No. 351 Appreciation of the creation of William Shakespeare's historical drama "Henry VI"

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After learning about William ▪ Shakespeare's sonnets, we immediately enter a new section - historical drama.

There are 9 historical plays by William ▪ Shakespeare, and we will read them all in the next period of time. Today, we come to Henry VI.

Henry VI is mainly written about the 50 years of Henry VI's reign (1422-1471). The whole drama is divided into three parts: the first part, the middle part and the second part, each of which consists of 5 acts. The first part writes about Britain's defeat in the Hundred Years' War between England and France due to aristocratic discord; the middle part writes about the civil revolt of domestic civilians, aristocratic disputes, and leading to civil war; the second part writes about the feudal civil war during the Red and White Rose War, when the Red Rose aristocratic group was defeated and the king was killed. Throughout the play, Henry VI is portrayed as a benevolent but dimwitted king.

The historical drama "Henry VI" as a whole is full of strong political overtones, showing the decades-long war between the Two families of the Lancastrian family and the York family. A notable feature of the whole play is the use of irony. The irony of the character image, language shaping, storyline, etc., makes the climax of "Henry VI" rise and fall, with abundant momentum and rich connotation.

The author chose an angle to analyze the author's irony of the "image of the holy woman".

In the Bible, Mary has the body of a virgin. She became pregnant because of her holy spirit induction, thus becoming the mother of Jesus and being revered by future generations of believers. Part of the reason people revere her is because of Mary's pure flesh and partly because she is very devout to God. Full allegiance and submission to God without selfishness is her supreme honor.

In Henry VI, Joan of Arc, on the surface, she also seems to be a virgin, but her every move obviously does not match the title of "virgin". When encountering difficulties, Joan of Arc went so far as to ask for help from the evil ghosts and monsters on all sides, which undoubtedly seriously violated God's will. In order to steal her life, Joan of Arc even went so far as to lie and self-destruct, and deliberately used the name of the Virgin Mary to portray her holy image, which is very different from the holy image of Mary in the Bible.

No matter how many characters appear in the play, Henry VI's protagonist aura cannot be hidden.

Henry VI, who was only 6 years old when he ascended the throne, was in a vulnerable state throughout his childhood, and powerful opponents had already used the regency to seize the highest power, but Henry was helpless due to the limitations of age and experience. In order to quell the war with France, Henry VI had to marry a French princess as an adult, but finally found that she had promiscuously and was fanatically involved in the English court struggle.

In order not to "let these many fools die under the sword", Henry VI negotiated with Cade according to the moral code, but this did not impress the ugly heart of the cruel man, but brought a series of failures. Such a soft and harmonious personality has gone beyond the reasonable scope of sympathy and pity, but has many tragic overtones.

At the end of the play, Henry VI is deprived of everything he has and is imprisoned. From a horizontal perspective, Henry VI was completely different from the unprincipled, bottomless murderers of all strata of English society. Although Henry VI could neither preserve foreign territories nor stop the infighting among the nobles, he still had a kind and helpless side in his heart.

He was young, but he understood the truth of governing the country; he was still inexperienced, but he knew how to gain love. In the interest of the country, he tried to persuade the two ministers to understand the importance of unity. Subsequently, he appeased their restless hearts by praising them and expressing his affection for his ministers. In the end, he arranged the task for the two ministers to devote their blood to the defense of England, which undoubtedly showed that as a monarch, he had done his utmost to achieve his duty to govern the country.

The whole drama of "Henry VI" is full of war and killing, but there is no lack of delicate portrayal of human nature. Closing the book, a flesh-and-blood, lifelike Henry VI seems to stand on the battlefield after experiencing a bloody rain and wind. In his eyes, there was resentment, cruelty, determination and indifference. His only trust is his open mind; if you have a clear conscience, you can be strong.