Product Description

Shakespeare’s plays about the reign of Henry VI, written at the beginning of his career, were for a long time undervalued. This was because of doubts about their authorship and because of the difficulties involved in determining their theatrical provenance. Recently, however, a series of outstanding productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company and others has demonstrated their theatrical vitality, their conventions have been better understood in the light of new critical methods, and their innovative and sceptical questioning of Elizabethan orthodoxies has been understood in the light of revisionist readings of the history of Shakespeare’s own times. This, the first major edition for over twenty-five years, takes account of recent discoveries concerning Shakespeare’s early career. The First Part of King Henry VI, which gives us Shakespeare’s portrait of Joan of Arc, stands revealed both as a successful venture in its own exploratory style, and as a necessary account of key events in the Hundred Years War without which the Wars of the Roses, anatomised in the following two plays, cannot be understood.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #502021 in Books
• Published on: 1990-04-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
This second part of the history of Henry VI begins where Henry VI Part One ends. The Wars of the Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster are in full swing, whilst intrigue at court becomes even more intense. Henry's wife, Margaret of Anjou takes centre stage with her lover Suffolk, conspiring against Henry's uncle, Gloucester, claiming that his wife is in league with a coven of witches. The Duke of York also plots against the ineffectual Henry, encouraging a people's revolt led by the memorable figure of Jack Cade, and then taking to the field himself. At the Battle of St. Albans, York's son Richard, the future King Richard III, kills Gloucester, leaving the Yorkist faction in the ascendancy.

A violent and chaotic play, Henry VI Part Two shows much of Shakespeare's early dramatic inexperience. Much of the verse, and many of the minor characters are undifferentiated. However, both Margaret of Anjou and Jack Cade are fascinating early characterisations which foreshadow some of Shakespeare's greatest subsequent tragic figures. --Jerry Brotton

Customer Reviews

Arden Shakespeare
In some respects I think it'd be rather presumptuous of me to attempt to review Shakespeare. Someone so well known and influential wouldn't benefit from my opinions on their work, plus there are more scholarly and concise reviews out there. But I can comment on these Arden versions. Of all the Shakespeare I've read I've always found the Arden copies to be well laid out and to have excellent commentary and notes on the text. They really add to your understanding of Shakespeares outstanding plays and introduce you to the depth in his work. They have superb paper quality and are bound well, withstanding repeated readings and intensive study. For your collection of Shakespeare you can't do much better than Arden publications, some are quite hard to get hold of but it's worth the effort.

1 Henry VI
Edward Burns' edition happily fulfills all the expectations we should have of an Arden Shakespeare edition : very good textual scholarship, and a thorough introduction. The introduction is nicely focused on performance history, following the general editorial advice of the third series, which is a spoon of jam in a world of marmite to anyone who has been smacked in the face by a bewilderment of 'Q1, Q2, F1 (1623)' details of textual scholarship which prevailed from the get-go in many of the earlier Arden editions. Which is not to say that Burns isn't good on that point - he provides an excellent and seeming-comprehensive survey of recent critical debate about the authorship, original conception, and development of the play. And the commentary and notes throughout the play text are as detailed and useful as you could wish.

So, as I was looking for a copy to study from, this was clearly an excellent choice. If I just wanted to read some Shakespeare, or needed a performance text, the critical apparatus might get in the way.