“Good Lord, what madness rules in brainsick men…”: The mad Henry VI as medieval Cassandra

A few months ago, I wrote a post…  “Shakespeare’s holy hilltop fool Henry VI = McCartney’s ‘Fool on the Hill’! ”  http://tinyurl.com/jaf7c44 …in which I argued that when Paul McCartney wrote “The Fool on the Hill”, he had in mind Henry VI’s speech in 2.5 of Henry VI Part 3 (spoken on a mole hill at the Battle of Towton). I included a link to David Warner in YouTube delivering that speech in the 1965 film thereof, and stated as follows regarding same:

“If you watch that video clip of Warner’s speech, I believe you’ll agree that it is clear that the director sees this scene as purely internal – i.e., the unnamed Father and unnamed Son fade in and out of Henry’s tortured consciousness, and were not meant by Shakespeare to be seen as actual combatants who just happened to wander into the King’s presence and speak these lines. And the film also makes it clear that after those other characters fade to black, Henry is suddenly brought back to real life in the midst of battle, not entirely alone as he seemed to be after the initial battle cried faded.”

Since then, after some diligent searching of the scholarly literature about Shakespeare's depiction of Henry VI, I am astonished that the scholarly consensus is directly contrary to the way Warner played that scene:

"Shakespeare's portrayal of Henry is notable in that it does not mention the King's madness. This is considered to have been a politically-advisable move so as to not risk offending Elizabeth I whose family was descended from Henry's Lancastrian family. Instead Henry is portrayed as a pious and peaceful man ill-suited to the crown. He spends most of his time in contemplation of the Bible and expressing his wish to be anyone other than a king. Shakespeare's Henry is weak-willed and easily influenced allowing his policies to be led by Margaret and her allies, and being unable to defend himself against York's claim to the throne. He only takes an act of his own volition just before his death when he curses Richard of Gloucester just before he is murdered."

In stark contrast to that prevailing view, and after some study on my own of the texts of the Henry VI trilogy, I believe that Warner’s depiction was spot-on, and that Shakespeare repeatedly hinted at the historical Henry's madness (Nigel Bark and some others have been more specific and have argued it was schizophrenia), most of all in that scene with Henry on his mole hill, when he coincidentally finds himself an eavesdropper on a parricide son and a filicide father, but which I believe Shakespeare did indeed mean to be understood by the cognoscenti to be Henry's hallucination.

The big picture I take away from the Henry VI trilogy is that while it was undeniable that the historical Henry VI was mentally ill over his entire lifetime, he couldn't help himself (since he was obviously unmedicated, and, to boot, was placed under extreme stresses that would have exacerbated his disease symptoms), and his heart was definitely in the right place (which is one reason why there was a very active cult associated with his supposed sainthood during Henry VIII's reign).

Whereas I believe Shakespeare meant for us all to note that the far greater culpability for the carnage of the Wars of the Roses lay with all the sane nobles who rushed into the vacuum of Henry’s passive reign, and, without the excuse of an actual mental illness, unleashed a long series of horrific wars on themselves and their entire country, in their collective lust for power and vengeance that consumed so many of them, as well as countless innocent commoners.

And I find the most pointed irony in a couple of speeches by Henry VI in which he, the king whom all of the cognoscenti would have known was truly mad, calls those nobles mad! I think Shakespeare expected the sharp elves among his audience and readers to recognize the irony, and also the veiled portrait of Henry VI's tragic illness ---tragic most of all because he was a kind of Cassandra, who could clearly see how people should behave, and could accurately characterize their wrong behavior, but who was utterly incapable of implementing his saintly vision. 

In that light, read the relevant part of Act 4, Scene 1 of 1 Henry VI, and ask, who does Shakespeare mean for us to see as the real madmen?

Enter VERNON and BASSET

VERNON Grant me the combat, gracious sovereign.

BASSET  And me, my lord, grant me the combat too.

YORK  This is my servant: hear him, noble prince.

SOMERSET And this is mine: sweet Henry, favour him.

