Henry V Book

Series Introduction ix

Volume Introduction Harold Bloom xi

Biography of William Shakespeare 1

Summary of Henry V 5

Key Passages in Henry V 17

List of Characters in Henry V 29

Criticism Through the Ages 33

Henry V in the Seventeenth Century 35

Prologue to Everyman in His Humour Ben Jonson 39

From The Noble Gentleman John Fletcher 40

From Sociable Letters Margaret Cavendish 42

"William Shakespear," from An Account of the English Dramatick Poets Gerard Langbaine 44

From A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage Jeremy Collier 46

Henry V in the Eighteenth Century 49

From "Some Account of the Life of Shakespeare" Nicholas Rowe 53

From The Tatler Richard Steele 54

From "Remarks on the Plays of Shakespeare" Charles Gildon 55

From Shakespeare Restor'd Lewis Theobald 58

From The Prompter Aaron Hill 62

Preface to the Oxford Edition Thomas Hanmer 66

"The Life of King Henry the Fifth," from Shakespeare Illustrated Charlotte Lennox 69

"The Preface to Shakespeare" and "Notes on the Plays," from The Plays of William Shakespeare Samuel Johnson 78

Henry V in the Nineteenth Century 87

From Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature August Wilhelm von Schlegel 91

"Henry V," from Characters of Shakespears Plays William Hazlitt 95

"King Henry The Fifth: 1599," from Shakespeare and His Times Nathan Drake 102

From "John Paul Frederick Richter" Thomas De Quincey 105

"King Henry V," from The Tatler Leigh Hunt 107

"Henry V," from Lectures and Notes on Shakspere and Other English Poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge 108

"The Hero as Poet," from On Heroes, Hero-worship, and the Heroic in History Thomas Carlyle 110

"Henry V," from Shakespeare's Commentaries Georg Gottfried Gervinus 113

"The English Historical Plays" and "The Humour of Shakespeare," from Shakspere: A Critical Study of His Mind and Art Edward Dowden 124

"Aeschylus and Shakespeare," from The Contemporary Review Julia Wedgwood 133

"Henry the Fifth," from The Shakespearian Drama Denton J. Snider 136

Henry V in the Twentieth Century 147

From "The Rejection of Falstaff" A. C. Bradley 150

"At Stratford-on-Avon," from Ideas of Good and Evil William Butler Yeats 159

"To Arthur Bingham Walkley," from the dedication epistle to Man and Superman George Bernard Shaw 167

"Shakespeare's Interest in Practical Action," from Ariosto, Shakespeare and Corneille Benedetto Croce 170

"The Courtship Scene in Henry V," from Modern Language Quarterly Paul A. Jorgensen 178

"The Episode with Williams in Henry V," from Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 Marilyn L. Williamson 188

"Rabbits, Ducks, and Henry V," from Shakespeare Quarterly Norman Rabkin 194

"Falstaff and the Art of Dying," from Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 Paul M. Cubeta 215

"Henry V," from Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human Harold Bloom 228

"Shakespeare's Dionysian Prince: Drama, Politics, and the 'Athenian' History Play," from Renaissance Quarterly Grace Tiffany 233

Henry V in the Twenty-first Century 249

"Henry V," from Shakespeare After All Marjorie Garber 251

Bibliography 269

Acknowledgments 273

Index 275