The Second Part of King Henry IV

by William Shakespeare, Giorgio Melchiori (Editor), Adam Hansen (Contribution by)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781139836487
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/03/2007
Series:	The New Cambridge Shakespeare
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

Widely esteemed as the greatest writer in the English language, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an actor and theatrical producer in addition to writing plays and sonnets. Dubbed "The Bard of Avon," Shakespeare oversaw the building of the Globe Theatre in London, where a number of his plays were staged, the best-known of which include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. The First Folio, a printed book of 36 of his comedies, tragedies, and history plays, was published in 1623.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Preface; Abbreviations and conventions; Introduction: Publication and date; Unconformities; The sources and The Famous Victories; The Henriad as remake; Rewriting the remake; The Morality structure; The comedy of humours; City and country comedy; Language; History; Psychodrama; Time and disease; Part Two on the stage; Recent stage, film and critical interpretations by Adam Hansen; Note on the text; List of characters; THE PLAY; Textual analysis; Appendixes: 1. Shakespeare's use of Holinshed; 2. Some historical and literary sources; 3. The Famous Victories; 4. Tarlton and the Lord Chief Justice; Reading list.