Making Commotion: Riot and Protest in the Texts of 2 Henry VI

Abstract: This essay argues that the textual differences between the quarto and folio versions of William Shakespeare’s 2 Henry VI evince the three-way ideological contestation between the aristocracy, the middling sort, and the lower classes in early modern England. Perhaps the most famous scenes from the play, those depicting Jack Cade’s rebellion, exist in both versions, but the portrayal of the uprising is very different between the two texts. The 1594 quarto gives us a vicious Cade intent on destroying businesses, raping women, and spurning well-meaning nobles; the 1623 folio version, by contrast, gives us an eloquent if imperfect Cade whose grievances are justified, reasoned, and well articulated. Political and economic power was steadily shifting during this period from the aristocracy to the middling sort, and, although the differences in Cade’s rebellion from the quarto to the folio might seem to indicate a revision in favor of the rebels, what the changes represent is the beginning of the transfer of ideological power from the aristocracy to upper-class commoners. To the nobility, the rebels are rioters, intent on causing chaos. For the middling sort, it was more advantageous to label them justified protesters, as the rebellion might remove the middling sort’s direct competition—the aristocracy. Thus, the two authoritative texts of Shakespeare’s 2 Henry VI can help us understand changing perceptions of popular riot and protest in the period and their connection to dominant and emerging class ideologies.