The Scottish Play is known as the bloody one, but only because 'Henry VI Part 3' is hardly known at all, for this play has gallons more per act, I assure you! 3 Henry VI has vampires and blood banks alike salivating at every page. It's widely known that the inspiration for 'A Song of Ice and Fire' was the 'Wars of the Roses', but I think it likely this very play.

The first two parts of Henry VI were slow, but with memorable characters and scenes. I praised the second part for how its plot gets moving toward the end, but that play is put to shame by this high-octane, land-speed record breaking war play. Nearly every single scene is just the intermission of one battle or another.

Does this make for high art? Good drama? Probably not, but for once I was wide awake while reading Shakespeare's histories. I haven't read a page turner like this in Shakespeare's collection since Macbeth.

On a more serious note, this play is reminiscent of the current gang warfare in my city. Murders are rampant, and every instance gives cause for another in the form of revenge. This tale is as old as Henry the Sixth at the very least. If not the Wars of the Roses then the Wars of the Rose Bandanas. I wonder why it is so thrilling for me to read about these once horrific events, even as they are repeating themselves down the street. Truly, war and murder are awful things, but they excite us so much. It is easier to enjoy when removed by centuries, but even so... should I enjoy this play at all?