Henry V (Dover Thrift Editions) [Paperback]

William Shakespeare (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0486428877 | ISBN-13: 978-0486428871 | Publication Date: February 27, 2003

This popular, much-studied drama focuses on the young warrior king — from Henry's decision to continue the military exploits of his royal ancestors and press England's claim to the French throne, to his nervous watch before the Battle of Agincourt and his role in one of the greatest military triumphs in English history.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (February 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486428877
• ISBN-13: 978-0486428871
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the King's New School in Stratford, but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583. Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers." Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later under James I, called the King's Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain's Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeare's plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a play for everyone, but still Shakespeare, January 14, 2005

By 

E. Atkins "Book Lover and Student of the Rena... (Montgomery, AL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Henry V (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

I can understand how other reviewers would scoff at this play as not one of Shakespeare's greatest works, but it is still a play worthy of merit. The play explores Henry's campaign in France, culminating at the battle of Agincourt, where he defeated a much larger French army. The difficulty of this play lies in the fact that Shakespeare asks us to "imagine" all of the actions of a bloody, gruesome war within the confines of a stage like the Globe. This is not an easy feat, and I'm not sure that Shakespeare is able to relate the epic nature of the medieval battlefield on the stage.

I would definitely recommend reading this play for the crisp, and often funny, Shakespearean dialogue and the powerful monologues given mostly by Henry himself. The Crispian's day monologue is one of the most memorable in Shakespeare and is still required memorization for many British school children.

However, if you just want to hear the best parts and avoid the drawn out nature of _reading_ drama (something Shakespeare wouldn't have dreamed of), go see the play at a good local theatre or check out Kenneth Branagh's movie version, which is extremely watchable.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What?, October 4, 2004

By 

Kate "QK" (north carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Henry V (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

I disagree. I loved Henry V! I've memorized parts of it because it's just that good. Today Shakespeare's work is almost universally considered some of the best literature written, but he really wrote to entertain and to educate. What more can you ask for?

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Seriously disappointing., July 4, 2004

By 

James Yanni (Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Henry V (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

At risk of causing my reviewer rating to suffer the slings and arrows of outraged lovers of all things Shakespeare, I must say that I was seriously disappointed by this work; it hardly seems worthy of the Bard. 90% of this story was dialogue in which, alternately, English soldiers spoke of what they were going to do to the French, and French soldiers spoke of what they were going to do to the English. This was followed by a few fight scenes, and then the English crowing about how they'd succeeded in doing what they'd bragged they were going to do, and the French bemoaning their failure to live up to their boasts. Then Shakespeare tried to paste a love story ending onto a play that had absolutely no hint of one before then, and which rang even hollower than Shakespeare's love stories usually do. Granted, the language is typically Shakespearean, if not his most memorable, and the little bit of the story not accounted for in the preceding description was a fairly enjoyable glimpse of the character of King Henry as he was in Henry IV, part I, when as Prince Hal he was actually entertaining, but it wasn't nearly enough to rescue an otherwise thoroughly uninteresting story.

I cannot fathom why this is described as one of the most popular of Shakespeare's history plays.