Jul 19, 2008

Henry IV, Part One | Overviews

In the first excerpt, Maynard Mack provides basic information about the play. Mack points out some of the historical facts that Shakespeare alters in writing Henry IV, Part One, and explains why topics covered in the play were of interest to Elizabethan audiences. In the second excerpt, Norrie Epstein offers a definition of the history play, comments on the themes typically covered in history plays, and offers an account of the events that take place in Shakespeare's histories.

Maynard Mack
[Mack provides basic information about the play, discussing the dates it was written, performed, and published. In identifying the historical sources Shakespeare used to write Henry IV, Part One, Mack points out some of the historical facts that Shakespeare alters. The critic explains why topics covered in the play, such as the succession of English monarchs, were of interest to Elizabethan audiences.]

The First Part of Henry IV was published in 1598; it was probably written and acted in 1596-97. There are some topical allusions in the play to...