payment page
How does Richard Plantagenet, the duke of York, die?
After York brokers the deal where Henry entails the Crown to him upon his death, he returns to the town of York to resume his duties as duke. But the king’s army, led by Queen Margaret, soon descends upon the town and captures him. Margaret is motivated to kill York to eliminate his threat. Meanwhile, she is joined by Clifford, who is motivated to kill York as revenge for the death of his father in the battle at St. Albans that took place at the end of Henry VI, Part 2. Together, they mock York, then stab him to death. These events all take place within act 1.
Why does Margaret take command of Henry’s army?
Margaret takes command of Henry’s army in act 1 as a response to his decision to disinherit their son, Prince Edward. The queen’s capacity for militancy is perhaps surprising, since her role in Henry VI, Part 2 was limited to political strategizing. However, she has come to expect that her husband is a weak ruler who won’t do what’s necessary to protect his—and indeed his son’s—claim to the throne. Therefore, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Much like Joan la Pucelle in Henry VI, Part 1, she makes a marvelously charismatic commander. But though she does triumph over York’s forces, she ultimately loses the war with Edward.
Why does Warwick shift his allegiance from Edward to Henry?
Warwick shifts his allegiance in the pivotal scene that closes act 3. King Edward has dispatched him to France to ask for the hand of King Louis’s sister-in-law in marriage—an engagement that would establish a more stable peace between their kingdoms. But just after Warwick has secured the engagement, a messenger arrives at the French court reporting that Edward has gone ahead and married an English noblewoman instead. It is at this point that Warwick, furious at having been sent on a fool’s errand, swears a new oath of allegiance to Henry’s cause. Significantly, Warwick’s anger isn’t just about being misused. He’s also highly aware that Edward’s last-minute marriage decision echoes Henry’s last-minute marriage to Margaret, which turned out to be a political disaster.
How does Henry die?
Like so many other political prisoners of the time, Henry dies while being held captive in the Tower. After Edward has defeated Margaret’s army and secured the throne for himself, his younger brother Richard, the duke of Gloucester, slips out of the room, notifying only George of his plan. He then rushes off to the Tower, where he finds Henry’s cell and stabs him to death. Reversing the historical pattern in which Henry Bolingbroke once had Richard II dethroned and killed, here a dethroned Henry is murdered by a Richard. But this moment isn’t just significant from this perspective of historical mirroring. It’s also marked by Henry’s disturbing prophecy that Richard will bring the kingdom to its knees. The scene of Henry’s death is arguably the play’s dramatic climax, bringing an end to the life of the king whose name is attached to the Henry VI sequence and portending the horrific reign of the future King Richard III.
Why does Richard, the duke of Gloucester, want the Crown for himself?
Edward’s younger brother claims to want the Crown because he believes no other future is open to him. As a man with notable physical abnormalities that many in his life have interpreted as signs of a curse or an ill-omened birth, Richard views himself as an outsider. He’s not directly in the line of succession for the throne, so the likelihood that it will come to him is minimal. But when he imagines trying to be content with a life based in the pleasure-seeking of an ordinary duke, he declares that no woman would have him. Projecting that his current title will never satisfy him, he concludes that the only possibility is to scheme for the Crown. With this plot in mind, he declares himself a man alone, no longer limited by the ties of kinship.
