# Henry VI, Part II — Character guide

> Key figures in Henry VI, Part II by William Shakespeare.

- [King Henry VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/king_henry_vi.md): Henry VI sits at the head of a court already split into armed camps, greeting his new queen with a kiss while his uncles read out the treaty that surrenders Anjou and Maine. His piety and mildness, genuine virtues, make 
- [Queen Margaret](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/queen_margaret.md): Margaret enters the play as Suffolk's trophy bride, handed to Henry in a ceremony that costs England two duchies. Her quick wit and quicker pride make her a natural partisan in the court's feuds, and her bond with Suffol
- [Richard, Duke of York](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/duke_of_york.md): York stands among the peers who watch Anjou and Maine traded for a bride, and he alone understands the loss as personal: those lands were his to lose. His soliloquy reveals a patient, calculating ambition, a man who will
- [Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/humphrey_duke_of_gloucester.md): Gloucester is the king's uncle and the realm's protector, a man whose plain dealing and open table have won him the love of the people. That same integrity puts him at odds with Suffolk, Beaufort, and eventually the quee
- [Cardinal Beaufort](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/cardinal_beaufort.md): Beaufort is the king's great-uncle, a cardinal whose wealth and pride make him a rival power to the protectorate itself. His feud with Gloucester runs so hot that the two men arrange a duel in a grove while the king stan
- [William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/duke_of_suffolk.md): Suffolk returns from France with Margaret on his arm and a treaty in his hand that gives away two duchies, and he is rewarded with a dukedom for his trouble. His intimacy with the new queen makes him the most dangerous m
- [Duke of Buckingham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/duke_of_buckingham.md): Buckingham belongs to the cluster of lords — Suffolk, Somerset, and the queen — whose interests collide with the protector's household. He is a man of the moment rather than of principle, aligning himself wherever power 
- [Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/earl_of_warwick.md): Warwick enters as a lord of enormous landed power and rare public trust, the kind of man whose endorsement can make or unmake a king. He loves the common profit and hates the pride of Suffolk and the cardinal, yet his pr
- [Jack Cade](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/jack_cade.md): Cade is the voice of the leather-apron crowd, promising seven halfpenny loaves for a penny and a commonwealth turned inside out. His pretensions to noble descent are punctured at every turn by Dick the Butcher's asides, 
- [Lord Clifford](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/lord_clifford.md): Clifford stands among the king's party at court, a nobleman of the old allegiance whose temper runs hotter than Henry's mild rule can contain. He is the kind of retainer whose personal devotion to a royal house becomes i
- [Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/duke_of_somerset.md): Somerset belongs to the court faction that Salisbury names alongside Suffolk, the cardinal, and Buckingham as men whose pride must be bridled. His quarrel with York is both personal and territorial, sharpened by the loss
- [Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/duchess_eleanor.md): Eleanor Cobham is the proud wife of the protector, restless under the modest place a duke's consort is allowed. Her consultation of conjurers and witches — seeking to know what fortune holds for her husband — hands her e
- [Sir Humphrey Stafford](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/sir_humphrey_stafford.md): Loyal knight sent to confront Jack Cade's rebellion.
- [Lord Say](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/lord_say.md): Hated nobleman executed by Cade's rebels for his learning and governance.
- [Alexander Iden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/alexander_iden.md): Kentish gentleman who kills Jack Cade in his garden.
- [John Hume](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/john_hume.md): Priest who conspires with the Duchess of Gloucester in her treasonous schemes.
- [Earl of Salisbury](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/salisbury.md): Salisbury belongs to the old guard of English lords who fought to hold France and now watch Suffolk's negotiated peace hand Anjou and Maine away for a dowryless queen. His loyalty tilts toward Gloucester and York, placin
- [Walter Whitmore](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/walter_whitmore.md): Captain who captures and kills the Duke of Suffolk at sea.
- [Captain](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/captain.md): Leader of the ship that intercepts Suffolk, demanding ransom and justice.
- [Dick the Butcher](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/dick_the_butcher.md): Follower of Jack Cade, known for the line 'The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.'
- [Smith the Weaver](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/smith_the_weaver.md): Rebel follower of Jack Cade, a weaver by trade.
- [George Bevis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/george_bevis.md): Rebel follower of Jack Cade.
- [John Holland](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters/john_holland.md): Rebel follower of Jack Cade.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_vi_part_ii_se/characters