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Blue Coats and Tawny Coats
In act 1, scene 4, the duke of Gloucester shows up at the Tower of London accompanied by a group of serving men in blue coats. Newly named Lord Protector upon the death of Henry V, he has come to inspect the Tower to ensure that the guards there are not corrupt. Bishop Winchester, however, has taken it upon himself to ban Gloucester from the Tower, a command he’s issued to his own serving men, who wear tawny-colored coats of brownish orange. A vicious exchange of words between Gloucester and Winchester inflames their loyal followers, who quickly take up arms in defense of their respective lords. As it happens, the Mayor of London arrives to defuse the escalating fight. But he is too late to put an end to this dispute, which the “blue coats” and the “tawny coast” carry forward throughout the play. These different-colored coats therefore stand as symbols of the power struggle between Gloucester and Winchester. This struggle creates an enduring rift at court that eventually makes its way to France, as we see in the conflict between Vernon and Basset that erupts in act 3, scene 8, and which the newly crowned King Henry VI condemns in act 4, scene 1.
White Roses and Red Roses
Just as the blue coats and the tawny coats symbolize the rift between Gloucester and Winchester, the white roses and the red roses symbolize the rift between Richard Plantagenet and Lord Somerset. The precise nature of their dispute isn’t entirely clear, though it stems from an argument they have over a point of law. This point may be related to Plantagenet’s ambiguous claim to noble status. He lost his claim to his father’s land and title when his predecessor was executed for treason. However, the execution occurred without a proper trial, which suggests a legal loophole. It is this loophole he later raises with Henry, who restores his father’s land and title. But regardless of whether his social status is what’s initially in question, the dispute between Plantagenet and Somerset becomes formalized in the scene in the Temple Garden. There, they each encourage their followers to show their allegiance by plucking coordinated roses: white for Plantagenet, and red for Somerset. Shakespeare invented this scene to dramatize the origin of the Wars of the Roses, a complex political dispute that will have ruinous consequences both for Henry and for England.
Joan’s Armor
Joan la Pucelle’s most striking feature is arguably her armor. It isn’t the armor itself that is notable; rather, it’s the simple fact that she is wearing it. Talbot suggests as much in the final scene of the opening act, where he first encounters her on the battlefield. His bewilderment nearly jumps off the page when he observes, “A woman clad in armor chaseth men” (1.7.3). His shock at encountering “a woman clad in armor” is plain. Joan is out of place here, dressed in a man’s traditional costume and performing the conventionally masculine role of the warrior. For Talbot, such a transgression immediately betokens evil: “Devil or devil’s damn, I’ll conjure thee. / Blood I will draw on thee—thou art a witch— / And straightway give thy soul to him thou serv’st” (1.7.5–7). From Talbot’s perspective, then, Joan’s armor symbolizes a transgression against the normative order of things, one he finds malevolent and threatening. Indeed, the historical Joan was burned at the stake not just for heresy, but for her masculine act of taking up arms. Curiously, Joan’s armor also serves a metatheatrical purpose, slyly reminding Elizabethan audiences that all the female characters are, in fact, just men clad in women’s garments.
