Henry VI, Part 3

I knew that one or more of Shakespeare’s history plays involved the so-called Wars of the Roses. So when I came across these miniature red and white roses in the crafting section of a dollar store, I figured they’d eventually come in handy. Initially I was going simply twist a few together and more-or-less prop them in one of the little compartments of the typesetter’s tray that is my de facto ‘studio’ for these covers. Then, even though the play is definitely not a comedy, I felt it might add a much needed dash of humour if I were to do a miniature flower arrangement in this little ewer. Needless to say, miniature flower arranging is not my forte and I’ve never even tried full-size flower arranging so there the topic can rest I think. If you look closely you can see my fingers holding the camera reflected in the ewer. In Shakespeare’s time, these conflicts were known as the Civil Wars. The two main warring factions were the House of Lancaster and the House of York. Years later they became associated with red and white roses respectively, likely because of a scene Shakespeare’s Henry prequel, Henry VI, Part 1. However, this one – Part 3 – is the play that deals more directly with the actual war so I decided to use them here.