Henry VI Part 3 Act One – “O tiger's heart wrapp'd in a woman's hide!"

Henry VI Part 3 Act One – “O tiger's heart wrapp'd in a woman's hide!” 

You can imagine it. It’s the beginning of 1591. Shakespeare had a great success with Henry VI Part 2. He could either go back and tell the lead up to the story as a teaser, or he can continue with Henry VI’s story. It had been a dry summer that seemed to go all the way through until October and then the Winter came colder than he remembered from his first years in London. Grain was in shortage. He had spoken to the merchant down from his lodgings who seemed to be making a fortune now and had no shortage of grain. Grain hoarding was, of course, illegal but the merchants got away with it and even middlemen in Stratford seemed to be doing it. He made a note of that in case times became harder or he came into some extra cash. Anyway, the merchants seemed to be flavour of the month ever since the Queen herself had granted them a charter to trade in the East Indies. The Dutch seemed to be making a killing and it only made sense to cash in on some of the trade.

What to do? Spenser had done a cracking job with a poem called ‘The Faerie Queene’ and he knew that he could write narrative poetry as good as Spenser but that would have to wait. Besides, without a sponsor, he wouldn’t even make as much as he made as an actor and he did have a wife and family to support back in Stratford. And then there was Marlowe. What a writer, what a playwright! His ‘Tamburlaine’ had been revived again and he was working on a new play about a Jew in Malta. If only, he could find a way to combine high verse and blank verse the way Marlowe did. That would be something else. Besides, he was making twice as much as he did as an actor and much of the money he could get in advance and even earn money in Winter, if the action hit the parchment more quickly than the ink had dried. Yes, “the play’s the thing”.

Besides, history plays were proving popular. The facts could be changed, as long as the Tudors are shown to be virtuous and deserving. Trouble is, both Hall’s ‘Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York’ (1548) and the recently purchased copy of Holingshed’s ‘Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland’ (1587), probably picked up by Shakespeare in the markets about 1589, are filled with battles and horrors. Don’t get me wrong, Shakespeare knew that horror would work on stage but even he must have thought 'How do I stage so many battles and justify them or at least make palatable since so much violence in the wars seems to have been committed by Queen Margaret (a woman and a monarch) herself?' How could he put all this on stage and maintain the dramatic impact? Make a start.

‘Henry VI Part 3 – Richard Duke of York’ Let’s see. Have York arrive in London before Henry and have him try out the throne. Nothing like a taste of power at the beginning. Dramatic and it gives a sense of temptation and power and hints at a weakness in York. Enter King Henry. One has the thrown and the other has the crown. Henry would rather fight with words than blades. Have some civil conversation reminding the audience of the claims both have for the throne. Then show that both are on thin ice like the streets outside. Slippery business. This works and it is great for stage tension having the two meet so early around the throne and crown they both want. Have Warwick pressure Henry and then Henry, true to character, offers a compromise. Henry proposes he will keep the thrown until his death and then York will take over and be “father to a line of kings”. Of course this disinherits Henry’s own son, but that provides opportunities later and this strengthens Margaret’s resolve and drive her from Henry’s bed towards the battlefield. York and Henry can seem happy but all the others can be confused and upset.

Then to the battlefield. It's only Scene 3. Is this too early? No, Margaret’s forces have to be shown winning early on. A bloody ruthless army. Kill a child, Rutland York’s youngest song, early to show that Margaret’s forces will stop at nothing. Show York captured in the very next scene. Have Margaret mock him, put a paper crown on his head, offer him a handkerchief covered in his youngest son’s blood to wipe his tears. Make a note to self, that violence or torture when instigated by a woman is so much more violent and terrifying on stage. I must follow through on this again in a later play. York must react and call her inhuman and evil. Have both Margaret and Clifford stab York but have Margaret orders  York’s head be placed on top of the gates of York. Perhaps I will have to drop the ‘Richard Duke of York’ from the title since I have killed off York in the first act. Never mind. Now York’s sons will have to take up the battle.