Henry VI Part 1 Act 2 "Unbidden guests are often welcomest when they are gone..."

Henry VI Part 1 Act 2

“ … Unbidden guests


Are often welcomest when they are gone.”

The pace picks up in Act 2 with difficult-to-stage castle attacks. The French are ambushed by Talbot and his men. The French, half-dressed and half-drunk fight them back. Some start to blame Joan of Arc and think she is a spy for the English while the English, influenced obviously by the precursor to the Fleet Street press, think she is a devil. Charles stands up for her again, much to the distain of some of his men. The French have no course but to sound their retreat.

Meanwhile, back at the battlefield, Talbot is invited by a French Countess to her castle because supposedly she is in awe of his exploits. He goes, but it is a trap to capture him? Is this the end for our Medieval Man of Mystery? Will the chivalrous Talbot be brought down by the charms and deceit of a woman? Of course, Talbot, having no Batcave with nifty devices, anticipated all outcomes. He laughs at The Countess when she says he is her prisoner and says (in a riddle that would riddle even the Riddler) that he is omnipresent and that part of him will always be elsewhere. His soldiers enter the castle and like a gallant gentleman, Talbot accepts The Countess’ apologies and sits down to feast. But as is often the case in Shakespeare's world, it is when someone’s light shines brightest that a faint shadow emerges in the background. For Talbot is a relic of an honorable and brave past, which Shakespeare will show us, cannot survive.