Henry IV, Part Two

by William Shakespeare

Other authorsNorman N. Holland (Editor)

Paperback, 1965

Status

Available

Call number

822.33

Publication

Signet Classics (1965), Paperback, 240 pages

Description

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical, stage and screen interpretations. This second edition retains Giorgio Melchiori's text of Shakespeare's The Second Part of King Henry IV. Melchiori argues that the play forms an unplanned sequel to the First Part, itself a 'remake' of an old, non-Shakespearean play. In the Second Part, Shakespeare deliberately exploits Falstaff's popular appeal and the resulting rich humour adds a comic dimension to the play, rendering it a unique blend of history, morality play and comedy. Among modern editions, Melchiori's is the one most firmly based on the quarto. This second edition includes a new section by Adam Hansen on recent stage, film and critical interpretations.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member thorold

This is the third of the "Wars of the Roses" history plays, falling between Henry IV part 1 and Henry V. It's probably also the least well-known of them, with its rather downbeat story showing the process by which the dashing Prince Hal turns himself into the calculating (but still charismatic)

statesman Henry V. The whole structure of the play builds up to Henry's rejection of his former friend and drinking companion Falstaff, in one of the most celebrated put-down speeches in literature: "I know thee not, old man ... Leave gormandizing; know the grave doth gape / For thee thrice wider than for other men." (Act V, Sc.5).

Though the mood is a bit sombre, there are plenty of funny moments. But above all, it's a play about the process of growing up and taking responsibility. In an odd way, it made me think about the cult BBC comedy Absolutely Fabulous — Edina is pathetic and absurd because she is a Prince Hal who never rejected her particular Falstaff, Patsy.

[it would be presumptuous to attempt to "review" Shakespeare, and there's not much point reviewing the specific edition, as LT mixes them all in together anyway, but at least this play will no longer be the most-owned book in my list without any reviews at all!]

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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend

This play ends with the death of Henry IV of England, and the crowning of Henry V and his dramatic rejection of Falstaff. I prefer it to the first part, and find the play has more pacing and tighter characterization. I guest I'm not that fond of Falstaff, having had to deal with the fallout from

some "Lovable Rogues" in my own life. The Henry IV camp deals with the rebellion in the north, and Hotspur Percy gets killed.
Read it 9 times, apparently.

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LibraryThing member stillatim

Overall, I thought this was less interesting than Henry V, but that might just be because I paid more attention to HV (I have to teach it; I read this for kicks). There's not a whole lot of beautiful Shakespeare moments, the humor didn't hit me (possibly my fault, of course), and the best bit was

probably the Induction, in which Rumour discourses on herself. On the upside, I learned the word 'fustilarian' and the phrase 'I'll tickle your catastrophe!', and I'm pretty sure I now understand the title of Javier Marias' 'Your Face Tomorrow': "What a disgrace it is to me to remember thy name! or to know thy face tomorrow!", says the prince in II.2. Here he's mocking/despairing over those who abandon their friends when they become famous; by the end of the play (V.5) he's the person who's abandoning his friends. This adds a fair bit to Marias' repeated question, "Can I know your face tomorrow?", which for most of the novel seems more epistemic and existential. If he got it from Henry IV, 'YFT' takes on a whole new moral overtone. I guess I should re-read it even sooner than I'd planned.

This now has nothing to do with Henry IV, which I doubt I'll re-read anytime soon.

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LibraryThing member amerynth

Shakespeare's "Henry IV: Part Two" really doesn't live up to the marvelous story told in part one. I read somewhere that both parts were originally a single play and Shakespeare broke it into two... I don't know whether that's true but I find it fairly easy to believe.

There isn't much of a story

here-- the battle is over and everyone is just waiting for Henry III to expire so his son can take over. It's pretty slow moving and not terribly interesting.

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LibraryThing member AliceAnna

Falstaff is at his best in this play. Hal's abuse of him almost inspires sympathy for the blackguard. The transformation of the irresponsible Hal into a stately King is, however, rather hard to swallow.

