Henry VI Part 1 Patriotism Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)

Quote #7

MORTIMER
Henry the Fourth, grandfather to this king,
Deposed his nephew Richard, Edward's son,
The first begotten and the lawful heir
Of Edward king, the third of that descent; (2.5.63-66)

Uh oh… If patriotism means loyalty to the king, where are we now? The present king might be descended from a guy who cut in line to get to the kingship. So is he really the rightful king? And if he's not, who should people be loyal to? Maybe Mortimer's heir, who turns out to be Richard. Cue the frenetic violins, people. This is major, as you already know if you've been reading Shakespeare's other history plays.

Quote #8

WINCHESTER
He [Gloucester] shall submit, or I will never yield.
GLOUCESTER
Compassion on the King commands me stoop,
Or I would see his [Winchester's] heart out ere the priest [Winchester]
Should ever get that privilege of me. (3.1.125-128)

Winchester and Gloucester are always accusing each other of being too ambitious and wanting the throne. Gloucester may enjoy being Lord Protector and running things, but in the end he probably does care about Henry VI. We can see that here because he backs down from the quarrel to please the king. Winchester, however, is much slower to do so in the rest of the scene, probably because he actually is too ambitious.

Quote #9

PUCELLE
Look on thy country, look on fertile France,
And see the cities and the towns defaced
By wasting ruin of the cruel foe.
As looks the mother on her lowly babe
When death doth close his tender-dying eyes.
[…]
O, turn thy edged sword another way;
Strike those that hurt, and hurt not those that help.
One drop of blood drawn from thy country's bosom
Should grieve thee more than streams of foreign gore. (3.3.44-48, 52-55 )

Here Joan describes patriotism as being about the land and people of France, rather than loyalty to a king or to comrades in arms. Burgundy was loyal up until now to Henry VI and to his pals in the English army, but Joan says he should think about the land of France itself. It's hard to tell for sure since she's trying to get Burgundy to swap sides, but this may be Joan's actual view of patriotism, given how often she talks about France.