Henry VI Part 2

Henry VI Part 2 represents magic as real but, ironically, useless. Early in the play, a witch and several conjurers summon a spirit from the underworld and ask it to tell them the fates of King Henry VI, the Duke of Suffolk, and the Duke of Somerset. In each case, the spirit gives technically accurate but ambiguous and misleading answers. For example, it says of Suffolk, “By water shall he die and take his end.” While this prediction seems to suggest that Suffolk will drown, it actually foreshadows that Suffolk will be beheaded by a sailor named Walter Whitmore—as “Walter,” in the Elizabethan era when the play was written, was pronounced “water.” Similarly, the spirit says Somerset should avoid “castles.” The characters can decode this advice, which foreshadows that Somerset will be killed near a pub named the Castle Inn, only in retrospect, after Somerset has already died and the prediction is of no use in saving him. Since the ritual that summons the spirit indicates that the spirit comes from hell, the spirit’s unhelpfulness may suggest that—in the play’s worldview—magic is a satanic and unhelpful activity better left alone.