The death scene of HIV is a wonderful scene. It's easier for me to see Hal take the crown for his

own head before his father is even cold (or dead for that matter) than it is for me to see Hal become a serious young man.

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LibraryThing member Coach_of_Alva

This play is not as enjoyable as its predecessor, largely because the remaining rebels to be mopped up are foolish weasels, not the roaring lion that Hotspur was. There remains the tension between father and son, which ends in a moving deathbed reconciliation and the prince's coming-of-age as king.

More interesting is the career of Sir John Falstaff in the countryside, as we are allowed to see how a man of some shrewdness and no honor survives and profits while the kingdom is in an uproar, and the introduction of Justice Shallow, who so wants to be the Elizabethan equivalent of "cool." The play ends with the new king forbidding the evil old man his presence. This is a necessity, especially considering the old fool's plans for graft and glory, but it is a sad necessity.

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LibraryThing member trilliams

Falstaff has an entire speech about drinking. Of course. Not as entertaining as the first part, but acts IV and V make it worth it.

LibraryThing member katieloucks

I'm not big into the histories

LibraryThing member Medievalgirl

This play was the third in a series of 8 which together formed Shakespeare’s masterful saga of 'History' plays chronicling the turbulent final century of the Plantagenet Dynasty from the deposition of Richard II in 1399 to the death of Richard III at Bosworth field in 1485.

Altogether, they have

all the high drama of an epic saga with their vivid accounts of treachery, ambition, power, betrayal, feuding and war in an age of bloody upheaval.
If all this sounds gloomy and depressing, there are also colourful well-developed and memorable characters including the 'man mountain' plump and usually tipsy John Falstaff and the heroic Henry V as well as plenty of courage, chivalry and deeds of daring-do with a smattering of romance and humour.

Whoever said Shakespeare was boring? It should be said, however, that I could not fully appreciate these plays by simply reading them- they had to be seen as well. They are not, after all, novels, and reading through them in the way one would a book can be a tedious experience.

An increasingly unstable and insecure King Henry faces yet more rebellion and opposition from within and without.
Beset by failing health and troubled all the more by his conscience and fear of divine judgement upon him and his line for his crime of the deposition and murder of the rightful King.
The Earl of Northumberland and other nobles gather together their forces to make war against the King once again, but their readiness to negotiate proves fatal.
Meanwhile, Prince Hal still frequents the taverns of London, but his old friend Falstaff has come up with a new scheme to make gain money, prestige and hopefully the favour of the King and is the source of as much humour as before.
As King Henry's troubled reign comes to an end, however, Price Hal has some must mature to accept the great responsibility which is soon to be thrust upon him, even though it comes at the price of disowning his former companions of friends.

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LibraryThing member MrsLee

Not a scholarly review here, just a note for myself that I read this. The drama was pretty good, but my reading mood was off and so it took me two months to finish. Not good for continuity. Even so, I was able to pick up the main characters and plot. All the side characters became rather muddled

for me though. Not sure what to think of Henry V. Seems a rather calculating and mean sort of man. Used Falstaff harshly, although I don't have much sympathy or care for Falstaff, either. Not sure why people have loved him so, I found him repulsive. Possibly the language barrier? I would like to read this in a more modern language to see if it makes a difference. Loved Henry the IV's speech about sleep, or the lack thereof. Also, one of the women who gave her father-in-law (or was he her father?) what-for because he deserted her husband when he needed him most.

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LibraryThing member ubiquitousuk

There were two real highlights in this play: The first is the interaction of Henry IV with his court and with Hal as his death approaches. The second is the ultimate transition of Hal into Henry V, who rejects his erstwhile friends in a scene both touching and uplifting. But much of the rest of the

play was a real chore to read, being written in 16thC vernacular prose and possessing little in the way of plot development. Perhaps Henry IV was more like 1.5 plays than 2.

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