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| Character | Gloucester | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Adult (36-50), Senior (>50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Angry, Frustrated | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Period | Renaissance | |
| Genre | Historical, Drama | |
| Description | Gloucester expresses his disappointment over the peace treaty | |
| Location | ACT I, Scene 1 | |
Summary
This is the play's first scene. The French wars have ended and King Henry marries Margaret of Anjou, daughter of the King of Naples, who had been taken prisoner in Henry VI part 1 by Suffolk, an English lord.
Suffolk presents the peace treaty with France and Gloucester read it aloud. He is very upset when he finds out that the regions of Anjou and Maine have been given back to the French in exchange for Margaret's hand.
In this monologue Gloucester expresses his disappointment over the peace treaty. It is an insult to all the people that fought hard battles to conquer France, including the late Henry V. He doesn't approve of the marriage between King Henry and Margaret.
Suffolk presents the peace treaty with France and Gloucester read it aloud. He is very upset when he finds out that the regions of Anjou and Maine have been given back to the French in exchange for Margaret's hand.
In this monologue Gloucester expresses his disappointment over the peace treaty. It is an insult to all the people that fought hard battles to conquer France, including the late Henry V. He doesn't approve of the marriage between King Henry and Margaret.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
|---|
| GLOUCESTER Brave peers of England, pillars of the state, To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief, Your grief, the common grief of all the land. What! did my brother Henry spend his youth, His valour, coin and people, in the wars? Did he so often lodge in open field, In winter's cold and summer's parching heat, To conquer France, his true inheritance? And did my brother Bedford toil his wits, To keep by policy what Henry got? Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham, Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick, Received deep scars in France and Normandy? Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself, With all the learned council of the realm, Studied so long, sat in the council-house Early and late, debating to and fro How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe, And had his highness in his infancy Crowned in Paris in despite of foes? And shall these labours and these honours die? Shall Henry's conquest, Bedford's vigilance, Your deeds of war and all our counsel die? O peers of England, shameful is this league! Fatal this marriage, cancelling your fame, Blotting your names from books of memory, Razing the characters of your renown, Defacing monuments of conquer'd France, Undoing all, as all had never been! |
