York (3 Henry VI)

Play

Henry VI, Part 3

Summary

Richard, Duke of York, is captured by the Lancastrian forces early in Part 3 and subjected to Margaret of Anjou's prolonged cruelty — she gives him a handkerchief stained with his young son Rutland's blood and places a paper crown upon his head in savage mockery before having him stabbed. His death, one of the play's most memorable scenes, transforms him from ambitious schemer into a figure of pathos.

Notable Quotations

"She-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France, / Whose tongue more poisons than the adder's tooth! / How ill-beseeming is it in thy sex / To triumph, like an Amazonian trull, / Upon their woes whom fortune captivates!" *(1.4)*

"O tiger's heart wrapp'd in a woman's hide! / How couldst thou drain the life-blood of the child, / To bid the father wipe his eyes withal, / And yet be seen to bear a woman's face?" *(1.4)*

Cross-references

• Henry VI, Part 3 — the play
• York (2 Henry VI) — earlier appearance
• Queen Margaret — his killer and tormentor
• King Edward IV — his eldest son
• Richard of Gloucester (3 Henry VI) — his youngest son
• Histories