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indigoblue777's review against another edition
3.0
I kinda expected this to be boring. I’ve never read one of Shakespeare’s histories before, so I picked this one at random. It was more interesting than I thought it would be.
ebunk's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
mary00's review against another edition
2.0
I must admit that I was not looking forward to reading this particular play. I just wanted to get it out of the way so that I could move on to more "enjoyable" works of Shakespeare. I had heard that this is often considered the most inferior of Shakespeare's plays and that there has often been much discussion on whether the Bard himself even wrote it or not.
Having heard all of that, I enjoyed it more than I thought that I would. However, it took me a long time to get through it. I enjoyed it well enough while I was reading it, but did not look forward to my reading sessions in between readings. Also, not being a history buff, it was a little difficult for me to keep all of the characters straight and I had to keep turning back to the cast of characters to remind myself who everyone was.
In short, I am glad to have read it but it is probably my least favorite Shakespeare play that I have read. I can't imagine that I will ever be returning to it.
Having heard all of that, I enjoyed it more than I thought that I would. However, it took me a long time to get through it. I enjoyed it well enough while I was reading it, but did not look forward to my reading sessions in between readings. Also, not being a history buff, it was a little difficult for me to keep all of the characters straight and I had to keep turning back to the cast of characters to remind myself who everyone was.
In short, I am glad to have read it but it is probably my least favorite Shakespeare play that I have read. I can't imagine that I will ever be returning to it.
beforeviolets's review against another edition
damn shakespeare really hates the french
oopshidaisy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
friendofmarlowe's review against another edition
3.0
you know what? i had really low expectations from this based on what i heard about it but i kinda liked it! like not a new favorite or anything but!! still! anyway, weird as hell about joan of arc’s sexuality the next man who looks at her is getting beat
thebestmark's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
This first part of the War of Roses trilogy has no shooters! It's not even listed as part of Shakespeare's bibliography in some sources due to contentions about its authorship, and the people who do usually place it as specifically the worst play authored by Shakespeare, and its almost never performed by anybody, anywhere. So it's up to me! I will be Henry VI Part 1's shooter. Henry VI Part 1 has the unfortunate distinction of being a character-dense play that's not also thematically dense, but if you like Game of Thrones, I would say that most of what makes Game of Thrones work, as a text, is here. Political actors with complicated motives, old men pondering the world they built as it works to destroy them, and the sparking of a four play-long character arc for Richard with incredibly dark implications later on in the story. There's some tragedy, some depravity, and a healthy dose of evil magic in there towards the end. And look: Henry VI Part 1 is not the best Shakespeare play, or anything. In fact, it's pretty much outright a work of propaganda first and everything else second. In spite of that, I have to say, Joan of Arc in this play, regardless of how wrong the play does her at the end, rips. She is an incredibly cool character the play fails to make me unsympathetic to. There's cool stuff in here! Not, like, Richard III-level cool stuff, but there's cool stuff, regardless.
thebestmark's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Henry VI Part 2 isn't a particularly celebrated play in Shakespeare's canon, which is a shame, because it rocks. There's quite a bit of political tension-building as England's royalty finds itself on the precipice of civil war, but the real star of the show here is Jack Cade, who (at least nominally) leads a populist revolt against the King in hopes for better living conditions for the peasant class. Like the preceding play in this series, Henry VI Part 2 is ultimately propaganda in favor of the ruling class contemporary to it, and like so many depictions of a working class revolt in popular fiction, Jack Cade is painted as a total charlatan egging on a rag-tag band of violent maniacs. Still, being a Shakespeare play, no character is ever left one-dimensional, Jack Cade included, so we get a bit more out of him than you'd expect, and his downfall isn't completely celebratory. There's a scene in this I've never forgotten since I read it, in which Jack, after having poured so much blood, sweat and tears into his populist movement, is unceremoniously killed by a sociopathic landlord - not for ideological reasons, but because he happened to take a moment to rest on the landlord's private property. Guy doesn't even realize who he's killed at first. That's dark! Great stuff.