Shakespeare's History Plays: Richard II to Henry V the Making of a King

This book, first published by Penguin in 1988, provides an excellent introduction to the world and action of Shakespeare's history plays.

Contents

Part I examines the context for Shakespeare's history plays, including the a treatment of Elizabethan cosmology and its relevance to political order.

Part 2 explores the 'Ricardian' plays, under the following headings: Mirrors of our Fickle State; Hawks and Handsaws: Modes and Genres of the Plays; This Blessed Plot: Husbandry and the Garden; Passing Brave to be a King: Richard II; This Royal Throne of Kings: Henry IV, parts 1 and 2; This Sceptred Isle: Henry V; A Trim Reckoning: Language, Poetics and Rhetoric.

About the author

Charles Moseley teaches English and Classics in the University of Cambridge, and was formerly Programme Director of the University's International summer Schools in Shakespeare and English Literature. He has written extensively on Shakespeare and mediaeval literature, and is the author of Literature Insights on Richard III, Henry IV, The Tempest and English Renaissance Drama.