King Henry VI Parts I, II, and III by William Shakespeare (review)

Shakespeare’s first tetralogy, his history plays treating English political history from the death of Henry V to Henry VII’s victory at Bosworth Field, get short shrift next to the plays of the second tetralogy. Richard II’s tragic lyricism, the antics of Hal and Falstaff, and the patriotism of Henry V have all helped to make those later plays more popular on stage and in classrooms. And even within the first tetralogy, the cunning Machiavellianism of Gloucester in Richard III has served to make the capstone of the first tetralogy more popular than its predecessors, despite the earlier plays’ vibrant staging of Cade’s rebellion or Talbot’s and Joan’s rises and falls. In Annalisa Castaldo’s edition of King Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III for the New Kittredge Shakespeare, the potential for assessing the three early plays of that early tetralogy could be highlighted. Although this edition offers only a slight contribution to the field, it does provide an inexpensive option in a classroom that plans to avoid the other classic examples of Shakespeare’s history plays.

The present edition builds on an earlier, standalone New Kittredge edition of 1 Henry VI published in 2012. In Castaldo’s introduction, she argues for the value of reading these three “astonishingly powerful and disturbingly modern” plays, not least because they allow “a reader to retrospectively watch Shakespeare develop his skill as a poet and dramatist” (ix). While this assertion might be a valid one, this edition’s brief apparatus leaves the reader to observe that development alone. The introduction quickly surveys each of the plays, offering a few helpful anchors for readers who may find them “disjointed and hard to follow” (ix). The first play presents “a world that is, on the surface, orderly and noble, even chivalric” before undermining that view with its nearly parodic warfare (xi); the second, despite being “deeply modern in its attention to those groups often forgotten by the official histories—the working class and women,” ultimately presents a world understood “in terms of suffering” (xii-xiii); and the third concludes with a focus on a world that “becomes colder, harder, and much, much more cynical” as principles give way to ambition (xvi). Castaldo then covers the plays’ relatively scant history of productions in a very brief “Performance History” that nicely summarizes the adaptations of these plays for the televised The Age of Kings and Jane Howell’s efforts with the three plays for the BBC/Time-Warner complete works in 1982. Two key theatrical productions mentioned in this section include the stark The Wars of the Roses (1963) and the grim treatment by Bagdanov and the English Shakespeare Company (1987). The relatively recent adaptation by Edward Hall and Robert Warren, Rose Rage, gets a brief mention as well. The editor also includes some helpful information as a postscript after 3 Henry VI: a genealogical chart, an essay encouraging readers to “engage with the play, not just as a reader but as an actor or director,” casting the roles and thinking of settings and props (307), a timeline of events from 1381 (The Peasants’ Revolt) to 1623 (the first printing of 1 Henry VI in the Folio), Topics for Discussion focusing on interpreting the play and considering questions of performance, a very brief annotated bibliography, and the even briefer filmography of these neglected plays.

The text of the plays in this edition is quite usable. Two sets of notes, one clarifying Shakespeare’s language and a second referring to performance history, appear in the bottom gutter of the page. Intended for student readers, they do not intrude and tend to be fairly restrained. The focus on student readers is evident, for example, when Winchester addresses Gloucester near the start of 1 Henry VI. Castaldo glosses his reference to Gloucester, “thou art Protector” (1.1.37), at the bottom of the page: “Winchester here clarifies Gloucester’s status...