He analyses the play's richly textured language in a detailed commentary on individual words and phrases and clearly explains its historical background. David Bevington's introduction discusses the play in both performance and criticism from Shakespeare's time to our own, illustrating the variety of interpretations of which the text is capable. Falstaff still towers among Shakespeare's comic inventions as he did in the late 1590's. During Shakespeare's lifetime Henry IV, Part I was his most reprinted play, and it remains enormously popular with theatregoers and readers. When Owen Glendower, Mortimer, and Harry Hotspur Percy threaten the King’s throne, Hal must take action to protect his father’s legacy. The King offers the rebels a pardon if they will surrender. The first play in Shakespeare’s Henriad trilogy, Henry IV, Part 1 tells the story of Prince Hal leaving behind his days carousing in the Boar’s Head Tavern to assume the royal role into which he was born. The King and Worcester clash over the rebellion’s validity, with the latter complaining that the King broke his word to the other nobles when he took the crown. Macbeth MND A Midsummer Night’s Dream MV Merchant of Venice Oth. Henry IV, Part 1 Translation Table of Contents. The characters reflect these oppositions, with Hal and Hotspur vying for position, and Falstaff leading Hal away from his father and towards excess. Henry IV, Part 1 Synopsis: King Henry meets with his advisers to discuss his proposed crusade to the Holy Land, but the discussion turns instead to new battles on England’s borders. 1H4 Henry IV, Part 1 2H4 Henry IV, Part 2 H5 Henry V 1H6 Henry VI, Part 1 2H6 Henry VI, Part 2 3H6 Henry VI, Part 3 H8 Henry VIII JC Julius Caesar LLL Love’s Labour’s Lost Lr. David Bevington's introduction discusses the play in both performance and criticism from Shakespeare's time to our own, illustrating the variety of interpretations of which the text is capable.ĭownload » The Oxford Shakespeare Henry IVĪs Henry's throne is threatened by rebel forces, England is divided.