King Henry VI Character Analysis in Henry VI Part 2

King Henry VI, crowned monarch of England as an eight-month-old baby, is a gentle and religious young man who would prefer not to be king. He seeks to keep the throne, though, perhaps because he knows that losing the throne would mean his death. When the play begins, Henry is friendly and trusting toward his noble advisors. He happily accepts a peace treaty with France, negotiated by the Duke of Suffolk, though the treaty involves marriage to impoverished minor princess Margaret and the surrender of England’s French territories Maine and Anjou. Yet after Suffolk and other ambitious nobles conspire to kill Henry’s uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, Henry becomes a little more suspicious and more willing to exercise his power. He exiles Suffolk and, later, seeks to trick ambitious potential usurper the Duke of York into disbanding the soldiers York has brought back from quelling a rebellion in Ireland. However, Henry remains relatively passive and highly religious, traits for which several characters—including his wife Margaret—criticize him. As the play ends, Henry’s supporters have been temporarily defeated in battle by York’s, and Henry is fleeing with Margaret back to London.

King Henry VI Quotes in Henry VI Part 2

The Henry VI Part 2 quotes below are all either spoken by King Henry VI or refer to King Henry VI. 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:

Gloucester:

Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,

To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief,

Your grief, the common grief of all the land.

Related Characters: Sir Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (speaker), King Henry VI, William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk

Related Symbols: Maine and Anjou

Page Number and Citation: 1.1.80-82

Explanation and Analysis:

Salisbury:

Pride went before; Ambition follows him.

While these do labor for their own preferment,

Behooves it us to labor for the realm.

Related Characters: Earl of Salisbury (speaker), Earl of Warwick, Duke of Somerset, Buckingham, King Henry VI, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York

Page Number and Citation: 1.1.188-190

Explanation and Analysis:

York:

Then will I raise aloft the milk-white rose,

With whose sweet smell the air shall be perfumed,

And in my standard bear the arms of York,

To grapple with the house of Lancaster[.]

Related Characters: Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (speaker), King Henry VI

Related Symbols: Red Roses and White Roses

Page Number and Citation: 1.1.266-269

Explanation and Analysis:

Gloucester:

Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts!

Related Characters: Sir Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (speaker), King Henry VI, Dame Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester , Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York

Related Symbols: Red Roses and White Roses

Page Number and Citation: 1.2.18

Explanation and Analysis:

Suffolk:

[Taking a petition.] What’s here? [(Reads.)] Against the Duke of Suffolk for enclosing the commons of Melford.

Related Characters: William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk (speaker), Queen Margaret, Jack Cade, King Henry VI, Sir Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester

Page Number and Citation: 1.3.22-24

Explanation and Analysis:

York:

[(Reads.)] The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose,

But him outlive and die a violent death.

Related Characters: Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (speaker), King Henry VI, Dame Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester

Page Number and Citation: 1.4.62-63

Explanation and Analysis:

King Henry:

Go, take hence that traitor from our sight;

For by his death we do perceive his guilt.

And God in justice hath revealed to us

The truth and innocence of this poor fellow,

Which he had thought to have murdered wrongfully.

Related Characters: King Henry VI (speaker), Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York

Page Number and Citation: 2.3.102-107

Explanation and Analysis:

Duchess:

For whilst I think I am thy married wife

And thou a prince, Protector of this land,

Methinks I should not thus be led along,

Mailed up in shame, with papers on my back,

And followed with a rabble that rejoice

To see my tears and hear my deep-fet groans.

Related Characters: Dame Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester (speaker), King Henry VI, Sir Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester

Page Number and Citation: 2.4.29-37

Explanation and Analysis:

Gloucester:

And if my death might make this island happy

And prove the period of their tyranny,

I would expend it with all willingness.

But mine is made the prologue to their play;

For thousands more, that yet suspect no peril,

Will not conclude their plotted tragedy.

Related Characters: Sir Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (speaker), Cardinal Beaufort, Queen Margaret, King Henry VI, William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk

Page Number and Citation: 3.1.149-154

Explanation and Analysis:

King Henry:

O Thou that judgest all things, stay my thoughts,

My thoughts that labor to persuade my soul

Some violent hands were laid on Humphrey’s life.

If my suspect be false, forgive me, God,

For judgment only doth belong to Thee.

Related Characters: King Henry VI (speaker), Cardinal Beaufort, Queen Margaret, William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, Sir Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester

Page Number and Citation: 3.2.140-144

Explanation and Analysis:

King Henry:

What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?

Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just,

And he but naked, though locked up in steel,

Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.

Related Characters: King Henry VI (speaker), Cardinal Beaufort, Earl of Warwick, Sir Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk

Page Number and Citation: 3.2.240-243

Explanation and Analysis:

Warwick:

So bad a death argues a monstrous life.

