Henry VI Part 1 Translation

It's sad when a play ends with a funeral, but it's seriously ominous when it starts with one. And that's just what happens here. News not bad enough yet? It's the funeral of Henry V, one of England...

Here we bounce over to France, as we can tell by the entrance of the crown prince (called the Dauphin here). He announces that the war is going well for the French and that they have all the most...

The Duke of Gloucester, Lord Protector of the realm (more on that here) tries to enter the Tower, afraid that things may have gone wrong there since Henry V's death. The warders refuse to let him...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, or actually the town of Orleans in France, we meet the Master Gunner and his boy. The Gunner reminds the boy that the town is besieged, and that the English have actua...

Talbot laments that he cannot get his troops to keep fighting and that they're being chased off by a woman in armor.Talbot expresses very clearly his view that Joan is a witch, and her supernatural...

The scene starts with the French setting a watch on the walls of Orleans.

Talbot, Bedford, and Burgundy come in. Bedford decides to give the French a break and stop chasing them for now.Talbot says he has revenged Salisbury, in no uncertain terms. He plans to build a tom...

The next scene starts with the Countess of Auvergne, who's talking smack to her Porter. She says she's laid a plot, and that what she'll do next will make her as famous as Tomyris.Who's Tomyris? We...

This scene starts off with a quarrel: Richard Plantagenet is having some sort of fight with Somerset. Interestingly, we never find out what the fight was actually about, but it spirals out of contr...

We meet Mortimer. He's dying, unable to walk, and in prison; he even says he has a big ol' death wish. He does want to know if his nephew is coming, though.

You can probably guess what's going to happen in this one just by reading the stage direction. Where there's Gloucester and Winchester, there's going to be a quarrel—and in Parliament, no less. G...

Back to France, where some sneaky spy stuff is going down. Joan Pucelle turns up in disguise—she and a few soldiers are trying to sneak into the city of Rouen disguised as poor farmers selling co...

When the next scene opens, Joan is telling the French nobles that it's really not so bad—she says if they'll just listen to her, she'll straighten it all out.

Unaware of the cloak and dagger stuff going on behind his back, Talbot is back with the English lords and the king, now in France. He greets the king, noting along the way that he's reclaimed fif...

Henry VI has his coronation at Paris. Confetti all around, yo.

Meanwhile, Talbot is back at war. He comes to the French town of Bordeaux and demands surrender.

Talbot might get help, if York and Somerset could just agree. Messengers keep trying to convince them to help Talbot, and each says he can't and blames the other.

Somerset finally says he'll send some horsemen, but Sir William Lucy fears it will be too late, since they will take six hours to get there.

The King, Gloucester, and Exeter are discussing the King's mail. The Pope, who is a figure of great political power as well as spiritual significance, has written and asked England and France to ma...

The French don't seem to have gotten the memo about the peace. At least, Charles and his lords still seem keen to fight. They're happy that the Parisians are in revolt against the English, and they...

Joan sees the battle is going badly, and she calls on spirits or demons to help her. This is a surprising moment in the play, because up till now the play hasn't offered a lot of clear evidence as...

Where was the King during that peace negotiation? Not there. He's not there a lot, Henry VI. Now we see him having a conference with Suffolk, who's trying to convince him to marry Margaret.It seems...