Henry VI, Part III

Description

The final installment of Shakespeare's great historical trilogy, Henry VI, Part III portrays the devastating effects of civil war, as two families remain locked in a years-long struggle for the crown. Rich in dramatic battle scenes, the play explores how discord thrives under a weak ruler and the struggle for power divides a kingdom. The third of three plays based on the life of the England's fifteenth-century monarch, this historical drama depicts the conflicts between the York and Lancaster factions that led to the War of the Roses. Each part of the trilogy is self-contained and can be appreciated without knowledge of the others. Vivid characterization, dark comedy, and powerful language combine for a memorable portrait of a war-torn country.

"He was not of an age, but for all time," declared Ben Jonson of his contemporary William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Jonson's praise is especially prescient, since at the turn of the 17th century Shakespeare was but one of many popular London playwrights and none of his dramas were printed in his lifetime. The reason so many of his works survive is because two of his actor friends, with the assistance of Jonson, assembled and published the First Folio edition of 1623.