2 Henry 6: Act 2, Scenes 2-4

341.

here's how the saga in unfolding:
Richard is hanging out at his house with Salisbury and Warwick. he explains to them in detail why he, and not Henry, is the rightful heir to the throne. a lot of it is mush in my brain, but what i do understand, i will explain below. Warwick and Salisbury pledge their allegiance to Richard. Richard tells them to lay low because all those other guys are just going to destroy each other anyway. Warwick re-affirms his allegiance, and Richard promises Warwick that he will be his right hand man when he is crowned.
in scene 3, a trial is held for Eleanor, the witch, and the others that helped with the conjuring. the witch is burnt, the others are strangled, and Eleanor is banished. (fair, right?) Gloucester is completely distraught. Henry tells him that the best thing to do would be to give up his post, and he does so graciously. (see quote below.) the Queen Margaret acts super... ahem... witchy as usual, and York changes the subject. for some reason i can't quite figure out, the armorer and his servant (remember the guy accused of treason?) come in to duel. the armorer is drunk, so he loses. Henry says this was God's way of revealing the truth and sentences him to death.
in the last scene of the act, poor Gloucester has a lovely moment when he talks about the fleeting quality of happiness. he sees his wife paying penance in the streets and is much aggrieved. she kind of half warns him that everyone is after him, but it seems like he can't quite accept that. he is summoned to court mysteriously and Eleanor is taken away to serve her life of banishment.


here's what i've figured out about bloodlines (read as a family tree):

                                                          Edward 3

Edward       William       Lionel (Clarence)       John (Lancaster)       Edmund (York)       Thomas      William

Richard I                       Richard somehow     Henry 4
                                     comes from this
                                     line but i don't           Henry 5
                                     quite get it yet.
                                                                      Henry 6

so you see, if our Richard somehow comes from the line of Edward's third son, he would be ahead for the throne I guess?


i am intrigued by all the talk of witchcraft. maybe it's because i'm working on a show about women accused of witchcraft. women accused of it basically had no way to get out of it. it's the go-to way of getting rid of someone. crazy! just quote the Bible and there you go. i wonder if Shakespeare will make a theme of this. i mean, obviously we have the witches in Macbeth, but other than that? in rehearsal we talk about unruly women. (and we've been talking about that too, yes?) to get rid of an unruly woman, you accuse them of witchcraft. i know we're not getting into witch trials here, but that persecution is still evident. hmm... let's see...

not entirely sure why, but Gloucester is my favorite character. he seems to have the best head on his shoulders to me. he's loyal and unambitious. he's genuine. so, of course, he's the one who gets dragged down. of course. with my luck, he'll die in the next act.

quote of the day:
'as willingly do i the same resign
as ere thy father Henry made it mine;
and even as willingly at thy feet i leave it
as others would ambitiously receive it.
farewell, good King. when i am dead and gone,
may honorable peace attend thy throne!'
     -Gloucester; act 2, scene 3

for tomorrow: act 3, scenes 1 and 2

-rebecca may