I've now finished Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part III. That means I've read the 12 Shakespeare plays I had set as a goal for the year, and thus have also completed all my reading goals for 2021.
I've always liked Shakespeare, but I have to admit the three Henry VI plays were a slog. For me, there were only two interesting characters - la Pucelle (St. Joan of Arc) in Part I, and Gloucester (the future Richard III) in Part III.
Politically, Joan had to be made a "villain" in English history - which, of course she was not - but I get the sense Shakespeare thought well of her. Indeed, she seems quite heroic until just before her death. Then, given his audience, Shakespeare had to give her a dark side.
As for Gloucester, his violent ruthlessness and ambition particularly come to dominate the last part of Part II - getting us ready for Richard III.
Otherwise, the character development, the writing, the poetry, were not up to the quality I've seen in Shakespeare's later and more mature plays - though I did like seeing the famous line about killing all the lawyers in context! The characters tended to run together. Many did not have a distinct enough personality; indeed, in some cases the lines could easily have been switched to other characters. Part of the problem, admittedly, is that I'm not as familiar with the intricacies of English history, so the many of the secondary characters were unfamiliar to me.
Basically, I read these three plays because I needed to to meet my goal. In other circumstances, I might not have finished them.
Twelve more Shakespeare plays to read to read them all. My goal is to finish them all before the end of 2022.
Pax et bonum
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