Led By The Spirit Into The Wilderness

This morning, while sitting to eat breakfast, I continued to read 2 Henry VI and encountered another striking line. It's spoken by Suffolk, Gloucester's chief foe, after the King banishes him from England, accused of murdering his Royal's Protector. These lines are clever, covertly resonating with biblical undetones:

Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banished--
Once by the King, and three times thrice by thee.
'Tis not the land I care for, wert thou thence,
A wilderness is populous enough,
So Suffolk had thy heavenly company.

Suffolk is here aligning himself as a Lucifer/Satan figure, against the likes of the King ('Jesus' or 'God') and 'thee' or Queen Margaret ('Eve'), punished as he was in serpent form by God. His speech works on an allegorical level, comparing his plight to the serpent of Genesis, chastised by God and enmity placed between he and the heirs of Eve (all of mankind). Like Lucifer, Suffolk sees he was once in 'heavenly company' (the chief angel of God / royal company of Henry VI) but now the 'wilderness' (expelled from heaven to earth / hell or foreign land = expatriate) will be his abode, the place where he tempted Christ. It is interesting, too, to consider, as Professor Cohen encouraged us, to see these scenes as commentary on political events contemporary to Shakespeare. Thus, I would compare it to the plight of religious (mainly Catholic) expatriates, expelled by Elizabeth's theocratic regime, at loggerheads with state religious beliefs.