King Henry IV, Part 1

by William Shakespeare

Overview

Delve into the turbulent history of 15th century England, where the continuing battle for the crown is marked by rebellion, deceit and bloodshed. Having usurped the throne from King Richard II, King Henry IV is himself threatened by opposition from some of the nobles that helped him gain it. Guilt troubles his conscience and he despairs about the self-indulgent behavior of his son Prince Hal who hangs around in taverns and keeps the company of disreputable characters like Sir John Falstaff. By doing so he throws into public question the family's right to the throne. Beside the political intrigues, the play is thus also a study of the complexity of family relationships, contrasting the King and his son with Hotspur, leader of the counter-rebellion, and his father, the Earl of Northumberland. One of Shakespeare's most highly praised history plays, King Henry IV has fascinated audiences from the start.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605125626
Publisher:	Akasha Classics
Publication date:	02/12/2010
Pages:	150
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

David Scott Kastan is a professor of English at Yale Unveristy and one of the General Editors of the Arden Shakespeare Third Series.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Read an Excerpt

(INDUCTION)

Enter Rumor, painted full of tongues.

[RUMOR]

Open your ears, for which of you will stop
The vent of hearing when loud Rumor speaks?
I, from the orient to the drooping west,
Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold
The acts commenced on this ball of earth.
Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,
The which in every language I pronounce,
Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.
I speak of peace while covert enmity Under the smile of safety wounds the world.
And who but Rumor, who but only I,
Make fearful musters and prepared defense
Whiles the big year, swoll'n with some other grief,
Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war,
And no such matter? Rumor is a pipe
Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures,
And of so easy and so plain a stop
That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,
The still-discordant wav'ring multitude,
Can play upon it. But what need I thus
My well-known body to anatomize
Among my household? Why is Rumor here?
I run before King Harry's victory,
Who in a bloody field by Shrewsbury
Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops,
Quenching the flame of bold rebellion
Even with the rebels' blood. But what mean I
To speak so true at first? My office is
To noise abroad that Harry Monmouth fell
Under the wrath of noble Hotspur's sword,
And that the King before the Douglas' rage
Stooped his anointed head as low as death.
This have I rumored through the peasant towns
Between that royal field of Shrewsbury
And this worm-eaten [hold] of ragged stone,
(Where) Hotspur's father, old Northumberland,
lies crafty-sick. The posts come tiring on,
And not a man of them brings other news
Than they have learnt of me. From Rumor's tongues
They bring smooth comforts false, worse than
true wrongs

[Rumor] exits.

Copyright © 1999 by The Folger Shakespeare Library

Editorial Reviews

The three individual plays launch the third edition of the venerable "Arden Shakespeare" series, which will see the entire canon reproduced in superior scholarly editions by the year 2000. The First Folio is a facsimile edition of the original 1623 publication of the bard's works.

Library Journal