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Act 4, Scene 4
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Henry VI Part 2, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Ambition
Nobles vs. Commoners
Religion and Politics
Patriotism
Magic
Summary
Analysis
Lord Scales is walking on the Tower of London when a few Londoners, from below, call up that the Lord Mayor wants reinforcements for defense against Cade’s rebels, who have taken London Bridge. Lord Scales replies that he’ll send some reinforcements—but that the Tower is itself embattled. He commands the Londoners to go to Smithfield. He exhorts them to fight for King Henry and for England as well as for their lives.
Lord Scales tells the Londoners to fight for Henry and for England as if loyalty to their king were indistinguishable from loyalty to their country. Yet some of Cade’s rebels reject Henry’s rule for patriotic reasons, namely his surrender of English territories to the French. The contrast between Scales’s attitude and the rebels’ emphasizes how some characters conflate English patriotism with loyalty to England’s king, whereas others sharply distinguish the two.
Active
Themes
