will end.

The allegedly religious Windsor makes a startling statement about putting his own ambition in front of the good of his country:
I'll either make thee stoop and bend thy knee,/Or sack this country with a mutiny.
Henry VI, Part 1, Act 5, scene i

Thereafter, many folks die, fathers killing sons and so forth at Bordeaux and elsewhere. Sadly Joan is thrown under the bus by the ungrateful Charles VII and the English proceed with accusing her of sorcery. I actually felt her first defense speech was rather powerful:

PUCELLE. First let me tell you whom you have condemn'd:
Not me begotten of a shepherd swain,
But issued from the progeny of kings;
Virtuous and holy, chosen from above
By inspiration of celestial grace,
To work exceeding miracles on earth.
I never had to do with wicked spirits.
But you, that are polluted with your lusts,
Stain'd with the guiltless blood of innocents,
Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices,
Because you want the grace that others have,
You judge it straight a thing impossible
To compass wonders but by help of devils.
No, misconceived! Joan of Arc hath been
A virgin from her tender infancy,
Chaste and immaculate in very thought;
Whose maiden blood, thus rigorously effus'd,
Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven.
Henry VI, Part 1, Act 4, scene iv

Her accusation is just about her captors being "polluted with [their] lusts" and "stain'd with the guiltless blood of innocents...because you want the grace that others have, you judge it straight a thing impossible to compass wonders but by the help of devils." I loved this condemnation of medieval mysticism, despite, of course, her own claims of virginity and divine inspiration, it seemed to me that there was some raw truth here. However, what killed it for me was that she immediately recants and claims to have been impregnated by half the English army. I know that these plays are propagandistically anti-French (to assuage Elizabeth's ego), but debasing Joan by having her denounce herself as a whore was a bit disappointing. One must remember, I suppose, that this is one of the Bard's very early plays and perhaps he is a bit more cavalier with the facts and fawning to power in order to stay in favor. We will see him gain in strength over time.

Not my favorite play of the series, but a good setup for the interesting Henry VI, Part 2.
Very well produced by the BBC as the season opener in 2016 of The Hollow Crown S02.

Fino's Reviews of Shakespeare and Shakespearean Criticism
Comedies
The Comedy of Errors (1592-1593
The Taming of the Shrew (1593-1594)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594-1595)
Love's Labour's Lost (1594-1595)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-1596)
The Merchant of Venice (1596-1597)
Much Ado About Nothing (1598-1599)
As You Like It (1599-1600)
Twelfth Night (1599-1600)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1600-1601)
All's Well That Ends Well (1602-1603)
Measure for Measure (1604-1605)
Cymbeline (1609-1610)
A Winter's Tale (1610-1611)
The Tempest (1611-1612)
Two Noble Kinsmen (1612-1613)

Histories
Henry VI Part I (1589-1590)
Henry VI Part II (1590-1591)
Henry VI Part III (1590-1591)
Richard III (1593-1594)
Richard II (1595-1596)
King John (1596-1597)
Edward III (1596-1597)
Henry IV Part I (1597-1598)
Henry IV Part II (1597-1598)
Henry V (1598-1599)
Henry VIII (1612-1612)

Tragedies
Titus Andronicus (1592-1593)
Romeo and Juliet (1594-1595)
Julius Caesar (1599-1600)
Hamlet (1600-1601)
Troilus and Cressida (1601-1602)
Othello (1604-1605)
King Lear (1605-1606)
Macbeth (1605-1606)
Anthony and Cleopatra (1606-1607)
Coriolanus (1607-1608)
Timon of Athens (1607-1608)
Pericles (1608-1609)

Shakespearean Criticism
The Wheel of Fire by Wilson Knight
A Natural Perspective by Northrop Frye
Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber
Shakespeare's Roman Plays and Their Background by M W MacCallum
Shakespearean Criticism 1919-1935 compiled by Anne Ridler
Shakespearean Tragedy by A.C. Bradley
Shakespeare's Sexual Comedy by Hugh M. Richmond
Shakespeare: The Comedies by R.P. Draper
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt
1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro

Collections of Shakespeare
Venus and Adonis, the Rape of Lucrece and Other Poems
Shakespeare's Sonnets and a Lover's Complaint
The Complete Oxford Shakespeare