BA5: Shakespeare's History Plays

Shakespeare’s plays were famously sorted into comedies, histories and tragedies when published together for the first time in the First Folio (1623). In this seminar we will study Shakespeare’s history plays with a focus on his second tetralogy – Richard II, Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. We will consider how these plays constitute a specific genre – the history play – whilst simultaneously engaging with other generic traditions. For instance, we will ask whether we can consider Richard II as a tragedy to rival Hamlet or Macbeth and explore how the Henry IV plays depend on and subvert comedic conventions. We will study the political context for these plays, asking what the late-Tudor depiction of Plantagenet history can tell us about the Elizabethan Age. More broadly, this seminar will investigate how the history play represents important ideas about theatricality, performance, power and identity, as well as the concept of history itself. 

 Key texts:

William Shakespeare, “King Richard II”, ed. by Charles R. Forker (London: Bloomsbury; Arden Shakespeare, 2002) ISBN: 978-1903436332

William Shakespeare, “King Henry IV, Part 1”, ed. by David Scott Kastan (London; Bloomsbury; Arden Shakespeare, 2002) ISBN: 978-1904271352

William Shakespeare, “King Henry V,” ed. by T. W. Craik (London: Bloomsbury; Arden Shakespeare, 1995) ISBN: 978-1904271086

Excerpts from “Henry IV, Part 2” will be made available on Moodle (see week 9)