Henry VI Part 1 Act 3 – “…thoughts were sifted… from the envious malice of thy swelling heart…”

Henry VI Part 1 Act 3 – “…thoughts were sifted… from the envious malice of thy swelling heart…”

Conflict and contrast dominates this act. Shakespeare is learning his craft and his verse skills are building. In England, no-one seems like a happy bunny in the court of Henry VI and he just wants to sit in a corner since he can’t cope with all the political infighting in England. Should he reinstate heredity rights to the thrown? Does heredity bring certainty or does certainty come through freedom of spirit, working hard, fighting hard (and presumably drinking hard) like Talbot does in the field of battle over in France? Then there is Joan of Arc, who seems to win and have fate, or higher powers, on her side. Fate versus Free Will. This act deals with the big questions for people of Shakespeare's times considering what happened with Henry VIII and the final stability brought by Elizabeth I – a single woman and daughter of a early Henry VIII wife who lost her head.

We also see the contrast of modes of war. Joan, like the Afghans and the Vietnamese after her, refuses to play by the old rules of engagement and warfare and what is worse for Talbot, she seems to be succeeding at it better than the WASP males. The new heroes of war are imaginative, flexible and… female. And besides, the English nobles are still fighting themselves. The French embrace Joan’s imaginative leadership for the moment, meanwhile, envious malice slowly swells their hearts.