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Summary
At York’s castle, Richard, Edward, and Montague enter in tense discussion. York enters and asks what they are talking about. Richard and Edward urge their father to enjoy the throne now, for Henry shall surely outlive him. York insists that he took an oath to let Henry rule untroubled. But Richard says it was not a legally binding oath, since it was not sworn before a magistrate. Therefore, he enjoins his father to fight.
York is easily convinced. He tells his brother, Montague, to go to London to contact Warwick and other supporters. But just then a messenger enters with news that the queen is leading an army to besiege York’s castle. York sends Montague off just as several of his relatives show up, and they prepare for battle.
The Earl of Rutland, York’s youngest son, is on his way to York’s castle with his tutor when he encounters Clifford. Rutland begs for his life, asking Clifford to fight with his father instead of killing him. But Clifford is determined to kill Rutland to repay York for taking his father’s life. Killing all the members of the house of York and desecrating their tombs would not be enough to calm his ire, Clifford declares. Rutland begs again, but it’s no use: Clifford stabs him.
On the battlefield, an exhausted York laments that his army has been unable to beat back Margaret’s forces. He predicts his demise as Margaret enters with Clifford, Northumberland, and Prince Edward. Clifford is ready to kill York, but Margaret holds him back. Northumberland, Clifford, and York fight, and they capture York.
Margaret cruelly mocks the imprisoned York. She shows him a handkerchief covered with Rutland’s blood, which she offers him to use to dry his tears. When York doesn’t show any emotion, she calls him a madman. She then places a paper crown on his head. Recalling the oath York made with Henry, Margaret asserts ironically that York has broken his vow by wearing the crown before the king’s death. She knocks the flimsy ornament from his head and calls for his execution.
York responds, bitterly accusing Margaret of being an unnatural woman and a “she-wolf” (1.4.112). Returning her insults, he reminds her of her father’s paltry claim to nobility as well as his poverty. He also scoffs at her mannishness. Women, he says, have beauty, virtue, and the ability to govern themselves, but she has none of these attributes, which makes her an abomination. Then, giving in to grief for his dead son, York calls Margaret inhuman.
Northumberland pities York, but Clifford and Margaret show no mercy and stab him to death. Margaret then orders York’s head to be mounted on the gate overlooking the town of York.
Analysis
The tentative agreement brokered between Henry and York in the opening scene rapidly disintegrates in the scenes that follow. York’s fiercely loyal sons convince him that the oath he made wasn’t legally binding, which gives him leave to pursue the Crown as planned. Richard is the one who finally convinces his father to proceed. His intelligence resembles that of his father, who in the first two parts of the Henry VI sequence has shown himself a skillful analyst of both law and genealogy. His keen understanding of inheritance law led to his becoming the duke of York in Part 1, and his close reading of the royal family tree gave him the confidence to pursue the throne in Part 2. In this scene, by taking up their father’s claim and arguing the case on his behalf, York’s sons effectively take over his pursuit of the Crown. This symbolic transfer subtly foreshadows York’s imminent demise.
But before York dies, he must first be made to suffer. At the end of Henry VI, Part 2, York killed Clifford’s father in battle. In a moving scene, a young Clifford carried his father’s corpse off the field, swearing vengeance on all Yorks he might encounter in the future. This vow explains his unwillingness to show Rutland mercy: he murders York’s youngest son without hesitation. Margaret, too, seems eager for revenge. Yet whereas Clifford executed his vengeance with cold ruthlessness, Margaret makes a taunting show of hers. In a remarkably cruel act, she presents York with a kerchief soaked in his own son’s blood, daring him to use it to wipe his tears. She then stages a miniature drama where she places a paper crown on his head. Acting as though he’d stolen the king’s crown and thereby broken his oath, she condemns the would-be usurper to death. And so, at the end of act 1, York’s pursuit of the Crown comes to a swift and decisive end. His sons must now carry the Yorkist torch.
The cruelty Margaret shows toward York before his death reflects the increasing threat she represents to the realm. For one thing, her decision to take command of the king’s army strongly recalls Joan la Pucelle in Henry VI, Part 1. Now more commonly known as Joan of Arc, this figure assumed command of the French army as France attempted to reclaim the territories previously lost to the English. Joan proved a formidable foe. She possessed a cold rationality when it came to leading the troops, and she was a fierce warrior in her own right. Though championed by the French, the English viewed Joan as an unnatural creature. Dressed in armor and assuming leadership, she acted more like a man than a woman—a transgressive position that led the English to deem her a witch and a whore, and which eventually resulted in her death by fire. Margaret may not be a strong fighter like Joan, but she has already shown herself capable of leading an army to victory. She also possesses a cold pragmatism and clarity of purpose that enables her to prevail over York. Yet York’s point about her unwomanly nature may yet bode ill, given the fate of other masculine women in this sequence of plays.
