Bibliography
Course Hero. "Henry VI, Part 2 Study Guide." Course Hero. 3 Aug. 2017. Web. 8 June 2023. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Henry-VI-Part-2/>.
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(Course Hero)
Bibliography
Course Hero. (2017, August 3). Henry VI, Part 2 Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved June 8, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Henry-VI-Part-2/
In text
(Course Hero, 2017)
Bibliography
Course Hero. "Henry VI, Part 2 Study Guide." August 3, 2017. Accessed June 8, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Henry-VI-Part-2/.
Footnote
Course Hero, "Henry VI, Part 2 Study Guide," August 3, 2017, accessed June 8, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Henry-VI-Part-2/.
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| King Henry VI | King Henry is a mild and pious ruler who is ill-equipped to solve England's problems; he is caught off guard by York's attempt to seize the throne. Read More |
| Queen Margaret | Queen Margaret, the daughter of a French nobleman, is married to King Henry as part of a truce between England and France; in many respects she is the real power behind the throne, enlisting the help of her lover Suffolk to quash their political enemies. Read More |
| Duke of Gloucester | Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, is King Henry's uncle and Lord Protector of England; he resigns his post early in the play and is murdered soon afterward. Read More |
| Duchess of Gloucester | The Duchess of Gloucester despises Queen Margaret and dreams of seizing the crown for herself; she foolishly enlists the help of magicians and is banished for dabbling in the occult. Read More |
| Duke of York | Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, is the main adversary to King Henry; he sees himself as the rightful ruler of England, though he keeps this opinion largely to himself until the final act of the play. Read More |
| Jack Cade | Jack Cade is a Kentishman who leads a popular uprising against King Henry; he is the dominant character of Act 4 but dies an ignoble death in that act's final scene. Read More |
| Duke of Suffolk | The Duke of Suffolk seeks to gain control of the English throne through his lover, Queen Margaret; his plans are thwarted when he is banished for the murder of Gloucester. Read More |
| Beadle | The Beadle of Saint Albans is a minor church official who punishes Sander Simpcox for pretending to be handicapped. |
| Cardinal Beaufort | Cardinal Beaufort is the great-uncle of King Henry and a powerful churchman; he colludes with Suffolk in murdering Gloucester but then dies of a sudden and terrible disease. |
| Bevis | Bevis is one of the workingmen who support Jack Cade. |
| Roger Bolingbroke | Roger Bolingbroke is a conjurer who helps to perform the spirit-summoning ceremony on behalf of the Duchess of Gloucester; he is later sentenced to hanging for his occult dealings. |
| Duke of Buckingham | The Duke of Buckingham is a supporter of King Henry against the Duke of York; he harbors an ambition to be Lord Protector and plays a part in Gloucester's downfall. |
| Clerk of Chartham | The Clerk of Chartham is a learned man who has the misfortune to cross paths with Jack Cade; he is sentenced to hanging for the crime of being able to read and write. |
| First citizen | Citizens appear as "extras" in Act 4 during Jack Cade's march on London; the first citizen, who alone has a speaking role, informs Lord Scales of the battle's progress. |
| Lord Clifford | Lord Clifford is a loyal supporter of King Henry; he negotiates a pardon for Jack Cade's rebels but is then killed at the Battle of Saint Albans. |
| Dick | Dick the butcher is one of Jack Cade's more prominent followers; he is promised a great reward for his role in the rebellion. |
| Edward | Edward, Earl of March, is the elder son of the Duke of York; he plays only a minor role in Part 2 but will be crowned Edward IV at the very end of the trilogy. |
| First gentleman | The first gentleman is one of the Englishmen captured by pirates in Act 4; he is set free to collect ransom for the others and takes Suffolk's body with him. |
| Second gentleman | The second gentleman, like the First, is seized by the same pirates who capture Suffolk; he is held for ransom, and his ultimate fate is left unstated. |
| Holland | Holland is another of the workingmen who join Jack Cade in his uprising; although he supports Cade he does not mind making jokes behind his leader's back. |
| Thomas Horner | Thomas Horner, armorer to the Duke of York, is accused by his apprentice Peter Thump of calling King Henry a usurper; only after he is mortally wounded in a duel does he admit to making this seditious remark. |
| Sir John Hume | Sir John Hume is a priest hired by the Duchess of Gloucester to arrange a spirit-summoning ritual on her behalf; what the duchess does not realize is that Hume is a double agent, working to implicate her in criminal activity. |
| Alexander Iden | Alexander Iden is a Kentish gentleman who kills the fugitive Jack Cade in a sword fight; he presents Cade's head to King Henry and is rewarded with a knighthood. |
