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Summary
York and his army enter a field near St. Albans. He speaks of his journey from Ireland to London to claim the crown from weak Henry. Then Buckingham enters, and York, realizing he is a messenger from the king, decides he must lie. He announces to Buckingham that he has brought the army to ensure the punishment of Somerset, whom he calls a traitor. Buckingham says Somerset is imprisoned in the Tower, at which point York dismisses his troops, telling them to report the following day for their pay.
Henry enters, asking York about his army, and York repeats his intentions regarding Somerset. Then Alexander Iden enters with Cade’s head. Henry is pleased and knights Iden. Margaret then enters with Somerset. Seeing Somerset free, York can no longer contain himself. He declares that Henry is not fit to be king and that he shall no longer rule over the one who should be the ruler—namely, himself.
Somerset orders York arrested for treason, and York calls for his sons to speak for him. York’s sons Edward and Richard enter, along with Clifford. Clifford judges York to be a madman and a traitor. Margaret says York has been arrested but will not go to the Tower. York insists he is the true king, and he calls for Salisbury and Warwick to defend him. Henry asks where their faith and loyalty have gone. Salisbury says that he believes York to be the rightful heir. Henry asks him if he did not swear allegiance to him already; Salisbury says he did, but it was a sinful oath to support a usurper, which is better to break than keep. Henry tells Buckingham to arm himself, and York tells him to gather his allies.
Somerset and York fight, and York kills Somerset, leaving his body under an alehouse bearing the sign of a castle. He quips that the conjurer who predicted that Somerset should “shun castles” (1.4.35) was right. Warwick enters, chasing Clifford. York then takes up the fight and kills Clifford. When everyone has left, Clifford’s son finds his father’s body and laments that he should have died in such a battle in his old age. Carrying his father’s body away, he pledges never to show mercy to any member of the house of York.
Meanwhile, Buckingham is carried to his tent, wounded. Henry and Margaret enter. Margaret tells Henry he should flee to London, where he’ll be safe. Clifford’s son enters and urges flight also.
York again enters the battlefield with his sons Edward and Richard. It has been a good day, he says: they have won the fight. He asks about the whereabouts of Salisbury, and Richard says he helped him three times when he fell from his horse. Salisbury and Warwick then enter, and Salisbury says they have won the battle but not the war, as their enemies have fled. York reports that the king has fled to London to call a parliamentary meeting. Warwick says they should beat him to London if they can. He then says that York will go down in history for winning the battle at St. Albans.
Analysis
As York sets foot once more on English soil, he is committed to the cause of dethroning Henry and taking the crown for himself. This is the moment to which the entire play has been leading. At every step of the way, York has shown patience, waiting for just the right time to strike. He has even tested the waters by mounting the elaborate hoax with Jack Cade. It’s therefore a bit shocking when he sees Somerset free and can no longer hold his tongue. Although he has just counseled himself to wait until Henry is in a weaker position, York now unleashes the fury that he’s been cultivating for such long time. At first glance, his timing seems poor, given that he’s just dismissed his army and now stands alone facing down Henry and his allies. However, York quickly assembles his followers, including Salisbury and Warwick, as well as his two sons, Edward and Richard—both of whom will be future kings. At last, the struggle between the houses of Lancaster and York is out in the open.
As the play races toward its cliffhanger conclusion, the action picks up rapidly. Although we have already witnessed the mayhem of Cade’s army marching through the streets of London, the action now really picks up as the rivalling noblemen take up arms against each other. Recalling the action-packed drama of Henry VI, Part 1, the final act of Part 2 moves along swiftly, and it’s characterized the near-constant sounding of alarums—that is, blaring trumpets used to communicate during the chaos of battle. The kingdom has been under threat throughout this play, but now the danger has truly come to a head. We in the audience hear the trumpets as an ominous warning of the bloodshed to come now that outright war between Lancaster and York has been declared. As Shakespeare prepares the way for the third play in this series, everything hangs in the balance.
And indeed, it’s notable that as the play ends, one of the conjurer’s oracles remains unfulfilled. We have already learned the truth of the spirit Asnath’s warning that Suffolk would die “by water” (1.4.33). He died at sea by the hand of a man whose name sounds like “water.” As for Somerset, Asnath declared, “Let him shun castles” (1.4.35). Here, we see how he’s slain below an alehouse sign that depicts a castle, thus fulfilling his prophecy. Both of these examples indicate how non-straightforward the language of prophecy can be, which makes it impossible to avoid. The third of Asnath’s prophecies, which concerns the conflict between York and Henry, is perhaps the most ambiguous at all: “The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose, / But him outlive, and die a violent death” (1.4.30–31). The syntax of this sentence makes it possible to read in two contradictory ways. Either the duke of York will depose Henry, or else Henry will succeed in defending himself against York. In either case, the winner will survive for a time, only to “die a violent death.” The answer to this riddle will be revealed in Henry VI, Part 3.
