Henry VI Part 3

Henry VI Part 3 is a history play by William Shakespeare believed written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas Henry VI Part 1 deals with the loss of England’s French territories and the political machinations leading up to the Wars of the Roses and Henry VI Part 2 focuses on the King’s inability to quell the bickering of his nobles and the inevitability of armed conflict, Henry VI Part 3 deals primarily with the horrors of this conflict with the once ordered nation thrown into chaos and barbarism as families break down and moral codes are subverted in the pursuit of revenge and power.

    Although the Henry VI trilogy may not have been written in chronological order, the three plays are often grouped together with The Life and Death of King Richard III to form a tetralogy covering the entire Wars of the Roses saga from the death of Henry V in 1422 to the rise to power of Henry VII in 1485. It was the success of this sequence of plays firmly establishing Shakespeare’s reputation as a playwright.

  Henry VI Part 3 features the longest soliloquy in all of Shakespeare’s works (Scene III Act ii 124-195) and has more battle scenes (four on stage, one reported) than any other of Shakespeare’s plays.