King Henry IV Part 1: Third Series

David Scott Kastan lucidly explores the remarkable richness and the ambitious design of King Henry IV Part 1 and shows how these complicate any easy sense of what kind of play it is. Conventionally regarded as a history play, much of it is in fact conspicuously invented fiction, and Kastan argues that the non-historical, comic plot does not simply parody the historical action but by its existence raises questions about the very nature of history. The full and engaging introduction devotes extensive discussion to the play's language, indicating how its insistent economic vocabulary provides texture for the social concerns of the play and focuses attention on the central relationship between value and political authority.

Author: William Shakespeare
Publisher: Arden Shakespeare
Published: 11/07/2002
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 7.70h x 5.00w x 0.90d
ISBN13: 9781904271352
ISBN10: 1904271359
BISAC Categories:
- Drama | Shakespeare
- Literary Criticism | Shakespeare

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.