The Cambridge Introduction to
Shakespeare's History Plays

Shakespeare's history plays, as fresh today as when they were written, are based upon the assumption that time is not simply a destroyer but a preserver, and that `examples past' might enable us to understand the present and anticipate the future. This lively study examines the continuing tradition of Shakespeare's history plays in stage and film productions as well as giving an account of the critical debate on these plays. Following two introductory chapters giving essential background on the genre, the English history plays are discussed in turn, bringing out the distinctive characteristics of each play: the three early Henry VI plays; the perennial stage favourite Richard III; King John; Richard II; Henry IV 1 and 2, famous for the character of Falstaff; Henry V, which is treated very differently in the film versions by Olivier and Branagh; and Henry VIII. An invaluable introduction to these fascinating and complex plays.

Warren Chernaik is Visiting Professor at King's College London, and Emeritus Professor, University of London.

Cambridge Introductions to Literature

This series is designed to introduce students to key topics and authors. Accessible and lively, these introductions will also appeal to readers who want to broaden their understanding of the books and authors they enjoy.

•   Ideal for students, teachers, and lecturers
•   Concise, yet packed with essential information
•   Key suggestions for further reading

Titles in this series:

Eric Bulson    The Cambridge Introduction to James Joyce

Warren Chernaik    The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s History Plays

John Xiros Cooper    The Cambridge Introduction to T. S. Eliot

Patrick Corcoran    The Cambridge Introduction to Francophone Literature

Gregg Crane    The Cambridge Introduction to The Nineteenth-Century American Novel

Kirk Curnutt    The Cambridge Introduction to F. Scott Fitzgerald

Janette Dillon    The Cambridge Introduction to Early English Theatre

Janette Dillon    The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s Tragedies

Jane Goldman    The Cambridge Introduction to Virginia Woolf

Kevin J. Hayes    The Cambridge Introduction to Herman Melville

Nancy Henry    The Cambridge Introduction to George Eliot

Leslie Hill    The Cambridge Introduction to Jacques Derrida

David Holdeman    The Cambridge Introduction to W. B. Yeats

C. L. Innes    The Cambridge Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures

M. Jimmie Killingsworth    The Cambridge Introduction to Walt Whitman

Pericles Lewis    The Cambridge Introduction to Modernism

Ronan McDonald    The Cambridge Introduction to Samuel Beckett

Wendy Martin    The Cambridge Introduction to Emily Dickinson

Peter Messent    The Cambridge Introduction to Mark Twain

David Motley    The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing

Ira Nadel    The Cambridge Introduction to Ezra Pound

Leland S. Person    The Cambridge Introduction to Nathaniel Hawthorne

John Peters    The Cambridge Introduction to Joseph Conrad

Sarah Robbins    The Cambridge Introduction to Harriet Beecher Stowe

Martin Scofield    The Cambridge Introduction to the American Short Story

Emma Smith    The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare

Peter Thomson    The Cambridge Introduction to English Theatre, 1660–1900

Janet Todd    The Cambridge Introduction to Jane Austen

Jennifer Wallace    The Cambridge Introduction to Tragedy

The Cambridge Introduction to

Shakespeare's History Plays

WARREN CHERNAIK

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Cambridge University Press
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521671200

© Warren Chernaik 2007

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2007

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chernaik, Warren L.
The Cambridge introduction to Shakespeare's history plays ⁄ Warren Chernaik.
p. cm. -- (Cambridge introductions to literature)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ).
ISBN 978-0-521-85507-5 – ISBN 978-0-521-67120-0 (pbk.)
1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616 – Histories. 2. Historical drama, English – History
and criticism. 3. Great Britain – History – 1066–1687 – Historiography. 4. Literature
and history – Great Britain. 5. Kings and rulers in literature. 6. Middle Ages in
literature. I. Title. II. Series.
PR2982.C53 2007
822.3＇3–dc22   2007033002

ISBN 978-0-521-85507-5 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-67120-0 paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs
for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Contents

List of illustrations

Cover illustration: David Troughton as Henry IV, Henry IV, Part 1, Royal Shakespeare Company, Swan Theatre, Stratford, 2000, directed by Richard Attenborough. Photograph by Geraint Lewis.

Acknowledgements

Much of this book was written in the Humanities Reading Room of the British Library, and I am grateful for the helpfulness of the library staff there and in the Rare Books room, the Senate House Library, and the Maughan library of King’s College London. For help with illustrations and with research into the stage and cinematic history of the plays, I owe a particular debt of gratitude to the library staff at the Shakespeare Centre Library, Stratford-upon-Avon, the Theatre Museum, and the British Film Institute. Among copyright holders of film versions of Richard III and Henry V, I am grateful for the assistance of Lisa Katselas, Photofest Inc., and the BFI.

   Sarah Stanton not only commissioned the book, but has been an unfailing source of encouragement and gave me excellent advice on revision. Judith Chernaik, as well as attending endless productions, good and bad, with me, has carried on a running conversation about Shakespeare with me for many years, from which I have profited greatly. Friends and colleagues who have read chapters in draft form or have helped me to clarify my views in conversation include Janet Clare, Robyn Bolam, Gabriel Egan, F. J. Levy, Michael Hattaway, A. R. Braunmuller, Gordon McMullan, René Weis, Kate McLuskie, Sandra Clark, Sonia Massai, Ann Thompson, Richard Proudfoot, and Andrew Gurr. Ⅰ am especially grateful to Sarah Hatchuel and Nathalie Vienne-Guerin for inviting me to give a paper comparing the Olivier and Branagh films of Henry V at the International Shakespeare Conference organized by the Shakespeare Institute in August 2006; that essay, a version of which appears in chapter 8, will be included in a forthcoming collection edited by them, Shakespeare on Screen. Sonia Massai invited me to give a paper on Henry VI (mostly about the relationship of different versions of 2 and 3 Henry VI) at the London Shakespeare Seminar in 2005. And among the Shakespeare scholars from whom I have learned most, I must particularly thank Emrys Jones, Annabel Patterson, and Phyllis Rackin.

   I have gained immeasurably from discussing Shakespeare’s histories with my students at King’s College London, the University of Southampton, and Queen Mary, University of London. But my main debt, other than to Shakespeare himself, is to the actors and directors who have made the history plays of Shakespeare come alive in productions.