payment page
The Crown
In a play where nearly every character schemes for control of the kingdom, the king’s crown is the ultimate symbol of power. Aside from Gloucester, most everyone in the play believes that the crown sits uneasy on Henry’s head. Suffolk sees the king’s youth as a major point of weakness that he can exploit through his beautiful young wife, Margaret of Anjou. Meanwhile, the queen, newly arrived in England, grows increasingly disenchanted with her husband’s religiosity, which keeps him withdrawn in contemplation rather than exercising his authority. Even Gloucester’s wife, the Duchess, thinks the king undeserving of the crown. But the figure for whom the crown has the greatest symbolic weight is the duke of York. The symbolic power of the crown becomes especially clear in act 5, when York finally makes his claim to the throne public. Addressing Henry, he says, “That head of thine doth not become a crown” (5.1.96). Rather, he says, “That gold must round engird these brows of mine, / Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles’ spear, / Is able with the change to kill and cure” (5.1.99–101). In his eyes, the crown isn’t just about power; it’s also a matter of righteous justice.
Gloucester’s Staff
As the Lord Protector of the Realm, Gloucester carries a staff that symbolizes his power. It is precisely this power that his enemies envy and want to take for themselves. Winchester, for instance, has long hated Gloucester for the influence he perceives him to have over the king. Margaret also resents Gloucester’s power, and she’s vocal about her view that it should be revoked now that the king is of age to rule on his own. It’s for this reason that, in act 2, scene 3, Margaret commands Gloucester to give up his staff. Gloucester, whose wife has just been banished for dabbling in the occult, gladly relinquishes it: “My staff? Here, noble Henry, is my staff. / As willingly do I the same resign / As erst thy father Henry made it mine” (2.3.32–34). In being so willing to give up the symbol of his power, Gloucester imbues the staff with another symbolic valence. No longer a sign of his influence over the king, the staff becomes a symbol of Gloucester’s unimpeachable honor. In a context otherwise dominated by disloyal scheming and subterfuge, Gloucester remains transparent and firm in his loyalty to the king.
The Limed Bush
The image of a “limed bush” appears several times in the play. This phrase refers to a type of trap used to capture birds. A sticky substance called “birdlime,” made from holly bark, could be smeared on the twigs of a bush to capture small birds. Suffolk is the first to reference this type of trap when he informs Margaret that he has laid a snare for the Duchess: “Madam, myself have limed a bush for her” (1.3.91). Later, the Duchess uses this same phrase to warn Gloucester that members of the court are conspiring against him: Suffolk and the queen, along with “York, and impious Beaufort [i.e., Winchester] that false priest, / Have all limed bushes to betray thy wings” (2.4.54–55). As these examples indicate, the limed bush symbolizes the pervasive scheming and plotting that has endangered the court. Yet as Winchester learns, it’s also possible to be ensnared by one’s own trap. After he’s conspired to kill Gloucester, the cardinal falls mortally ill. On his deathbed he sees a vision of his murdered rival, whose hair “stands upright, / Like lime twigs set to catch my wingèd soul” (3.3.15–16). Ultimately, then, the limed bush symbolizes how easily plots can backfire.
