Customer Reviews

Shakespeare's History Plays: Richard II to Henry V, the Making of a King (Critical Studies, Penguin)

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Confession - I was involved in arranging the republication by HEB of this very useful introduction to Shakespeare's history plays. But the reason I was happy to help push HEB is that it's a really excellent book, and one I wanted to use in teaching. It was originally a Penguin book in the 1980s, but they let it go out of print, and nothing newer that I've seen comes close.
The first part is a thematic overview of the historical background, clearly organised and sharply written - knowledge few students now have but without which the major issues of the history plays are permanently out-of-focus. The second part deals chapter by chapter with the plays of the Major Tetralogy (Richard II, 1 & 2 Henry IV, Henry V), showing the particular focus of each play while also demonstrating the development of themes and use of recurrent motifs across all four.
If you want to understand those plays clearly, there is no better place to start.