Order of Garter , concludes by implication that chivalry has become but a shadow of its former self : “ He then that is not furnish ’ d in this sort / Doth but usurp the sacred name of knight , / Profaning this most honourable order ” ( Act 4 , Scene 1 ). Therefore , Talbot ’ s fall in this play works as an omen for the fall of the old-style chivalric attitude in England and thus the rise of a greedy class of nobles with nothing on their minds but self-seeking and self-promotion , of which the Yorkist Richard Plantagenet is the supreme example . As old-school nobles like Talbot fall and as nouveau riches like Plantagenet rise , England tumbles into chaos and civil war .
In Henry VI , Part 2 , Shakespeare continues with the theme of the decline of the old values , this time by foregrounding Gloucester “ the noble politician .” This play is first and foremost the tragedy of Gloucester . What is prefigured in the tragedy of this individual by Shakespeare is the tragedy of England as a nation ; for in Gloucester ’ s fall and the fall of individuals like him it is England that falls . Like Talbot in the previous installment of the play , Gloucester is an old-school gentleman who places the good of the community and the honor of the realm above his own personal gain . While almost everybody else around him is bustling to gain something for themselves as the country is disintegrating , Gloucester is the only one who really pities the situation and tries to do as much as he can to save England from devastation .
However , unlike Talbot who is a warrior and spends almost all the time allotted to him in the previous play on the battlefield , Gloucester is a politician and courtier with the court as his proper domain . That is why his fall is expedited at court and not abroad . It seems that through characters like Talbot and Gloucester , Shakespeare is
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