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Summary
Off the coast of England, an English ship is under attack. On board are the Captain, the Master, the Mate, and Walter Whitmore. Their prisoners include a disguised Suffolk and two gentlemen. The Captain gives one gentleman each to the Master and the Mate to demand ransom, and he gives Suffolk to Whitmore. Suffolk starts when he hears his captor’s name: Walter sounds very close to water, and Suffolk recalls how the Duchess’s conjurer had predicted his death by water. Suffolk reveals his identity and declares that his honorable blood must not be shed by lowborn commoners like these pirates. The Captain scorns Suffolk for his participation in Gloucester’s downfall, and especially for his role in wedding the king to the daughter of a worthless French noble, thereby causing the loss of Anjou and Maine. Suffolk refuses to admit wrongdoing, and neither will he beg for his life. Whitmore leads him off and returns with his head. One of the other captured gentlemen says he will deliver Suffolk’s head to the king.
Meanwhile, on land, rebels are beginning to run rampant, discussing Jack Cade’s plans for the kingdom. They agree that nobles will not be favored in the new regime; only artisans and laborers will be honored. Cade then enters with the Butcher and the Weaver. Cade makes a speech, announcing his alleged lineage through the Mortimer and Plantagenet families. After each point, the Butcher mocks him to the rebels, saying Cade is as far from nobility as one can get. Cade announces that when he is king, beer will be plentiful, there will be no money, and the first thing they will do is punish all those who are literate. Just then a clerk is brought in. Cade asks if the man can read and write, and when he answers affirmatively, Cade orders him to be hanged with his pen and inkhorn around his neck.
A messenger enters to tell of an impending attack by Stafford and his brother. Preparing to meet these knights, Cade makes a show of knighting himself. Stafford enters and commands the rebels to lay down their arms. Cade says he is the rightful heir to the throne, and they debate the point. Stafford’s brother accuses Cade of having been groomed by York, but Cade denies it. Cade and the Butcher say they mean to kill the Lord Saye, who sold Maine to the French and weakened the English holdings in France.
Stafford and his brother agree there’s no negotiating with Cade, so they decide to send the king’s troops against them and proclaim Cade’s followers to be traitors. Cade calls to those who love the commoners to follow him and to hunt the lords in the name of liberty. In the ensuing battle, both Staffords are slain, and Cade’s army marches toward London.
In London, Henry enters reading the rebels’ supplication. Margaret, who enters holding Suffolk’s head, tries to convince herself to transform her grief into revenge. A messenger enters to tell of the approaching army of commoners, led by a man named Cade who calls himself Mortimer and vows to become king. Buckingham advises Henry to leave London. The king suggests Saye come, too, since the rebels want to kill him, but Saye decides to stay in London so as not to endanger the king. Another messenger enters saying Cade is nearly at London Bridge, and all the citizens are joining his march. Henry and Margaret flee.
A lord in the Tower asks citizens below if Cade has been killed yet. They report that the mayor of London has called for reinforcements, so the lord sends them. But Cade and his men invade London and take the city. Cade kills a messenger who arrives with a note saying that an army gathers outside town to oppose him. Cade and his troops head out to fight.
Analysis
As act 4 opens, the plots already established earlier in the play continue to unfold, starting with the death of Suffolk. Recall that in act 1, scene 4, Roger Bolingbroke the conjurer asked the spirit Asnath about Suffolk’s fate. The spirit responded, “By water he shall die, and take his end” (1.4.33). As is often the case, the language of prophecy is ambiguous. Though Suffolk does indeed die at sea, water isn’t the cause of death. Not literal water, at least. When he finds out that the man holding him captive is named Walter, he immediately recognizes that this man, with a name that closely resembles the word water, will likely kill him. He attempts to forestall the prophecy by addressing Walter by the French version of his name, “Gaultier” (4.1.38). But at this point, nothing can save Suffolk. Both Walter and the Captain are among the commoners who are frustrated by the failures of the nobility to maintain England’s holdings in France. And because Suffolk is directly implicated in the losses of land and hence in England’s decline, they are committed to executing him.
Suffolk’s death bodes ill for the other nobility, which becomes immediately apparent as the scene shifts to the rebellious throng of commoners who have assembled around Jack Cade. York intended Cade’s actions as a test to see how the commoners would receive the idea of a Yorkist king. The commoners are indeed enthusiastic, though they don’t seem to believe for a moment that Cade is a Mortimer truly in line to the throne. They make fun of his speeches, and they cheer on his declarations about what he will do when he is a king. Cade promises to create a realm where laborers will be more honored than the nobility, literate people will be executed, and everyone will drink strong beer. These declarations reflect some of the rhetoric of rebel leaders of the time, including those who cultivated a popular radicalism that championed laborers. That said, it’s somewhat unclear how seriously the commoners take Cade’s bid for the Crown. Mostly, they seem interested in stirring up trouble and voicing their grievances. Regardless, as they enter London and storm the Tower Bridge, it’s clear that the commoners are a force to be reckoned with.