KING HENRY VI

Be patient, lords; and give them leave to speak.
Say, gentlemen, what makes you thus exclaim?
And wherefore crave you combat? or with whom?

VERNON  With him, my lord; for he hath done me wrong.

BASSET   And I with him; for he hath done me wrong.

KING HENRY VI

What is that wrong whereof you both complain?
First let me know, and then I'll answer you.

BASSET

Crossing the sea from England into France,
This fellow here, with envious carping tongue,
Upbraided me about the rose I wear;
Saying, the sanguine colour of the leaves
Did represent my master's blushing cheeks,
When stubbornly he did repugn the truth
About a certain question in the law
Argued betwixt the Duke of York and him;
With other vile and ignominious terms:
In confutation of which rude reproach
And in defence of my lord's worthiness,
I crave the benefit of law of arms.

VERNON

And that is my petition, noble lord:
For though he seem with forged quaint conceit
To set a gloss upon his bold intent,
Yet know, my lord, I was provoked by him;
And he first took exceptions at this badge,
Pronouncing that the paleness of this flower
Bewray'd the faintness of my master's heart.

YORK  Will not this malice, Somerset, be left?

SOMERSET

Your private grudge, my Lord of York, will out,
Though ne'er so cunningly you smother it.

KING HENRY VI

Good Lord, what madness rules in brainsick men,
When for so slight and frivolous a cause
Such factious emulations shall arise!
Good cousins both, of York and Somerset,
Quiet yourselves, I pray, and be at peace.

YORK

Let this dissension first be tried by fight,
And then your highness shall command a peace.

SOMERSET

The quarrel toucheth none but us alone;
Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.

YORK  There is my pledge; accept it, Somerset.

VERNON  Nay, let it rest where it began at first.

BASSET  Confirm it so, mine honourable lord.

GLOUCESTER

Confirm it so! Confounded be your strife!
And perish ye, with your audacious prate!
Presumptuous vassals, are you not ashamed
With this immodest clamorous outrage
To trouble and disturb the king and us?
And you, my lords, methinks you do not well
To bear with their perverse objections;
Much less to take occasion from their mouths
To raise a mutiny betwixt yourselves:
Let me persuade you take a better course.

EXETER   It grieves his highness: good my lords, be friends.

KING HENRY VI

Come hither, you that would be combatants:
Henceforth I charge you, as you love our favour,
Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause.
And you, my lords, remember where we are, 
In France, amongst a fickle wavering nation:
If they perceive dissension in our looks
And that within ourselves we disagree,
How will their grudging stomachs be provoked
To wilful disobedience, and rebel!
Beside, what infamy will there arise,
When foreign princes shall be certified
That for a toy, a thing of no regard,
King Henry's peers and chief nobility
Destroy'd themselves, and lost the realm of France!
O, think upon the conquest of my father,
My tender years, and let us not forego
That for a trifle that was bought with blood
Let me be umpire in this doubtful strife.
I see no reason, if I wear this rose,

Putting on a red rose

That any one should therefore be suspicious
I more incline to Somerset than York:
Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both:
As well they may upbraid me with my crown,
Because, forsooth, the king of Scots is crown'd.
But your discretions better can persuade
Than I am able to instruct or teach:
And therefore, as we hither came in peace,
So let us still continue peace and love.
Cousin of York, we institute your grace
To be our regent in these parts of France:
And, good my Lord of Somerset, unite
Your troops of horsemen with his bands of foot;
And, like true subjects, sons of your progenitors,
Go cheerfully together and digest.
Your angry choler on your enemies.
Ourself, my lord protector and the rest
After some respite will return to Calais;
From thence to England; where I hope ere long
To be presented, by your victories,
With Charles, Alencon and that traitorous rout.

Flourish. Exeunt all but YORK, WARWICK, EXETER and VERNON

So, I conclude with this question – whom among modern Shakespeare scholars has taken note of the above ironies, and/or has realized that Shakespeare did indeed depict Henry VI’s madness, hiding it in plain sight.

Cheers, ARNIE PERLSTEIN

@JaneAustenCode on Twitter