payment page
EXETER How were they lost? What treachery was used?
MESSENGER No treachery, but want of men and money.
Amongst the soldiers, this is mutterèd:
That here you maintain several factions,
And whilst a field should be dispatched and fought,
You are disputing of your generals.
One would have ling’ring wars with little cost;
Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings;
A third thinks, without expense at all,
By guileful fair words peace may be obtained.
Awake, awake, English nobility! (1.1.68–78)
In the play’s opening scene, a messenger arrives to inform the English court that the French have reclaimed control of several towns, including those that will be important to the action of the play: Orléans, Rouen, Rheims, and Paris. Startled by this news, Exeter asks how such a loss could have taken place. The messenger responds that, among the soldiers at least, it is believed that dissension within the military leadership has caused a fragmentation of power. With the English presence in France no longer presenting a united front, the French were able to take action against them. It is precisely this type of division that, over the course of the play, will develop factions that ultimately prove ruinous for England.
PLANTAGENET Hath not thy rose a canker, Somerset?
SOMERSET Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet? (2.4.68–69)
This brief exchange between Richard Plantagenet and the earl of Somerset occurs in the Temple Garden, where they first instruct their followers to choose a white or red rose to symbolize their allegiance. Even though their dispute arises from an obscure point of law, it’s notable that their discourse quickly descends to the level of childish insults. It’s as if their argument is less about a legal dispute and more an outlet to express mutual dislike. The pettiness of this and other squabbles in the play have significant consequences. In the case of Plantagenet (later York) and Somerset, their ongoing conflict ultimately leads to the death of the famed general, Lord Talbot.
The fraud of England, not the force of France,
Hath now entrapped the noble-minded Talbot.
Never to England shall he bear his life,
But dies betrayed to fortune by your strife. (4.4.36–39)
The messenger Sir William Lucy speaks these lines, efficiently diagnosing the problem that has fated Talbot to die at Bordeaux. Lucy has visited York to appeal for aid on Talbot’s behalf. However, York has not yet received the cavalrymen that Somerset was supposed to deliver to his standing army. Lucy then goes to Somerset to investigate, and this lord accuses York of intentionally sending Talbot to his death. Disgusted by how these lords persist in playing the blame game, Lucy reflects that Talbot’s death will come not from France’s military prowess, but from the factionalism within the English army.
