 Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Table of Contents PLOT (Structure) The play tells the story of the English loss of France, but the dramatic narrative is analytic rather than historical. It shows how France was lost. The first part of Henry VI is not a complete narrative but a dramatized demonstration of the forces at work in the years concerned. It is a history play and belongs to the genre of drama known as chronicle plays. It opens with a brilliant symbolic pageant of England’s nobility falling into dissension even around the coffin of Henry V. The first Act also seen the introduction of Joan in the action and her revitalizing effect on the French. The main focus of Act II is the formation of the two factions, one headed by Somerset, the other by York. Act III sees the tide of fortune turning in France’s favor as Burgundy joins their ranks. In Act IV, Talbot loses his life and with him dies the dream of the English conquest of France. Act V focuses on the ignoble treaty that leads to peace between the two nations and Henry VI’s decision to marry Margaret of Anjou. The play lacks coherence in its general effect. The presence of a dominating intention is not very clearly marked. The two important Themes: dying English chivalry and the loss of France are conveyed through an episodic, pageant-like conception of drama, which is not very coherent in its effect. These two aspects are more closely and meaningfully interwoven in the development of the action than is immediately clear. Some parts of the play have an anecdotal kind drama in which incidents are presented in turn for the sake of immediate dramatic effect rather than for their contribution to a total pattern. An example is the incident of the French countess. Although it serves to show Talbot’s shrewdness it has no effect on later action. It is a historical play and its central theme is England itself. By its very nature a historical play is difficult to make into one unity. And this should be kept in mind while analyzing the plot structure of this play. Table of Contents | |
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