Henry VI Part 2 Justice and Judgment Quotes

Gloucester's arrested for treason, but he tells Suffolk he's not worried, because he's done nothing wrong. We know it doesn't matter whether Gloucester is guilty or not, but we think it matters that he's so invested in the system of justice. He doesn't even fight when he's being taken down, because he's confident that he will be judged fairly. It's an interesting twist of events: do you think Eleanor was judged fairly? Maybe she really did commit a crime, but should it have been considered a crime to begin with? Do Gloucester and Eleanor share a similar fate? Would he have been able to escape if he hadn't had such faith in the system?

Margaret doesn't care one iota about justice—she wants Gloucester dead regardless of what he's done, because he's in the way. Like her pals Suffolk and Beaufort, Margaret doesn't care about integrity. Margaret and company decide to make the law and conform it to their own will. Their actions take justice to a new level, and some of them pay for what they did.

As Henry prays to find out what happened to Gloucester, he tells us a lot about his own personal form of justice. Unlike his wife or his nobles, Henry doesn't take matters into his own hands. He knows something's wrong with Gloucester's death, but he lets God take care of it. Henry's conception of justice is divine and omniscient; it's up to God to decide who is guilty and who is not. As far as that goes, he's following Christian teaching pretty closely, but it's not totally clear if he's doing so out of Christian charity or if he's primarily looking for an excuse not to get his hands dirty.