CRITICISM

Ayers, P. K. “‘Fellows of infinite tongue’: Henry V and the King's English.” Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 34, no. 2 (spring 1994): 253ff.

Discusses the duplicitous nature of Henry's “plain speech.”

Bach, Rebecca Ann. “Tennis Balls: Henry V and Testicular Masculinity, or According to the OED, Shakespeare Doesn't Have Any Balls.” Renaissance Drama n.s. 30 (2001): 3-23.

Examines Henry's claim that English soldiers are more masculine than the French.

Baldo, Jonathan. “Wars of Memory in Henry V.” Shakespeare Quarterly 47, no. 2 (summer 1996): 132-59.

Explores the importance of the collective memory of a nation, particularly in battle, to its national identity in Henry V.

Barber, Charles. “Prince Hal, Henry V, and the Tudor Monarchy.” In The Morality of Art: Essays Presented to G. Wilson Knight by his Colleagues and Friends, edited by D. W. Jefferson, pp. 67-75. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969.

Advances an ultimately negative evaluation of the Henry V, contending that in this play Shakespeare presented “an uncritical glorification of the Tudor monarchy and its ideals.”

Berman, Ronald S. “Shakespeare's Alexander: Henry V.” College English 23, no. 7 (April 1962): 532-39.

Contends that Shakespeare drew his characterization of Henry from Plutarch's Life of Alexander.

Craik, T. W., ed. Introduction to King Henry V, by William Shakespeare, pp. 1-112. London: Routledge, 1995.

Presents an overview of Henry V, including commentary on its sources, variations in texts, criticism, and noteworthy performances.

Hall, Joan Lord. “Themes.” In Henry V, pp. 77-93. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997.

Examines various themes in Henry V, including such themes as order and disorder, the testing of a monarch, and war.

Kezar, Dennis. “Shakespeare's Guilt Trip in Henry V.” Modern Language Quarterly 61, no. 3 (2000): 431-61.

Contends that Henry V shows Shakespeare to be conflicted on the issue of ethical responsibility.

Knapp, Jeffrey. “Preachers and Players in Shakespeare's England.” Representations, no. 44 (autumn 1993): 29-59.

Examines Shakespeare's representations of churchmen in Henry V.

Mattox, John Mark. “Henry V: Shakespeare's Just Warrior.” War, Literature & the Arts 12, no. 1 (spring-summer 2000): 30-53.

Demonstrates how Shakespeare portrayed Henry as a just warrior engaged in a just war.

McEachern, Claire. “Henry V and the Paradox of the Body Politic.” Shakespeare Quarterly 45, no. 1 (spring 1994): 33-56.

Speculates on the Elizabethan response to Henry's personification of the nation in Henry V.

Rabkin, Norman. “Either/Or: Responding to Henry V.” In William Shakespeare's Henry V, edited by Harold Bloom, pp. 35-59. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

Contends that Shakespeare deliberately made Henry V ambiguous in order to force his audience to decide for themselves whether the play glorifies Henry or satirizes him.

Tiffany, Grace. “Shakespeare's Dionysian Prince: Drama, Politics, and the ‘Athenian’ History Play.” Renaissance Quarterly 52, no. 2 (summer 1999): 366-83.

Contends that Plutarch and Plato's representations of Alcibiades were the sources of Shakespeare's Henry V and that Shakespeare used classical and Renaissance descriptions of Socrates as a source for the character of Falstaff.

Ward, Bernard M. “The Famous Victories of Henry V: Its Place in Elizabethan Dramatic Literature.” Review of English Studies 4, no. 15 (July 1928): 270-94.

Argues that Shakespeare based his entire Henry trilogy on The Famous Victories of Henry V, an anonymous play of the 1580s.