Henry VI Part 2 Gender Quotes

Margaret is talking about her intuition here. She says she feels inexplicably scared about Gloucester not coming to court. We could tell you that she's really trying to plant suspicion in Henry's mind, but we also want to point out that she's doing it through gender stereotypes. She's the queen (literally) of pointing something out and then saying, oh, whoops, that's probably just because I'm a woman. We'll give her this: she uses the weapons she has, and she uses them well.

York blames Somerset for doing a poor job as regent. How? By talking about his manliness, of course. Somerset doesn't have scars or war wounds like men are apparently supposed to have, so he's not a real man. Hmm… by that definition, who else doesn't live up to York's standards of what it means to be a man? Why is going to war considered inherently manly? What if—gasp—there are no wars to go to?

When Margaret and Suffolk are saying their heartfelt goodbyes, she says this about women. It's not clear whether Margaret is targeting herself or Suffolk with this comment. What is clear, however, is that it's an insult: Margaret's annoyed that they are crying instead of showing strength.