Day Three

Henry VI, Part I

1.2

SYNOPSIS

The second scene begins in France this time with the Dauphin and a couple of others talking about the capture of Talbot and the rudderless English.  The main takeaway from scene 1.2 occurs when the Bastard of Orleans comes in, and introduces "a hold maid..." Joan who possesses I believe powers of prophecy.  Dauphin tries to trick her into believing Reignier is the Dauphin, but she sees through it pretty quickly.  "Reignier, is 't thou that thinkest to beguile me?"  She talks a big game and Dauphin challenges her to a duel.

Charles: Then come, i' God's name!  I fear no woman.

Joan: And while I live, I'll ne'er fly from a man.

That's some proto-feminist stuff right there.  Sort of.  At any rate, they duel, and she wins, and the victory she attributes to Jesus' mom.  The Dauphin is impressed and allows her to fight for him.  But she has also won his heart.  Awww.  I think, but she's mostly in the mood to fight.  Maybe after the war?

IMPRESSIONS

Man, this is a pretty great play.  I flew through the rest of the first act in half an hour or so cat-sitting for a friend (summaries to come...of the scenes, not the cat-sitting).  The dialogue is snappy, clever, the action is quick-paced...the plot is advancing; there is some romance—weird, aggresso-romance, but romance nonetheless.   Harold Bloom attributes whatever good he finds in this play to later revisions by our man S which, I suppose, makes sense; what doesn't make sense is how poorly regarded this play is.  It isn't as remotely boring as I always assumed it would be, and I particularly like the idea of this sequence, this War of the Roses bit that unfolds over six or seven plays.  Anyhow, HB's sort of stodgy, know-it-all manner is wearing on me and I've only read a few pages of his book (I hadn't read much of his other books).  The characters are well-rendered.  Joan, in particular, is a pretty standout character, a strong woman (albeit she is "strong" by virtue of acting manish...and outperforming men at their own game), and, after Joan defeats the Dauphin, she attributes that strength to another woman:

Joan: Christ's mother helps me, else I were too weak.
Dauphin: Whoe'er helps thee, 'tis thou that must help me.

Is he asking an obviously skilled warrior to help with the war on the English?  Yes.  And no, as his next line asserts the other way she can help:

Dauphin: impatiently I burn with thy desire;
                  My heart and hands thou hast at once subdued...

to which she coolly replies: I must not yield to any rites of love,
                                                  for my profession's sacred from above.

Well played, Joan.  Well played.

...AND THEN SOME

I browsed a few other collections at the bookstore today after I finished reading the first act, and I noticed something strange.  Two collections, including my own, have six scenes in the first act; a couple of others, have eight scenes.  The text appears to be the same, and blogging about it now, I cannot recall where the additional divisions occurred...something to research for later.  I've also learned that is virtually impossible to find a filmed version of this play, at least one that is commercially available; eBay had a copy...on VHS.  I found this on youtube:

The only problem with this is that it omits much of the dialogue.  It skips quickly through the play, omitting entire pages, so I decided I wouldn't watch it until I finish the play.