payment page
The commoners seem very dangerous, particularly when led by someone like Jack Cade. Yet the commoners can be easily swayed one way or the other, as the nobles demonstrate when they convince the people to abandon Cade and lay down their arms. The common people of the realm certainly have power, but Shakespeare seems to be suggesting that any assertive leader can channel it. For this reason, and despite the mayhem created by the army of commoners, the real threat lies with the nobles. They are the ones who vie for control of the realm, and who presumably fight over who will have the most influence over what the common people think and do. The events depicted in the play also demonstrate that it’s the actions of the nobility that create the disturbances that most upset the commoners. It’s only when Winchester, Suffolk, and Margaret conspire to kill Gloucester that the people become upset and begin to organize. In this sense, the nobles have an outsized ability to disturb the peace of the realm.
He became king when he was very young, and even in this play he is barely of age. He has very little experience with matters of state, which explains why he continues to rely on the judgment of his uncle Gloucester. This reliance, in turn, makes him a target for scheming nobles. Men like the Cardinal Winchester see Gloucester has having power over the king, and they want to seize that power for themselves. When the plot against Gloucester becomes public, we immediately see the effect on the king: he feels unable to assert his power because the man who has always authorized it has now been ousted. Instead of stepping up, he withdraws and implicitly allows his lords to take over. Another aspect of Henry’s unfitness to rule has to do with what York calls his bookishness. Henry is a contemplative man by nature, and this disposition makes him want to retreat and think rather than step forward and act. Margaret disparages her husband for this trait, which she ascribes to his religiosity. All told, then, Henry is an inexperienced king with a greater penchant for contemplation than for politics.
On one hand, there appears to be no link at all. Gloucester dies, and later Cade arrives on the scene. However, a connection does lie in their equivalent preoccupation with the rights of the commoners. Gloucester may have been the last noble in the court who cared about the common people. When he is gone, there is no one to defend the masses—that is, until Cade comes along. However, Cade has been hired by York to raise trouble in England and to test out public response to a new claimant to the throne. Is Cade genuinely in support of the people, or does he just enjoy creating chaos? He claims he wants to create both an egalitarian society, but he also says he wants to be king. These conflicting claims, plus his extreme violence, may show Cade to be merely a vicious killer and a man who likes stirring up trouble, not a savior of the people. In this regard, the man who initially seemed most like Gloucester turns out to be his opposite.
