King Henry VI, Part 3

King Henry VI, Part 3 by William Shakespeare
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The stabbings and double-crosses become a bit exhausting by the end. The wheel of fortune revolves several times before the virtuous but ineffectual Henry VI falls and the demonically ambitious Richard, Duke of Gloucester commits to murdering his way to the crown. It’s a balancing of opposites that Shakespeare will refine in his later histories. This one is full of spectacular battles and magical omens, but the characters are flat and the language largely unmemorable.

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King Henry VI, Part 2

King Henry VI, Part 2 by William Shakespeare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The baleful influence of Tillyard on the commentary of the histories is slowly being exorcised, but interpretations are still made in relation to his teleological theory. The rest of Shakespeare’s work should make it obvious that the plays thrive because of their ambiguities rather than their doctrines. Here factions face up against factions to wrest control of the kingdom from a weak king, and contingency rather than providence is the prevalent theme. This may be one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, and while the collaboration question remains open, his patterning of repeated motifs and counterpoints is already in evidence. The best bit is the ironic carnival of Cade’s uprising, and the justly famous line: “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”.

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King Henry VI, Part 1

King Henry VI, Part 1 by William Shakespeare
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The mixture of elements in this play rather supports the suggestion it was the work of several dramatists. The broad sweep is the conflict between France and England symbolised by the warriors Joan Puzel and Talbot, the latter of course far more sympathetically drawn. But there’s a bunch of other stuff, including random amorous Countesses and a very contrived rose garden scene that sets up the idea of a war of the roses. Supposedly a prequel of what we now call parts two and three, and like a lot of prequels quite unsatisfying on its own.

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Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne

Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The superlatives rather overwhelm this biography, but that might be the author trying to reflect the bombastic style of her subject. It feels like a sales pitch rather than a study. The structure of short chapters on different facets of Donne’s character serve the argument that this was a uniquely multifaceted individual, which you can take or leave. It does nevertheless make the book very readable and easy to digest.

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