SOURCE: “Public Men, Private Wills, and Kingship in Henry VI, Part III,” in Renaissance Papers, 1978, pp. 47-54.

In the essay below, Utterback considers the topics of political instability and the legitimate inheritance of the English crown in Henry VI, Part 3.

In the opening scene of Henry VI, Part III, Shakespeare faced a difficult expository problem. In solving it he devised a beginning powerful enough to epitomize the prior historical situation and to lead credibly to the play's subsequent involved actions. Further, and perhaps more important, he introduced the fundamental inconsistencies exhibited in the characters' motivations and actions throughout the play. These inconsistencies are displayed succinctly in the stances characters take toward the legal arguments over legitimate possession of the crown that the contrary factions put forward. As Robert Ornstein has observed, Shakespeare recognized that neither side in the Wars of the Roses had a consistent ideological position and...