Essay on Rewriting History in Henry IV -- Henry IV Henry V Essays

Rewriting news report in henry IV The master of historiography is, perhaps, Shakespeare as evidenced by his History Plays. Whereas most writers merely borrow from level to fuel their creative fires, Shakespeare goes so far as to rewrite history. The First Part of Henry the after part follows history fairly closely, and Shakespeare draws this history primarily from Raphael Holinsheds Chronicle of England, Scotland, and Ireland and from Samuel Daniels verse larger-than-life The Civil Wars (Abrams 823). The play opens shortly after Henry Bolingbroke has usurped the throne from Richard II, worthy the fourth King Henry, and changing the royal lineage from the put forward of Plantagenet to the House of Lancaster. In the opening sequence, Henry IV is in the process of vowing stop in England and promising a crusade to liberate the Holy Land. No motive for this crusade surfaces in 1 Henry IV, other than the accompaniment that it is some unfinished business from Shakespeares pr eceding play Richard II (Kelly 214). Henrys take of civil peace is ironic because during this first scene he receives denomination that his troops have been overtaken by Glendower in Wales, and Hotspur has met and defeated the Scots in the North (1.1.36-61). To the news, the King replies, It seems then that the tidings of this broil / Brake forward our business for the Holy Land (1.1.47-8). Postponing the business in Jerusalem, Henry IV eventually leads England into civil war with Hotspur at the Battle of Shrewsbury. These actions will at long last ignite the War of the Roses between the Lancasters (Henry IVs family) and the Yorks (descendants of Richard II). The play then shifts its focus to the jr. Henry, nicknamed Hal. Shakespeare portrays the ... ... as king. Shakespeare the Historian is not so wonderful as Shakespeare the Playwright, except through Shakespeares History Plays many modern readers draw their knowledge of the history prior to Shakespeare. Works Cited * Drabble, Margaret, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th Ed. New York Oxford UP, 1985. * Jacob, E. F. The 15th Century 1399-1485. London Oxford UP, 1961. * Kelly, Henry Ansgar. Divine Providence in the England of Shakespeares Histories. Cambridge Harvard UP, 1970. * McFarlane, K. B. Lancastrian Kings and Lollard Knights. London Oxford UP, 1972. * Rowse, A. L. Bosworth Field From Medieval to Tudor England. New York Doubleday, 1966. * Shakespeare, William. 1 Henry IV. Ed. M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 1, 6th ed. New York Norton, 1993.