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At first glance, Shakespeare’s history cycle containing Henry VI 1,2,3 and Richard III seems overwhelming, with myriad characters embroiled in complex and confusing political and military intrigues. The plays cover the period known in British history as the Wars of the Roses, the series of dynastic civil wars that preceded the relatively stable government of the Tudors. A playwright and not an historian, Shakespeare was not always strictly faithful to the facts of history. After all, his queen—Elizabeth I—was the granddaughter of Henry VII, and Shakespeare often took liberties with the facts to show how Henry Tudor ended the civil war and united competing claims to the throne. Shakespeare also wanted to make the plays compelling drama, which sometimes involved developing or overlooking certain character traits: he omits any references to Henry VI’s mental illness, for example, and he paints Richard III as such a villain that this (arguably simplistic) impression of him has persisted to the present day. But great art transcends the era in which it was created, providing lessons for all time, and the world Shakespeare creates for us—full of opportunism and betrayal, passion and power, and political machinations—is as relevant today as it was in the years following 1590, when the plays were first performed. |
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