SOURCE: Cox, Catherine S. “Sons of Eve: Ambiguity and Gender in the First Tetralogy.” Upstart Crow 17 (1997): 53-65.

In the following essay, Cox analyzes the representation of female characters in the Henry VI plays, particularly Joan and Margaret.

In the Henry VI tetralogy, Shakespeare complicates conventional representations of gender identity by means of ambiguously constructed female characters.¹ Joan of Arc and Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, for example, are shown to exhibit many characteristics of the conventional virago types, while Elizabeth provides contrast in her rather bland and perhaps inadvertent acquiescence, as does Anne, so easily is she seduced. And, evolving over the course of the tetralogy, Queen Margaret especially complicates conventional gender identities throughout her various social, political, and economic confrontations. The female characters, Joan and Margaret in particular, supply the tetralogy with culturally and theoretically profound treatments of gender issues that may be explored in relation to literary...