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Throughout Henry VI Part 1, red and white roses symbolize the irrationality—and the danger—of personal feuds and factions. When Richard Plantagenet (later Duke of York) gets into a legal debate with the Duke of Somerset, he plucks a white rose from a bush in a nearby garden, instructing his allies to do the same; in response, Somerset plucks a red rose. This verbal and visual debate quickly escalates to a violent one, as the men uses the rose’s dramatic colors as jumping-off points for their frightening threats (“my scabbard,” Somerset warns Plantagenet, “shall dye your white rose in a bloody red”). But though Henry VI himself dismisses this argument as “slight and frivolous,” Shakespeare’s audience knew all too well that this debate between Somerset and Plantagenet would ultimately evolve into the Wars of the Roses, the brutal English Civil War that lasted from 1455–1487 (which would later become the subject of Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part 3). By imagining the beginning of this feud as almost coincidental—with Somerset and Plantagenet choosing rival roses simply because they happened to be in a garden—the play thus illustrates that petty, mundane rivalries can quickly grow, as “frivolous” argument escalates to bloodshed and political collapse.
White Roses vs. Red Roses Quotes in Henry VI Part 1
The Henry VI Part 1 quotes below all refer to the symbol of White Roses vs. Red Roses. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 2, Scene 4 Quotes
LAWYER: Unless my study and my books be false,
The argument you held was wrong in you […] in sign whereof I pluck a white rose too.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET: Now, Somerset, where is your argument?
SOMERSET: Here in my scabbard, meditating that
Shall dye your white rose in a bloody red.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET: Meantime your cheeks do counterfeit our roses;
For pale they look with fear, as witnessing
The truth on our side.
SOMERSET: No, Plantagenet,
‘Tis not for fear but anger that thy cheeks
Blush for pure shame to counterfeit our roses,
And yet thy tongue will not confess thy error.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET: Hath not thy rose a canker, Somerset?
SOMERSET: Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet?
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WARWICK: And here I prophesy: this brawl to-day,
Grown to this faction in the Temple-garden,
Shall send between the red rose and the white
A thousand souls to death and deadly night.
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Act 4, Scene 1 Quotes
KING HENRY VI: Good Lord, what madness rules in brainsick men,
When for so slight and frivolous a cause
Such factious emulations shall arise!
Good cousins both, of York and Somerset,
Quiet yourselves, I pray, and be at peace.
[…] And you, my lords, remember where we are,
In France, amongst a fickle wavering nation:
If they perceive dissension in our looks
And that within ourselves we disagree,
How will their grudging stomachs be provoked
To wilful disobedience, and rebel!
[…] I see no reason, if I wear this rose,
Putting on a red rose
That any one should therefore be suspicious
I more incline to Somerset than York:
Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both:
[…] Go cheerfully together and digest
Your angry choler on your enemies.
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EXETER: Well didst thou, Richard, to suppress thy voice;
For, had the passions of thy heart burst out,
I fear we should have seen decipher’d there
More rancorous spite, more furious raging broils,
Than yet can be imagined or supposed.
But howsoe’er, no simple man that sees
This jarring discord of nobility,
This shouldering of each other in the court,
This factious bandying of their favourites,
But that it doth presage some ill event.
‘Tis much when sceptres are in children’s hands;
But more when envy breeds unkind division;
There comes the rain, there begins confusion.
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Get the entire Henry VI Part 1 LitChart as a printable PDF.
White Roses vs. Red Roses Symbol Timeline in Henry VI Part 1
The timeline below shows where the symbol White Roses vs. Red Roses appears in Henry VI Part 1. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 2, Scene 4
Frustrated, Plantagenet declares that anyone who is a “true-born gentleman” must pluck a white rose from a bush in the garden, symbolizing their loyalty to him. Somerset then responds by...
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First, Warwick picks a white rose. Then, Suffolk picks a red rose, while Vernon picks a white rose. The lawyer, saying...
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...exits, warning Plantagenet as he leaves that he and his followers—all marked by their red roses—are now forever “foes” to Plantagenet and his ilk. After Somerset and Suffolk have gone, Warwick...
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Act 3, Scene 4
...in Paris for King Henry VI’s coronation. York, Warwick, and Vernon are all wearing white roses; Somerset, Suffolk and a nobleman named Basset are wearing red roses. Talbot enters and introduces...
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Everyone exits except for Vernon and Basset. Immediately, Vernon and Basset notice their different colored roses and begin to squabble, with Vernon defending York and Basset defending Somerset. The verbal barbs...
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Act 4, Scene 1
...them to explain their argument, Basset recalls how Vernon mocked him, saying that the red rose Basset wore was the same color as his master Somerset’s blushing cheeks. For his part,...
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To prove his point that the colors of the roses do not matter, Henry VI randomly picks a red rose and puts it on, saying...
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