The First Part of King Henry the Sixth

William Shakespeare
100 pages (Summer 2007); 909KB download
WOWIO Books; ISBN: WOWIO-00239

DESCRIPTION

The First Part of King Henry the Sixth is the first in a cycle of four plays often referred to as "The First Tetralogy," which includes all three plays about Henry VI and Richard III. The action of the play, which is carried through Parts 2 and 3, details the long, slow fall of England after the death of the warrior-king Henry V. Shakespeare's focus, the internal dissention that weakens the power of England (the War of the Roses), reveals the weaknesses of the young king, who is eventually betrothed, by design of the Earl of Suffolk, to Margaret of Anjou -- a prisoner of the war with France. Although lacking in any clear closure, Part 1 generates an important motif of the plot in Part 2 by preparing for the intrigue between Suffolk and Margaret.

This edition is based on the 1914 Oxford edition, which ranks among the most authoritative of the 20th century.