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In Henry VI, Part 1, Richard Plantagenet became the duke of York after successfully arguing an inheritance case before the king. His father had been executed for treason, and therefore both he and his heirs were stripped of their titles. However, his execution happened without a proper trial, which presented a loophole that Richard exploited to reclaim his inheritance as well as his late uncle Mortimer’s title. His ascent to become the duke of York aggravated his existing rivalry with the duke of Somerset. This, in turn, set into motion increasing hostilities between the house of York and the house of Lancaster—that is, the two houses at the center of the historical Wars of the Roses. Whereas in Part 1 York focused on rising from his yeoman status to the nobility, in Part 2 he sets his sights much higher: the Crown itself. Just as in the earlier play he did the groundwork required to make a successful case for reclaiming his inheritance, here he performs a similarly rigorous analysis of royal genealogy. This analysis has convinced him that he has a stronger claim to the throne than Henry. His arc in this play is thus singularly devoted to his pursuit of the Crown.
York first announces his plan in a speech that closes the play’s opening scene. There, he complains at length about Henry’s political failures, and particularly about how his marriage to Margaret of Anjou has deprived England of precious territory. But he also spurns the king for his preference for religious study over political action, which has resulted in what he dismisses as Henry’s “bookish rule” (1.1.259). Just as he proved himself a careful and patient plotter in Part 1, in this play York demonstrates a canny situational awareness that allows him to succeed where others fail. For instance, though he has no quarrel with Gloucester, he recognizes that the plot against the Lord Protector provides cover for his own secondary plot against the king. Later, when he’s dispatched to Ireland to put down a rebellion, he comes up with a brilliant scheme to test the people’s willingness to entertain a competing claim to the throne. By hiring Jack Cade to foment a popular insurrection, he learns that a Yorkist king would indeed be welcome, and he uses the chaos created to make his move. The play ends with him claiming a provisional victory over the king, but he has not yet won the war.
