Henry IV Part 2: ‘We Have Heard the Chimes at Midnight’

Episode 168:Although Shakespeare's completion of the events of Henry IV’s reign is very much a continuation of the story from part one it is a play with a very different vibe.  The vigour of the battle scenes and the exuberance of prince Hal and Falstaff’s relationship are replaced in part two with a more sombre and elegiac tone.  The effects of old age and the passing to time hang over the play and even at its ending, where the coronation of Henry V could have been treated as a big party full of hope, it is the final rejection of Falstaff that dominates as once again Shakespeare provides an ending that many would have found surprising.The dating of the playThe early publishing history of the playThe early performance history of the playShakespeare’s sources for the playA Synopsis of the plotHow the play functions without much dramatic actionWas the play a hurriedly written sequel?Foreshadowing and references to historyThe presence of the king and his illness in the playThe nature of the comedy in the playThe final split with FalstaffFalstaff the dangerous conmanThe Justices Shallow and SilenceMistress Quickly and the other comic charactersThe EpilogueSupport the podcast at:www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.comwww.patreon.com/thoetpwww.ko-fi.com/thoetp Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.