SOURCE: “The Three Parts of Henry VI,” in Shakespeare: The Chronicles, Longmans, Green & Co., 1962, pp. 12-22.

In the essay below, Leech surveys the structure of the three parts of Henry VI and discusses the critical debate over Shakespeare's part in the authorship of these works.

It is impossible to discuss the Henry VI plays without referring first to the problems of authorship and chronology. They were published together in the Folio of 1623, but, although this is the first occasion of the printing of Part I, the other two Parts had appeared long before in corrupt versions. In 1594 there was published a quarto volume with the title The First part of the Contention betwixt the two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster, and in 1595 an octavo with the title The true Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke. These two texts were published together as The Whole Contention betweene the...