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Loyalty
Are you loyal to a king? To a country? To your relatives? To the law? To justice? To God?
One of the basic issues Henry VI, Part 2 investigates is how you go about determining who or what deserves your loyalty. When different systems (like government, religion, and family) compete with each other for your allegiance, how do you choose sides?
Different characters offer different answers to this question. Gloucester is loyal to Henry, but not to his followers. Margaret, Suffolk, and Beaufort think of themselves as above it all and are loyal only to themselves. Warwick and Salisbury are loyal to their ideal of kingship and not to one specific king. And York throws a wrench into the whole system when he makes a play for the crown. Who or what is he loyal to?
Who's right, and who's wrong? As usual, Shakespeare leaves this for us to decide.
One of Henry's biggest problems is that he thinks he deserves loyalty without having to give it back to his subjects.
Although Warwick and Salisbury plot against Henry, they are loyal because they support York even under threat of treason.
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