Among the episodes, the tragi-comedy of Jack Cade, and the detection
of the impostor Simcox are truly edifying.
The third part describes Henry's loss of his crown: his death takes
place in the last act, which is usually thrust into the common
acting play of RICHARD III. The character of Gloucester, afterwards
King Richard, is here very powerfully commenced, and his dangerous
designs and long-reaching ambition are fully described in his
soliloquy in the third act, beginning, 'Aye, Edward will use women
honourably.' Henry VI is drawn as distinctly as his high-spirited
Queen, and notwithstanding the very mean figure which Henry makes as
a king, we still feel more respect for him than for his wife.
We have already observed that Shakespeare was scarcely more
remarkable for the force and marked contrasts of his characters than
for the truth and subtlety with which he has distinguished those
which approached the nearest to each other. For instance, the soul
of Othello is hardly more distinct from that of Iago than that of
Desdemona is shown to be from Aemilia's; the ambition of Macbeth is
as distinct from the ambition of Richard III as it is from the
meekness of Duncan; the real madness of Lear is as different from
the feigned madness of Edgar [Footnote: There is another instance of
the name distinction in Hamlet and Ophelia.
Pages:
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240