Henry VI Part 1 Act 1 -'The Times They Are A Changing'

Henry VI Part 1 Act 1

This play could be subtitled, ‘The Times They are a Changing’. The warrior culture of Henry V has moved along with his death and Henry VI has inherited disunity, petty squabbles and an ongoing war with France. Even chivalry is dead and the character of Talbot represents its last fortress. Shakespeare also knows that he needs more than chivalric decay to sustain this opening to his greatest historical adventure. He pillages the enigmatic character of Joan of Arc, a woman who succeeds wonderfully in the male domain of the battlefield (a timely tribute to Elizabeth I’s beating back of the Spanish Armada three years prior in 1588).

The opening of this ‘History’ play deals only very loosely with history since Shakespeare moves quickly and freely between events that happen years apart (and events that didn’t happen as he portrays) to create a fast-paced speedily shifting montage of scenes from the battle at Orleans to the political and petty intrigues of England following Henry V’s death. This is an action-packed opening and Shakespeare, for perhaps the first time, learns the power of actions and directions on the page and the way they can control pace on the stage. The battle between Talbot’s forces and those led by Joan of Arc are described by stage direction, even though Talbot’s final defeat (in good Ancient Greek dramatic fashion) happens off-stage. The act ends with even the French being shown as prone to petty squabbles as most of the French nobles want to ignore Joan and only honour the male nobles who were involved in the battle. Luckily, Charles steps in and sees the victory as primarily Joan’s. Hell hath no wrath like a woman with something to prove with a weapon in her hand.