| Lieutenant | The lieutenant is the captain of the pirate ship that captures Suffolk; he grows tired of Suffolk's posturing and orders the nobleman's execution. |
| Man | The unnamed man of Saint Albans announces the "miracle" that occurs while King Henry and his entourage are visiting; he brings word that Sander Simpcox, a blind man, has been blessed with sight. |
| Margery Jourdain | Margery Jourdain is a witch who assists in summoning a spirit for the Duchess of Gloucester; she is arrested and later sentenced to burning at the stake. |
| Messengers | Messengers appear throughout Henry VI, Part 1 to report on offstage action; they show up frequently in Act 4 to update the audience on the course of Jack Cade's rebellion. |
| Michael | Michael, a follower of Jack Cade, appears only in Act 4, Scene 2; he informs Cade that the Staffords' army is approaching. |
| First murderer | The first murderer is one of the men who kills Gloucester; he comes across as colder and more calculating than his accomplice. |
| Second murderer | The second murderer assists in the killing of Gloucester in Act 3; unlike the First Murderer he displays remorse for having killed the duke. |
| Neighbors | Three neighbors of Thomas Horner appear as a group in Act 2, Scene 3; they goad Horner into drinking heavily before his fight with Peter Thump. |
| First petitioner | The first petitioner mistakes Suffolk for the Duke of Gloucester; he asks for Suffolk's help in a domestic dispute. |
| Second petitioner | The second petitioner brings a complaint on behalf of his entire town; unfortunately for him the complaint is against Suffolk, and Queen Margaret tears up the petition. |
| Post | The post is a messenger who brings news of the rebellion in Ireland; he appears only in Act 3, Scene 1. |
| Prentices | Three apprentices (i.e., "prentices") appear at the duel between Peter Thump and Thomas Horner; they toast their friend Peter and wish him luck in the fight. |
| Richard | Richard, younger son of the Duke of York, appears in Act 5 just long enough to take part in the Battle of Saint Albans; he plays a much more prominent role in Part 3 and gets his own play in Richard III. |
| Earl of Salisbury | The Earl of Salisbury is an elderly nobleman who pledges his loyalty to the Duke of York early in the play; despite his advanced age he fights for the Yorkist cause in the Battle of Saint Albans. |
| Lord Saye | Lord Saye is targeted for assassination by Jack Cade's rebels; despite the danger to himself he remains in London rather than fleeing alongside King Henry. |
| Lord Scales | Lord Scales is one of King Henry's defenders during Jack Cade's rebellion; he appears only in Act 4, Scene 5 where he is supervising the defense of the Tower of London. |
| Sheriff | The sheriff escorts the Duchess of Gloucester through her penitential procession; he then releases her to the custody of Sir John Stanley. |
| Sander Simpcox | Sander Simpcox, a poor resident of Saint Albans, appears as comic relief in Act 2; he pretends to have been cured of blindness, but Gloucester sees through his ruse. |
| Smith | Smith the weaver is one of Jack Cade's rebels; like Dick the butcher, Smith amuses himself by making crude jokes at Cade's expense. |
| Duke of Somerset | The Duke of Somerset is a supporter of King Henry and a bitter enemy of the Duke of York; his death in Act 5 is a serious blow to the king's faction. |
| John Southwell | John Southwell is a priest who assists at the Duchess of Gloucester's summoning ceremony; he is arrested and hanged for his role in the ritual. |
| Spirit | The spirit is summoned by conjurers at the instigation of the Duchess of Gloucester; it gives cryptic answers to questions about the fate of England's nobility. |
| Sir Humphrey Stafford | Sir Humphrey Stafford leads the army that is sent out to subdue Jack Cade and his rebels; he is killed in the clash with Cade's forces. |
| William Stafford | Sir Humphrey Stafford's brother William joins him in a failed attempt to stop Jack Cade's rebellion; like Humphrey he is killed in combat. |
| Sir John Stanley | Sir John Stanley is charged with escorting the Duchess of Gloucester to the Isle of Man, where she has been banished; he promises the duke that he will treat the duchess kindly. |
| Peter Thump | Peter Thump, an armorer's apprentice, comes to the palace claiming his employer Horner called the king a usurper; he is forced to prove his own innocence by combat with Horner. |
| Vaux | Vaux appears in a single scene in Act 3, where he announces that the cardinal has fallen ill and is on his deathbed. |
| Walter Whitmore | Walter Whitmore is one of the pirates who captures Suffolk en route to France; he decapitates Suffolk on the Lieutenant's orders. |
| Earl of Warwick | The Earl of Warwick is Salisbury's son; like his father he pledges to support the Duke of York in his claim to the throne. |
| Wife | The wife of Sander Simpcox attempts to corroborate his story about being miraculously restored to sight; she fails and is driven out of town alongside her husband. |
| Young Clifford | Young Clifford is the son of Lord Clifford and, like his father, a supporter of King Henry; he vows revenge on the House of York after his father is killed in battle. |
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