1. 2 HENRY VI

3. JACK CADE
By the 1590s, “reformation” seems to have taken on theatrical implications as well […] theatrical reform were increasingly aimed at the stage antics of the clown […] coupling the religious with the theatrical Melnikoff 36

4. JACK CADE
Shakespeare’s construction of a rebel who was also a clown positioned his play within an energizing discourse that intermingled questions of politics, theology, rhetoric, and performance practice. Melnikoff 38

6. JACK CADE
The role of SATIRE in SOCIAL/POLITICAL REFORMATION Limits of the traditional stage clown The need to reassess and reform the role of the clown

7. JACK CADE
First Petitioner Mine is, an't please your grace, against John Goodman, my lord cardinal's man, for keeping my house, and lands, and wife and all from me. SUFFOLK Thy wife, too! that's some wrong, indeed. What's yours? What's here! Reads 'Against the Duke of Suffolk, for enclosing the commons of Melford.' How now, sir knave! (I )

8. JACK CADE
CADE: Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny: the three-hooped pot; shall have ten hoops and I will make it felony to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in common; and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass: and when I am king, as king I will be,-- (IV ) “Cade's call for a reign of plenty is a moment where humour and pathos combine to make a powerful political statement” (Arab 15)

9. JACK CADE
CADE
Therefore am I of an honourable house.
DICK
[Aside] Ay, by my faith, the field is honourable; and there was he borne, under a hedge, for his father had never a house but the cage.
Valiant I am.
SMITH
[Aside] A' must needs; for beggary is valiant.
I am able to endure much.
[Aside] No question of that; for I have seen him whipped three market-days together.
I fear neither sword nor fire.
[Aside] He need not fear the sword; for his coat is of proof.
[Aside] But methinks he should stand in fear of fire, being burnt i' the hand for stealing of sheep.
(IV )
CADE My father was a Mortimer,-- DICK [Aside] He was an honest man, and a good bricklayer. My mother a Plantagenet,-- [Aside] I knew her well; she was a midwife. My wife descended of the Lacies,-- [Aside] She was, indeed, a pedler's daughter, and sold many laces. SMITH: [Aside] But now of late, notable to travel with her furred pack, she washes bucks here at home,

10. JACK CADE
The rebels make fun of their leader, but they do it in good humour, and in the process they remove the taint from his background and call attention to the political legitimacy of their cause. Arab 19

11. JACK CADE
The performative skill of the rebels' jesting fills the stage with appealing play: the rebels are funny and festive, and through their self-referential, sometimes self-parodic humour they control a great deal of the political rhetoric of the play Arab 6

12. Rebellion as a performance
Enter two with the Lord Saye’s head and Sir Jame’s Cromers’ upon two pole CADE But is not this braver? Let them kiss one another, for they loved well when they were alive. The two heads are made to kiss. Now part them again, lest they consult about the giving up of some more towns in France. Soldiers, defer the spoil of the city until night: for with these borne before us, instead of maces, will we ride through the streets, and at every corner have them kiss. Away! (IV )

13. “then are we in order, when we are most out of order” (IV.2.192-193)
In the world of the rebel, all authority – even Cade’s own – is subjected to […] the leveling power of carnivalesque laughter [...] his popularity is the product of his clownish irrepressibility […] instability then is the only stable element Melnikoff 61
Carnivalesque invert traditional social hierarchy
Empowers the commoners
Performance = Politics

14. Limits of the Clown
Cade’s defeat. Clifford’s ultimate success comes from more than just offering a pardon; his closing speech successfully invokes nationalist prejudices, desires for social mobility, and fears of vagrancy […] Shakespeare’s representation of Cade’s failure suggests the social and political limitations of a plebeian cultural ritual; it also outlines the rhetorical limits of clowning as a language of dissent. Melnikoff 63

15. Discussion Questions… and stuff…
The role of Clown. Jack Cade as a “clear denunciation of rebellious political pretentions” or can satire be use a means for political discourse and ultimately pave the way for social reformation?
The mob? Fickle? Self-interested? Proto-nationalism? The mob is clearly aware of Cade’s pretentions, yet follow him unquestionably, only to betray him in the end. How is Clifford successful while Stafford fails in swaying the mob?

16. END.