Henry VI, Part 1 Famous Quotes

Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night!

Bedford's opening line of the play in Act 1, Scene 1, at Henry V's funeral — one of the most striking opening lines in Shakespeare. The heavens are asked to dress in black; Henry V was the man who kept them bright.

We mourn in black: why mourn we not in blood?

Exeter at Henry V's funeral in Act 1, Scene 1, pressing the point that black is insufficient — grief should translate into action, which is to say war. The Henry VI trilogy then depicts exactly what that looks like.

Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself Till by broad spreading it disperse to nought.

Joan (Joan of Arc) to the Dauphin in Act 1, Scene 2, describing what she has heard of the English — their expanding glory is also the mechanism of its own dissolution. The image is accurate about the play's story.

Fight till the last gasp; I will be your guard.

Joan to the French forces in Act 1, Scene 2, committing to fight as rearguard — she has just arrived and already commands the confidence of the French army, which is what makes her so alarming to the English.

Where is my strength, my valour, and my force?

Talbot driven back in Act 1, Scene 5, watching his English troops retreat before Joan — the question is not rhetorical; he is genuinely searching for an explanation. Joan has unsettled him as a soldier and as a man.

Unbidden guests Are often welcomest when they are gone.

Salisbury in Act 2, Scene 2 — the proverb is delivered in a context of military courtesy and means that uninvited arrivals (Talbot's forces, the Dauphin's allies) are better departed than present.

Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch; Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth.

Warwick in Act 2, Scene 4, during the Temple Garden scene where white and red roses are plucked to signal political allegiances — the speech establishes the difficulty of judging between two rival claims.

Care is no cure, but rather corrosive, For things that are not to be remedied.

Joan to the French in Act 3, Scene 3, after Rouen is retaken by the English — her point is that grief and worry corrode without curing. The remedy is action, not mourning.

Done like a Frenchman: turn, and turn again!

Joan aside in Act 3, Scene 3 after the Duke of Burgundy switches sides — the insult is her own nationality, aimed at Burgundy's inconstancy. She is French, making it self-deprecating as much as anything else.

O young John Talbot! I did send for thee To tutor thee in stratagems of war.

Talbot to his son in Act 4, Scene 5, as they are surrounded by French forces — he sent for his boy to teach him war, and has instead brought him to a battle they will not survive.

Saint George and victory! fight, soldiers, fight.

Talbot's battle cry in Act 4, Scene 6, rescuing his son from encirclement — the last time in the play where the English war cry sounds like confidence rather than desperation.

Where is my other life? mine own is gone; O, where's young Talbot? where is valiant John?

Talbot mortally wounded in Act 4, Scene 7, calling for his son — his 'other life' is John, through whom he expected to continue. When he learns John is dead, he asks for his body, lies down with it, and dies.

Of all base passions, fear is most accursed.

Joan to the Dauphin in Act 5, Scene 2, urging him not to retreat — her dismissal of fear as the basest passion is consistent with every other thing she does in the play. She will not be defined by it even at her own execution.

She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd; She is a woman, therefore to be won.

Suffolk aside in Act 5, Scene 3 on first seeing Margaret of Anjou — the logic equates beauty with vulnerability and womanhood with conquest. It sets up the entire Henry VI trilogy's treatment of Margaret.

I am a soldier, and unapt to weep, Or to exclaim on fortune's fickleness.

Suffolk in Act 5, Scene 3, describing his own restraint — he then proceeds to court Margaret of Anjou on behalf of Henry V while being personally smitten with her, which is the opposite of restraint.