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Act 2, Scene 5
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Henry VI Part 1, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Individualism vs. Nationalism
Gender and Politics
Courage vs. Cowardice
Religion, Power, and Manipulation
Impulse and History
Summary
Analysis
Back at Henry VI’s palace, Winchester and Gloucester are again at odds. Gloucester has prepared a written list of all of Winchester’s alleged crimes, which Winchester says is proof that Gloucester is not smart enough to think on his feet. The two men then compete over who has more status at Henry VI’s court: Gloucester says he does because he is “Protector,” whereas Winchester believes that he is more powerful because he is “a prelate of the Church,” and he can get Rome and the papacy involved in the conflict.
This scene repeats many of the same themes and talking points evident in the first debates between Winchester and Gloucester (Act 1, Scene 1 and Act 1, Scene 3). By leaning into this repetition, the play then emphasizes the circularity—and the pointlessness—of the two men’s arguments, suggesting that, despite constantly relitigating the same issues, Gloucester and Winchester never really make any meaningful headway.
Active
Themes
Now, Warwick, Somerset and Plantagenet get involved. Warwick sides with Gloucester (“it fitteth not a prelate so to plead”), while Somerset sides with Winchester, arguing that if Gloucester is truly “religious,” he must yield to Winchester’s “holy state.” In an aside, Plantagenet explains that he wants to join the fray on Gloucester’s side, but he decides to keep his opinions to himself.
Both Winchester and Gloucester use religion to their own ends, with Winchester asserting that he is backed by the authority of the Pope and Gloucester claiming that Winchester’s religious status should disqualify him from such spirited spats. Plantagenet’s decision to hold his tongue here reveals that he has taken his uncle Mortimer’s advice (to be “wary” and “politic”) to heart.
Active
Themes
Finally, Henry VI intervenes, ordering Gloucester and Winchester to put a stop to this squabbling. But just moments after Henry calls for peace, declaring that “civil dissension is a viperous worm / that gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth,” there is a noise from outside the castle. When Henry goes to see what is happening, he realizes that a group of servants, fighting on behalf of Winchester and Gloucester, have started throwing stones at each other.
The Mayor of London returns, begging Gloucester and Winchester to put a stop to the fighting on their behalf. But while Gloucester pleads with his servants to cease throwing their stones, they will not listen, insisting that their love for Gloucester is so great that they must defend him until Winchester yields. Seeing how panicked his nephew Henry VI is at this fight between his courtiers, Gloucester decides to “stoop” to Winchester, offering Winchester his hand in friendship and apologizing for his part in their argument.
Active
Themes
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With great reluctance, Winchester takes Gloucester’s hand—though in an aside, Winchester reveals that he does not actually intend to make peace with Gloucester. Henry VI celebrates that the quarreling will cease, and the various fighting servants exit, going to tend their wounds with the help of a surgeon or with a stiff drink.
Active
Themes
Warwick and Gloucester shift gears, using this moment to advocate on behalf of Plantagenet. After the two men present Henry VI with a list of reasons why the king should “let Richard be restored to his blood,” Henry agrees, returning to Plantagenet his ancestral title of Duke of York. Promising service and humility, Plantagenet—now known as York—kneels to Henry, then rises, the traditional ritual associated with gaining a new title. In an aside, Somerset resents Plantagenet’s rise and hopes he will “perish.”
Active
Themes
Henry VI leaves: it is time for him to travel to France, where he will be formally crowned as king. As the various other courtiers exit, following Henry, the Duke of Exeter admits that he thinks the peace between Gloucester and Warwick will not last; instead, Exeter laments, the conflict “burns under feigned ashes of forged love / and will at last break out into a flame.” Exeter recalls an old prophecy that Henry V would “win all” and his son would “lose all.” Now more than ever, Exeter fears that prophecy will come to pass.
