Full Description
During Shakespeare's lifetime, Henry IV was his most popular play. Today, Sir John Falstaff still towers above Shakespeare's other comic inventions. This edition considers the play in the context of various critical approaches, offers a history of the play in performance from Shakespeare's time to ours, and provides useful information on its historical background. Readers will also find detailed commentary on individual words and phrases, and selections from Shakespeare's sources.
Contents
Reception, reputation and date; sources - "The Chronicles"; Daniel's "Civil Wars"; "Famous Victories" and the Prince's "Wild Youth"; Falstaff and the vice; Falstaff as soldier; other Falstaff antecedents; providential views of history versus Renaissance scepticism; the question of structural unity; the pattern of oppositions - Hotspur and Falstaff on honour; from feudal chivalry to pragmatism - language and political change; fathers and sons - role-playing and identity; Falstaff's cowardice and lying - his play world; the "education" of Prince Hal; the rejection of Falstaff; the play in performance; the text; editorial procedures; "The History of King Henry the Fourth, Part I". Appendix: Shakespeare's chronicle sources.
