Sun In Henry Vi

In William Shakespeare’s 3 Henry VI, the sun is a multi-faceted symbol. Mentioned by every major character at least once, it is linked with notions of kingship. In 1 Henry IV, the King talks of a ‘sun-like majesty’ to which his son Hal should aspire towards. Likewise, in 3 Henry VI, the sun-like king is presented as an ideal. Yet as the play progresses, the changeability of the sun is emphasised over its impressive grandeur. Shakespeare’s use of solar imagery comes to undermine the monarchy, and highlights the chaos of civil war. By the time the play concludes, the meaning of the crown has been diminished and allusions to the sun emphasise mutability rather than majesty.
The connection between the sun and the king is established early in

He is singled out by Gloucester, who proclaims that England ‘ne’er had a king until [Henry V’s] time’ (1HVI 1.1.8). The sun-like majesty is represented as exclusive. By contrast, however, the solar metaphor is dispersed among several different characters in 3 Henry VI. Throughout the play, Richard, George, Edward, Gloucester, Warwick, Queen Margaret and Clifford each define someone different as the sun. George talks of ‘our sunshine’ referring to the House of York , Edward talks of ‘Edward’s sun’ (3hvi 2.3.7), Clifford calls Henry VI ‘Phoebus’ (3hvi 2.6.10), York is called ‘Phaethon’ (3hvi 1.4.33) , Warwick refers to Edward as the ‘shadow’ of Henry VI (3hvi 4.3.50), and even Queen Margaret is called the ‘sunshine’ of Henry VI’s life (3hvi 2.3.156). With so many characters identified as sun-like, their subjective claims to the throne are accentuated. Whereas Gloucester used the image of the sun to convey Henry V’s orderly rule (he ‘drove back his enemies’ as a conqueror (1 HIV 1.1.13)), 3 Henry VI inverts the image to convey disorder and disunity. Many different people want to rule, and the simplicity of Henry V’s era is noticeably absent during the War of the Roses.
To this end, Shakespeare refuses to focus 3 Henry VI on any one character more than the other. Comparing 3 Henry VI to Richard II illustrates this. While Richard has 404 lines in 3 Henry VI, Henry VI has an almost equal 365 lines. Edward has 436 lines, and Warwick 440 lines. The difference is minimal. By contrast, Richard II has Richard occupy 758 lines of the play. The character with the closest amount of lines is Bolingbroke, with 413 lines . A 300-line gap between the two reveals that Richard is undoubtedly the focus of the play, whereas no one stands out in 3 Henry