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Summary
King Henry enters the court along with Cardinal Winchester and the dukes of Gloucester, Somerset, and Buckingham. From another door enter the duke of York, the marquis of Suffolk, the earls of Salisbury and Warwick, and Margaret. Suffolk presents Margaret to the king, and Henry is pleased with both the beauty and grace of his new queen.
Suffolk then presents the king with the articles of a peace treaty he worked out with the French. Gloucester reads it aloud, but he grows faint at the passage about the lands of Anjou and Maine being returned to the French in exchange for Margaret’s hand. Henry is pleased and promotes Suffolk to the rank of duke. The king then thanks all his lords and departs with Suffolk and Margaret to prepare for her coronation.
Gloucester speaks, marveling that Henry’s father, King Henry V, and then all the lords present in court, had fought so hard in the French wars to win the very lands that Henry so willingly gives back to the French. He also thinks the marriage between Margaret and Henry is a fatal pairing. Winchester says Gloucester speaks too soon, for the English still hold the rest of France. Yet Salisbury and Warwick agree that Anjou and Maine are the keys to Normandy, and their forfeiture heralds the loss of remaining English lands in France. York bemoans the marriage, too, saying that the wives of English kings typically bring a generous dowry, but in this case, Henry gives away territory and receives nothing but a woman in return.
Winchester tells Gloucester that he is too hasty in his criticism, and Gloucester retorts that it’s his person, and not his criticism, that Winchester dislikes. As Gloucester leaves, he tells the lords to remember that he prophesied the imminent fall of France. Winchester then speaks against Gloucester, reminding the lords that he is the Lord Protector and hence heir-apparent to the throne should Henry die. He urges the lords not to be bewitched by Gloucester, even though the common people like him, for he is a dangerous force who surely wants to become king. Buckingham agrees, noting that Gloucester’s job is done now that Henry is old enough to rule. He suggests that he, Winchester, and Suffolk work together to remove him from office.
Winchester then departs, and Somerset advises Buckingham against helping Winchester to topple Gloucester, for Winchester surely wants to become Protector in Gloucester’s place. Buckingham suggests he or Somerset would be the next Protector, and then they both depart.
Salisbury comments on the pride and ambition of the departed lords. He had always known Gloucester to be an honorable man, yet he has seen Winchester behaving in a manner unbefitting his station. Speaking to York and Warwick, Salisbury suggests that they band together for the public good, to try to suppress the pride of Suffolk and Winchester and the ambition of Somerset and Buckingham. They agree and depart.
York, now left onstage alone, speaks of his own claims to the throne. He is angry that the king has relinquished Anjou and Maine when they weren’t his to give. He declares that someday he will reclaim his birthright, and until the right moment arrives, he will ally himself with Salisbury and Warwick.
Analysis
This scene opens where Henry VI, Part 1 left off. In the previous play, Suffolk wooed Margaret for the king because, already being married himself, he could not officially have her. The play ended with Henry’s betrothal to Margaret, after which Suffolk revealed his plan to the audience: to rule over Margaret and, through her, to rule both the king and the kingdom. Suffolk’s ominous words hang suspended over the otherwise joyous opening moments of Henry VI, Part 2, where Henry happily greets his bride-to-be and welcomes her to his court. The joy doesn’t last long, however, as indicated when Gloucester falters while reading the peace treaty negotiated by Suffolk. He stops short of speaking aloud the provision that entails the return of Anjou and Maine to French control—a sure sign that England’s protracted fight in France may come to nothing. From the joyful opening, then, the play quickly swerves toward anxiety, as the lords of Henry’s court focus not on what has been gained (i.e., a new queen) but on all that is sure to be lost (i.e., English territories in France).
Importantly, the opening scene revisits the main schisms that animated much of the action in Part 1. There is, first, the rivalry between Gloucester and Winchester. The former was appointed Lord Protector of the Realm when Henry V died, leaving an heir who was too young to rule. Gloucester therefore presided over affairs of state on the young king’s behalf. Winchester envied this power and sought to gain his own influence over the Crown, which he did by purchasing a promotion from bishop to cardinal. Even so, Winchester clearly retains his hatred of Gloucester and is now actively plotting against him.
The other major rivalry introduced in Part 1 pertains to York and Somerset. Their rivalry began over an obscure point of law that seems to have been related to York’s claim to noble status. At the time, he was a lesser-ranked man known only as Richard Plantagenet, since his father had been stripped of his land and title. In Part 1, however, he not only regained his father’s title, but he was also bequeathed the title duke of York from his uncle Mortimer. Thus, Richard Plantagenet became York. His feud with Somerset marks the start of the Wars of the Roses, which essentially pits the house of York against the house of Lancaster, to which Henry VI belongs. York effectively summarizes this rivalry at the end of the scene, where he envisions the Crown finding its rightful place on the head of a member from the house of York—namely, his head.
Thus, the major battle lines are redrawn for the audience in this scene, laying the groundwork for the loss and destruction that will define the action of the play. It’s notable that Shakespeare foreshadows this loss and destruction in the very structure of this first scene, which works by way of gradual diminishment. The scene opens with a large cast of characters entering the court from different directions—already a sign of division. The scene then proceeds through a series of departures that are followed immediately by plotting. After expressing his pleasure at Margaret’s arrival and the terms of their betrothal, Henry departs with his fiancée and the man who closed the deal, Suffolk. Immediately after they leave, Gloucester complains about the situation. Gloucester then leaves, and Winchester initiates a plot against him. Then Winchester departs, at which point the lords remaining discuss how to ward against the dangerous cardinal and support the “good Duke Humphrey [i.e., Gloucester]” (1.1.191). Eventually, York is left alone onstage to announce the grandest plot of all: to dethrone the king and restore the Crown to the house of York. Symbolically, then, the scene plays out the violence that will be necessary to cut away the competition and rise to the top.
