Henry VI Part 3 Play: Overview & Resources

Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part 3 play is set in various locations in England and France, including  Parliament, the royal palace and the Tower, in London; in Wakefield, at Sandal Castle and on a battlefield. Other locations in England are in Herefordshire, a plain near Mortimer’s Cross, in York, on a Yorkshire battlefield between Towton and Saxton, a park near Middleham Castle, a forest in the north of England, a plain in Warwickshire, in Warwick, in Coventry, the battlefield at Barnet and a plain near Tewksbury. The French location is the palace of King Louis XI. Read more about Henry VI Part III settings.

Date written: 1591

Genre classification: Henry VI, Part 2 is a History Play.

Main characters in Henry VI Part 3: King Henry VI – Son of Henry V, and Queen Margaret. Edward – Son of Richard Plantagenet, Earl of March, and afterwards King Edward IV and his brother, Richard. Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York

Other main characters are:
Earl of Warwick
Lord Clifford
George
Edward, Prince of Wales – son of King Henry IV

See a full list of characters in Henry VI Part 3

Henry VI Part 3 themes: Tribalism and Social disorder that results in civil war. Irrational fury,  hate, pride, ambition and lust for gold and power flourish amidst the horrors of a civil war.

An interesting theme of this play is the idea that women can be just as ruthless as men, afflicted by the same drives: ambition, envy, greed and the lust for power.