Henry IV Part 2 by William Shakespeare

Henry IV

Part 2

by William Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V.

The play is often seen as an extension of aspects of Henry IV, Part 1, rather than a straightforward continuation of the historical narrative, placing more emphasis on the highly popular character of Falstaff and introducing other comic figures as part of his entourage, including Ancient Pistol, Doll Tearsheet, and Justice Robert Shallow. Several scenes specifically parallel episodes in Part 1.

Shakespeare's primary source for Henry IV, Part 2, as for most of his chronicle histories, was Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles; the publication of the second edition in 1587 provides a terminus a quo for the play. Edward Hall's The Union of the Two Illustrious Families of Lancaster and York appears also to have been consulted, and scholars have also supposed Shakespeare to have been familiar with Samuel Daniel's poem on the civil wars.

Excerpted from Henry IV, Part 2 on Wikipedia.

Second Henriad: Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, Henry V

Henry IV Part 2

person Author	William Shakespeare
language Country	England
api Genre	Drama, History Play
copyright Copyright	Public domain worldwide.
camera_alt Book cover	Sir John Falstaff with His Page Artist: Edwin Austin Abbey | wikimedia
book_online Ebooks	Project Gutenberg
description Scans	Google-digitized
headphones Audio	Librivox | Internet Archive Reader: Group, Dramatic Readings 00 01 02 03 04 05
auto_stories Read online	Henry IV Part 2