In Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V, and the collaborative play of Edward III to which he a made an important contribution, Shakespeare and his company explored some of the key and most sensitive issues of the day: the nature of the crown; the legitimacy or otherwise of the ruler; the sources of power; and how the prince, like a player in a role, had to play a part which might be very costly. They are also deeply concerned with the entail of guilt for past crime which goes on circumscribing action in the present and closing options for the future. These concerns could not be discussed openly without running the risk of suspicion of treason in the last years of Elizabeth, but they could be relocated into a historical past everybody knew: all history is contemporary history.
These plays, covering a vast sweep of history and linking as prequel to the company’s very successful Henry VI Parts I, 2, 3, and Richard III, are also among the most generically adventurous Shakespeare wrote, a point which would not have been lost on their first audiences, to whom they were wholly new. They use techniques and echoes from tragedy to chronicle, from Morality to the non-dramatic form of epic, and in the wholly unprecedented Henry V examine the nature and importance of the political myths, often at variance with ‘truth’, which all societies seem to need.
Learning outcomes
- Getting to know the plays thoroughly;
- Understanding some of their themes in their Elizabethan context;
- Appreciative the inventiveness and resourcefulness of Shakespeare and his company’s creations.