King Henry:

Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all.

Related Characters: Earl of Warwick (speaker), King Henry VI (speaker), Sir Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Cardinal Beaufort

Page Number and Citation: 3.3.30-31

Explanation and Analysis:

Suffolk:

It is impossible that I should die

By such a lowly vassal as thyself.

Related Characters: William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk (speaker), King Henry VI, Sir Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York

Page Number and Citation: 4.1.117-118

Explanation and Analysis:

Cade:

To equal him I will make myself a knight presently. [He kneels.] Rise up Sir John Mortimer. [He rises.]

Related Characters: Jack Cade (speaker), King Henry VI

Page Number and Citation: 4.2.116-118

Explanation and Analysis:

Cade:

I feel remorse in myself with his words, but I’ll bridle it. He shall die, an it be but for pleading so well for his life. Away with him! He has a familiar under his tongue; he speaks not I’ God’s name.

Related Characters: Jack Cade (speaker), Cardinal Beaufort, King Henry VI, William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, Sir Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York

Page Number and Citation: 4.7.105-108

Explanation and Analysis:

Clifford:

Better ten thousand baseborn Cades miscarry

Than you should stoop unto a Frenchman’s mercy.

To France, to France, and get what you have lost!

Spare England, for it is your native coast.

Henry hath money; you are strong and manly.

Related Characters: Old Clifford (speaker), Jack Cade, King Henry VI

Related Symbols: Maine and Anjou

Page Number and Citation: 4.8.48-53

Explanation and Analysis:

King Henry:

Was ever king that joyed an earthly throne

And could command no more content than I?

No sooner was I crept out of my cradle

But I was made a king at nine months old.

Was never subject longed to be a king

As I do long and wish to be a subject!

Related Characters: King Henry VI (speaker), Jack Cade

Page Number and Citation: 4.9.1-6

Explanation and Analysis:

Iden:

This small inheritance my father left me

Contenteth me, and worth a monarchy.

Related Characters: Alexander Iden (speaker), King Henry VI

Page Number and Citation: 4.10.17-24

Explanation and Analysis:

York:

That head of thine doth not become a crown;

Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer’s staff,

And not to grace an awful princely scepter.

[…]

Give place. By heaven, thou shalt rule no more

O’er him whom heaven created for thy ruler.

Related Characters: Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (speaker), King Henry VI, Queen Margaret

Page Number and Citation: 5.1.97-106

Explanation and Analysis:

Enter the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury, wearing the white rose.

Related Characters: Earl of Warwick, Earl of Salisbury, King Henry VI, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York

Related Symbols: Red Roses and White Roses

Page Number and Citation: 5.1.106

Explanation and Analysis:

Warwick:

Saint Albans battle won by famous York

Shall be eternized in all age to come.

Related Characters: Earl of Warwick (speaker), King Henry VI, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York

Page Number and Citation: 5.3.31-32

Explanation and Analysis:

King Henry VI Character Timeline in Henry VI Part 2

The timeline below shows where the character King Henry VI appears in Henry VI Part 2. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Trumpets play as King Henry VI, the Duke of Gloucester, the Earl of Salisbury, the Earl of Warwick, and Cardinal... (full context)

...Suffolk negotiated with King Charles of France. Gloucester begins to read the treaty aloud: King Henry will marry Margaret, the King of Naples’s daughter, and England will surrender Anjou and Maine... (full context)

King Henry asks Cardinal Beaufort, whom he calls “Uncle,” to finish reading the treaty. Beaufort reads the... (full context)

York curses Suffolk, shocked that King Henry is marrying a woman who brings no wealth to the marriage. Gloucester cries out in... (full context)

...is next in line for the throne and implying that he wants to depose King Henry. Buckingham suggests that, since Henry has reached adulthood, they should end Gloucester’s protectorship. Beaufort goes... (full context)

Left alone, York soliloquizes that King Henry, Suffolk, and the other lords were content to trade Anjou and Maine for Queen Margaret—though... (full context)

...Eleanor, asks why he’s in a bad mood. She speculates that he’s thinking of King Henry’s crown and suggests they could snatch it for themselves. Gloucester orders her to “banish the... (full context)

...anyone who challenges his protectorship will be beheaded. Then she shares her own dream: King Henry and Queen Margaret were kneeling before her while she was crowned. Angrily, Gloucester tells the... (full context)

A messenger arrives, inviting Gloucester to hawk with King Henry and Queen Margaret. Gloucester asks whether the Duchess will come. When she says she will... (full context)

...to attend to Peter and summon Horner so they can bring the matter to King Henry. Margaret contemptuously orders the other petitioners away. (full context)

