Over the last few days, people have been asking me about textual variations, so I decided to provide a brief summary of the editions of the text, and some links and info to allow you to compare them for yourself. Click on the name of the edition to read it online.
The Texts
Octavo (1595) "The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York"
o 1,000 lines shorter than the Folio
o Thought to be a memorial reconstruction.
o Has many irregular breaks in the lines which are no doubt the compositor's doing.
o Discovered in the 18th century.
2nd Quarto (1600)
o Called the 2nd because it is a second edition, but there was no previous quarto, so it should technically be called 1st Quarto
o Mentions that the play was enacted by Pembroke's Men.
o More regularly lineated than the Octavo.
• 3rd Quarto (1619)
o Puts certain stage directions in that were not in the earlier, such as indicating where the Post enters and exits in 3.3
Folio (1623)
Textual variants between Octavo and Folio
Word variants
In the Duke of York's death scene, the Octavo renders Margaret's line "Wrath make
Spelling variants
Pembroke is spelled: "Penbrooke", Norfolk: Norfolke," Edeter, "Excester" which might indicate a colloquial pronunciation.
Major soliloquies
Rather than being a meditation on the nature of civil war, Henry's soliloquy on the molehill is a short prayer in the Octavo. He begs God to either stop the war or kill him. Instead of comparing war to sea and wind, Henry compares it to a mast less ship, as Margaret does in Act V. Henry also wishes he was either dead, or never made king, or never reigned as king. Perhaps this idea was considered dangerous as this implies kings have the option of giving their power away, which, given the uncertain political climate of Elizabethan England, was an extremely controversial idea.
Richard's soliloquy after the Lady Grey wooing scene has the same basic shape, and many of the same lines. The only major difference is that in the Octavo, several lines are absent where Richard makes the decision to usurp the crown, giving the impression that he had the idea all along. Richard summarizes his reason to desire power in the Octavo in this one line: "I am not yet looked on in the world," which suggests both Richard's chameleon-like nature, and egocentric desire for recognition.
Historical variants.
o The Octavo mistakenly mentions Lord scales being married to Lord Bonneville’s daughter, instead of Lord Rivers, Elizabeth's brother. This is probably just a mistake on Shakespeare's part, (which he corrected in later versions). However, other variants could have been by choice.
o In Act II. i of the folio, Warwick worries about his soldiers being numbered 25,000, but in the Octavo they are 48,000. Perhaps Shakespeare altered history to make the Battle of Towton more dramatic.
o In Act IV Scene ii, the Folio reads: "You that will follow me to this attempt/ Applaud the name of Henry with your leader." In the stage directions, they cry Henry. However, in the Octavo, Warwick says: “Courage my soldiers, now or never
But follow me now, and Edward shall be ours.”
In response, rather than crying “Henry,” the soldiers cry "Warwick!" Not only is this more historically accurate, it also gives the actor a chance to play the fact that, with the exception of Oxford, everyone has been working on the Yorkist side, and have little pity for Henry at all.
FMI:
Henry VI: Critical Essays By Thomas A. Pendleton. Available on Google Books
"Good News about'Bad' Quartos" 'Bad' Shakespeare, ed. Maurice Charney (Cranbury,
NJ: Associated University Presses, 1988), 189-206.
Strange's Men to Pembroke's Men: 2 "Henry VI" and The First Part of the Contention by Lawrence Manley Shakespeare Quarterly
Vol. 54, No. 3 (Autumn, 2003), pp. 253-287.
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