William Shakespeare’s epic three-part chronicle of the events known as the Wars of the Roses, ‘Henry the Sixth Parts I-III’ are among the finest of his history plays and features some of his most beloved characters, including ‘Mad’ Queen Margaret and the scheming Duke of Gloucester, who will go on to become the infamous King Richard III in a later play.
Here, the story picks up after the death of King Henry V, who has left behind his infant son to be crowned King. As his minsters vie for power and to guide the young monarch, the French rally to regain the land lost to the English and they are led by a young, religious zealot named Joan la Pucelle (better known as Joan of Arc).
Over the course of the three plays, the York and Lancaster families battle each other for the right to place a King on the throne and the plot swirls around the kind but ineffectual King Henry VI, his impatient and ruthless wife, Queen Margaret, and the York faction, headed up by the brilliant but ambitious Richard, who has designs on the throne for himself.
Filled with political intrigue, murder, betrayal and some of the finest speeches in the canon, ‘Henry the Sixth, Parts I-III’ are presented here in its original and unabridged format.
Circa l’autore
William Shakespeare is generally acknowledged as the greatest dramatist in the history of English literature. Also a poet and actor, Shakespeare was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, where he received an education at the local grammar school, but whether he attended any educational institution subsequent to his early tutelage is unknown. By eighteen, Shakespeare was married – to an already-pregnant Anne Hathaway – and the couple would go on to have three children, Susanna and the twins Hamnet and Judith. (Hamnet died at 11 years old.) Shakespeare moved to London soon after the birth of the twins and began publishing poems (‘Venus and Adonis’ (1593) and ‘The Rape of Lucrece’ (1594)) and joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men as an actor and playwright. Shakespeare stayed with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men throughout his career, producing some of his finest work – ‘King Lear, ‘ ‘Macbeth’ and ‘The Tempest’ among them – after the company fell under the patronage of King James I and became The King’s Men. During his career, Shakespeare penned 38 plays, two narrative poems and over 150 sonnets and enjoyed considerable financial success, eventually buying New Place, one of the largest homes in Stratford. Following his death in 1616 at the age of 52, thirty-six of his plays were collected and published as the First Folio and his entire canon – including his extant plays, sonnets and poems – were published as The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays are the most produced dramatic works in existence and they have been translated and adapted into countless stage, screen and television productions over the years. Entire theatres are devoted to producing his works and his writings are studied and analyzed in literature classes around the world.
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