When Margaret and Suffolk are alone, Margaret laments that King Henry acts like a “pupil” to Gloucester, making her Gloucester’s “subject” even though she’s the queen.... (full context)

...about her desires, she complains that any number of English lords seem more powerful than Henry himself. She also says Duchess Eleanor puts on airs, expressing contempt for Margaret’s poor background.... (full context)

Trumpets play as King Henry, Gloucester, the Duchess, Cardinal Beaufort, Buckingham, Salisbury, Somerset sporting a red rose, York sporting a... (full context)

When Salisbury asks why Somerset should be regent, Margaret snaps that Henry wants him to be. Gloucester says Henry is an adult who can speak for himself.... (full context)

...doesn’t, Margaret hits her in the ear. The Duchess threatens to scratch Margaret’s face. When Henry tries to calm the Duchess down, saying Margaret hit her accidentally, the Duchess warns Henry... (full context)

...to prove any of their malicious accusations against him and asserts his love for both Henry and England. Then he announces that York is the man best qualified to be regent... (full context)

...but Horner claims that Peter, his apprentice, is lying because Horner criticized his work. King Henry asks advice from Gloucester, who suggests that Henry make Somerset regent of France and that... (full context)

...king, while Southwell writes down the responses. The spirit says: “The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose / But him outlive and die a violent death.” When Bolingbroke asks about... (full context)

...noting their unhelpful ambiguity. Buckingham volunteers to bring the news of the Duchess’s crimes to Henry, Margaret, and Gloucester, who are hawking in the countryside. York then summons a servant and... (full context)

King Henry, Queen Margaret, Gloucester, Cardinal Beaufort, Suffolk, and the rest of the hawking party enter. When... (full context)

Henry asks Margaret not to egg on the lords, reminding her that “blessed are the peacemakers.”... (full context)

...carrying the man supposedly cured of blindness. Gloucester summons the man to talk to King Henry. After Henry asks the man some sympathetic questions, Gloucester says the man’s vision still seems... (full context)

Gloucester summons beadles to whip Simpcox. After one strike, Simpcox runs away. King Henry rhetorically asks how God can forbear after witnessing this scene. When Gloucester orders the beadles... (full context)

...the Duchess colluding with conjurers who summoned a spirit and asked it questions about King Henry and some other lords. When Cardinal Beaufort gloats to Gloucester that Gloucester probably won’t be... (full context)

As trumpets play, King Henry, Queen Margaret, Gloucester, and other lords stand in judgment over the Duchess, Margery Jourdain, Bolingbroke,... (full context)

York reminds Henry that it’s time for trial-by-combat between Peter and Horner. Henry orders the combatants brought in... (full context)

At Parliament, King Henry wonders aloud why Gloucester, usually prompt, hasn’t yet arrived. Queen Margaret asks whether Henry hasn’t... (full context)

...are negligible wrongdoings compared to what they’ll find out about Gloucester in the future. King Henry commends the lords for worrying about his safety, but he states that Gloucester is “innocent”... (full context)

Somerset arrives. When King Henry asks the news from France, Somerset declares that England has lost all its French territories.... (full context)

Gloucester enters, apologizing to King Henry for his lateness. Right away, Suffolk announces Gloucester’s arrest for “high treason.” Gloucester declares his... (full context)

...good responses for the previous accusations, he stands accused of even “mightier crimes” against King Henry—and will remain in the Cardinal’s custody until his “trial.” Henry tells Gloucester that he believes... (full context)

Cardinal Beaufort tells King Henry that if Henry lets Gloucester berate Henry’s defenders, said defenders won’t be as keen to... (full context)

King Henry deputizes his lords to run Parliament. When Queen Margaret asks whether Henry is leaving, Henry... (full context)

To the Cardinal, Suffolk, and York, Margaret criticizes Henry’s passivity and emotionalism, claiming that Gloucester’s false show of wounded innocence has tricked Henry. She... (full context)

...Gloucester. Suffolk orders them to go to his house for payment. After they leave, King Henry, Queen Margaret, Cardinal Beaufort, and Somerset enter. Henry orders Gloucester summoned to trial. Suffolk volunteers... (full context)

Margaret asks why Henry is criticizing Suffolk, claiming that she and Suffolk mourn Gloucester though Gloucester was their “enemy.”... (full context)

Salisbury and Warwick arrive, accompanied by commoners. Addressing King Henry, Warwick says rumors have spread that Suffolk and Cardinal Beaufort had Gloucester killed, enraging the... (full context)

King Henry comments that innocence is the best defense, whereas armor cannot protect the guilty. Suffolk and... (full context)

