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Henry VI, Part 3 was first published in 1595 in an octavo volume under the lengthy title, The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York, and the Death of Good King Henry the Sixth, with the Whole Contention between the Two Houses Lancaster and York. In 1623, a new version of the play, longer by a thousand lines, appeared in Shakespeare’s First Folio under the title, The Third Part of Henry the Sixth. Some scholars believe that the first version was an early draft of the later folio edition, while other editors believe that the octavo version was reconstructed by actors and audience members, thus explaining its shorter length. The folio version is thought to be based on Shakespeare’s own manuscript before he gave it to his players. Therefore, the folio version may be longer and looser than the actual text presented on stage, while the octavo version may be shorter than what an audience witnessed. Most editors use the longer folio version with occasional additions from the octavo when the staging seems preferable.
Henry VI, Part 3 is a continuation of the depiction of the Wars of the Roses, begun in Henry VI, Part 1 and Henry VI, Part 2. These plays follow the struggles between the Lancastrian descendants of Edward III, represented by the red rose, and his Yorkist descendants, who are represented by the white rose. This third installment ambitiously depicts many significant battles fought during that civil war, stretching from the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, when the duke of York was killed, to the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, when Edward, York’s eldest son, defeated the Lancasters.
Shakespeare probably made use of historical information gathered from contemporary chronicle histories of the fifteenth century and of the struggles between the Yorks and the Lancasters in the Wars of the Roses. In particular, he is thought to have used Raphael Holingshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1587) and Edward Hall’s Union of the Two Noble and Illustre [Illustrious] Families of Lancaster and York (1548). However, Shakespeare had to conflate or alter historical events so they would fit within a dramatic context.
One of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, Henry VI, Part 3 seems to have attracted attention for his boldness in adapting a complex historical narrative to the requirements of the theater. Some critics have seen Henry VI, Part 3 as a flawed play, perhaps showing Shakespeare’s weariness with the dramatization of the Wars of the Roses or the difficulty of getting so much historical matter on the stage. Yet contemporary productions have been successful, particularly in depicting the ruthless Margaret and the increasingly alienated and enraged Richard, who emerges as the play’s great antihero. Post-World War II productions have especially benefited from emphasizing this play’s representation of a once-calm world spiraling toward chaos.
