Mediating Page and Stage

Abstract

As an example of the kinds of encounters that lie at the heart of this book, consider Henry’s Paris coronation scene (4.1) in Michael Taylor’s Oxford edition of 1 Henry VI (2003). Newly adorned with the French crown, Henry soon finds himself breaking up a potential duel between Vernon and Basset, champions for Richard (Duke of York) and Somerset, respectively. While the large number of bodies on stage at this moment surely complicates a reader’s ability to maintain a vivid version of Meisel’s “imagined theatrical representation,” (2), I mean to address an ostensibly simpler matter of stage business. The dialogue emphasizes the “sanguine colour” (4.1.92) and “paleness” (106) of the roses that Basset and Vernon presumably wear; their division and enmity thus are reinforced visually and linguistically.¹ Here is the central portion of what is Henry’s longest speech in the play, as it appears in Taylor’s edition:

Let me be umpire in this doubtful strife.

I see no reason, if I wear this rose,

He takes a red rose

That anyone should therefore be suspicious

I more incline to Somerset than York;

Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both. (4.1.151–5)