As the common people yell for King Henry’s response, Suffolk decries that commoners should give the king orders and criticizes Salisbury for carrying... (full context)

Queen Margaret yells vengeful curses after King Henry and Warwick. When Suffolk tells her to stop so they can say goodbye, Margaret angrily... (full context)

...enters. When Queen Margaret asks where he’s rushing, he says he has news for King Henry: Cardinal Beaufort is dying of an acute illness and, in his delirium, is reviling God,... (full context)

King Henry, Salisbury, and Warwick visit Cardinal Beaufort, who is lying in bed. The Cardinal asks whether... (full context)

...a lowborn man who has been his servant, should not kill a relative of King Henry. The lieutenant orders Whitmore to behead Suffolk, berating Suffolk for celebrating Gloucester’s murder, marrying Henry... (full context)

...to the body. After Whitmore leaves, one gentleman declares he’ll bring Suffolk’s body to King Henry, so Henry, Margaret, or another friend of Suffolk’s can get payback for the murder. (full context)

...Staffords. The Staffords enter with soldiers. Sir Humphrey Stafford tells the rebelling commoners that King Henry will spare them if they abandon Cade. Cade insists that he’s the true king, claiming... (full context)

...mutters that he came up with the story himself) but tells Stafford to let King Henry know Cade’s willing to let him have the throne—if Cade can be Protector. Dick adds... (full context)

...going insane. But she can’t help wondering where Suffolk’s body is. Nearby, Buckingham and King Henry discuss a petition the rebels have sent. Henry, hoping to save the lives of “many... (full context)

King Henry asks Queen Margaret whether she’s still grieving Suffolk and suggests that, if Henry had died,... (full context)

...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. (full context)

...trumpet plays that signals “parley.” Buckingham and Old Clifford appear, and Buckingham announces that King Henry will pardon any of Cade’s “misled” followers who abandon Cade now. Old Clifford tells the... (full context)

Old Clifford asks the rebels whether Cade is Henry V’s son—whether Cade can lead them into France or make them aristocrats. He warns them... (full context)

As trumpets play, King Henry, Queen Margaret, and Somerset walk onto a terrace. Henry laments how little he enjoys being... (full context)

...York has returned from Ireland with many Irish soldiers, declaring his intention to save King Henry from the “traitor” Somerset. Henry bemoans that York has started to threaten his government as... (full context)

...Iden, realizing who he just killed, announces he’ll carry the “traitor” Cade’s head to King Henry. (full context)

...rose, marches in with his Irish soldiers. He declares that he’ll depose the weakling King Henry as he was born to be king. Yet when Buckingham approaches, sporting a red rose,... (full context)

York tells Buckingham that he’s bringing the army to save King Henry from “seditious” Somerset. Buckingham replies that York is assuming too much authority but also that... (full context)

Buckingham and York link arms and walk toward King Henry’s tent. Henry comes to meet them with his attendants. When Buckingham assures Henry that York... (full context)

Queen Margaret arrives, accompanied by Somerset, who sports a red rose. Quietly, King Henry asks Buckingham to tell Margaret to hide Somerset from York. Margaret refuses. When York sees... (full context)

...thereafter, Old Clifford and his son arrive sporting red roses. When Clifford kneels to King Henry, York declares himself Clifford’s king and tells Clifford to kneel to him but forgives Clifford... (full context)

York sends for Salisbury and Warwick, who arrive sporting white roses. King Henry asks whether Salisbury, in his old age, really plans to lead his son into disgraceful... (full context)

King Henry asks an attendant to summon Buckingham—armed. York tells Henry that, no matter how many allies... (full context)

King Henry and Queen Margaret, both wearing red roses, appear fleeing. Though Henry suggests they can’t escape... (full context)

...isn’t permanent since the other side has gotten away. York proposes that they chase King Henry to London and capture him before he can send messages to convene Parliament. When he... (full context)

Henry VI Part 2

King Henry VI Character Analysis

King Henry VI Quotes in Henry VI Part 2

Act 1, Scene 1 Quotes

Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

Act 1, Scene 3 Quotes

Act 1, Scene 4 Quotes

Act 2, Scene 3 Quotes

Act 2, Scene 4 Quotes

Act 3, Scene 1 Quotes

Act 3, Scene 2 Quotes

Act 3, Scene 3 Quotes

Act 4, Scene 1 Quotes

Act 4, Scene 2 Quotes

Act 4, Scene 7 Quotes

Act 4, Scene 8 Quotes

Act 4, Scene 9 Quotes

Act 4, Scene 10 Quotes

Act 5, Scene 1 Quotes

Act 5, Scene 3 Quotes

King Henry VI Character Timeline in Henry VI Part 2