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Summary
Two gamekeepers travel through a forest near the Scottish border. They see a man approaching and hide to observe him. It is Henry, who is fleeing to Scotland to escape the wars. They listen as Henry mulls over the news that Margaret and Prince Edward traveled to France to ask for aid. At the same time, Warwick has arrived to ask the French king for the hand of his sister-in-law for Edward, who is the newly crowned king of England. He fears the King Louis will be swayed by the subtle orations of Warwick.
Recognizing the former king, the gamekeepers, who have now sworn allegiance to Edward, arrest him. Henry points out that they are breaking the oath they once swore to him, but they say they were his subjects only as long as he was king. Henry observes that common men are fickle, blown like a feather from one allegiance to another. He allows the men to lead him away.
In the palace in London, King Edward enters with Richard, George, and Lady Grey. The brothers discuss Lady Grey’s fortunes: her husband was killed and his lands seized, and she is presenting a suit to retake possession of them. Richard and George chuckle to each other, convinced that Edward means to give her lands back in exchange for becoming her lover. Edward says she can have her lands if she loves the king, which she says she does—as a subject. He explains that he meant he wants to sleep with her, and she says no, showing herself ready to forfeit her lands. Edward, seeing his efforts fail, decides to ask her to marry him. She says she is not good enough to be queen, and she assumes he teases her. But he insists that she will be his queen.
Edward calls his brothers back and announces his decision. They are astonished but soon distracted by the arrival of a messenger announcing Henry’s imprisonment in the Tower. The others go to the Tower, leaving Richard alone.
Richard ponders the turn of events, hoping Edward won’t have a child with his new bride-to-be. He considers all those who stand in line to the throne before him, including George, Henry, Prince Edward, and any of their children. Longing for the Crown, he imagines himself as someone standing on a cliff and looking at a far-off land he desires to visit but has no easy way of reaching. If the path to get there proves impossible, he wonders if he should pursue a life of pleasure instead. But then, remembering his physical deformity, he concludes that no one will love him. His only course of action, then, is to clamor for power. He will set his mind on the throne and wreak havoc until he occupies it.
Analysis
Act 3 opens with Henry in flight, on his way from London to seek refuge in the Scottish countryside. Now that Edward has been crowned the new king of England, Henry may in fact get his wish to be unburdened of the treacherous life associated with the Crown. Indeed, the last time we saw Henry, this was precisely what he was speculating about: leaving the court to pursue the easy life of a shepherd. However, the fantasy of a new life in Scotland proves to be short-lived when the two gamekeepers detain him in the name of their allegiance to Edward. Just as he did while overlooking the battle and noting how the tides of war constantly go back and forth, Henry laments how easily the commonfolk’s loyalties shift in the political winds. He confronts the men for having so quickly forgotten the oath they swore to him now that they’ve made new vows to King Edward. What use are oaths and vows that can so easily be broken? This is an important question that hangs over the rest of the play, where allegiances will continue to shift like sands in the desert.
Meanwhile, back at court, Edward’s first actions as king seem to be guided less by a commitment to fulfilling his political responsibilities and more by a desire to satiate his sexual desire. Seeing the widowed Lady Grey, he gets the idea that he’d like her to exchange sex for the lands she’s come to repossess. First of all, the arrangement he’s proposing is manipulative and inappropriate. Second, his inexpert management of the situation—“He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom” (3.2.83), George notes—signals his inexperience as a leader. But most worrisome here is the way his courting of Lady Grey takes place at the same moment Warwick is attempting to negotiate a more politically advantageous marriage. He is off in France seeking the hand of the French king’s sister-in-law, which will restore peaceful ties between the two kingdoms. Marriage to a woman like the Lady Grey will bring nothing substantive to the Crown. In this way, Edward is repeating recent history. Recall that Henry’s marriage to Margaret was similarly a matter of sexual desire, which caused Henry to abandon a previously established and far more advantageous engagement.
Just as the audience recognizes that Edward is making a grave mistake, Richard takes the stage to deliver his first soliloquy, where he confides his plan to pursue the throne. Upset by his brother’s shortsightedness, Richard meditates on what it would take for him to assume power, which he sees as the only course of action for a man as bitterly deformed as him. Richard was said to be physically disabled, with a hunched back and one arm shorter than the other. He believes that his mother cursed him with such a horrible appearance, which has condemned him to a life without love or pleasure. Thus, he dismisses the possibility of enjoying the privileges of a duke and sets his sights on becoming king. From now until he gets the throne, Richard will play a role and become an actor in the court of England. He will appear to be charming while he plots the downfall of others; he will seem innocent and harmless while he cuts a swath of destruction through the court.
