Rewriting History in Henry IV
The master of historiography is, perhaps, Shakespeare as evidenced by his History Plays. Whereas most writers merely borrow from history to fuel their creative fires, Shakespeare goes so far as to rewrite history. The First Part of Henry the Fourth follows history fairly closely, and Shakespeare draws this history primarily from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle of England, Scotland, and Ireland and from Samuel Daniel's verse epic The Civil Wars (Abrams 823).
The play opens shortly after Henry Bolingbroke has usurped the throne from Richard II, becoming the fourth King Henry, and changing the royal lineage from the House of Plantagenet to the House of Lancaster. In the opening sequence, Henry IV is in the process of vowing peace in England and promising a crusade to liberate the Holy Land. No motive for this crusade surfaces in 1 Henry IV, other than the fact that it is some unfinished business from Shakespeare's preceding play Richard II (Kelly 214). Henry's pledge of civil peace is ironic because during this first scene he receives word that his troops have been overtaken by Glendower in Wales, and Hotspur has met and defeated the Scots in the North (1.1.36-61). To the news, the King replies, "It seems then that the tidings of this broil / Brake off our business for the Holy Land" (1.1.47-8). Postponing the business in Jerusalem, Henry IV eventually leads England into civil war with Hotspur at the Battle of Shrewsbury. These actions will ultimately ignite the War of the Roses between the Lancasters (Henry IV's family) and the Yorks (descendants of Richard II).
The play then shifts its focus to the younger Henry, nicknamed Hal. Shakespeare portrays the ...
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... as king. Shakespeare the Historian is not so wonderful as Shakespeare the Playwright, yet through Shakespeare's History Plays many modern readers draw their knowledge of the history prior to Shakespeare.
Works Cited
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* Kelly, Henry Ansgar. Divine Providence in the England of Shakespeare's Histories. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1970.
* McFarlane, K. B. Lancastrian Kings and Lollard Knights. London: Oxford UP, 1972.
* Rowse, A. L. Bosworth Field: From Medieval to Tudor England. New York: Doubleday, 1966.
* Shakespeare, William. 1 Henry IV. Ed. M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 1, 6th ed. New York: Norton, 1993.
Hal’s remark to his father indicates a now strong, independent mind, predicting that Douglas and Hotspur will not accept Henry’s offer because of their love for fighting. Henry’s reply in turn indicates a change in attitude towards his son, a newfound respect. Acknowledging Hal’s prediction, the king orders preparations to begin, and we see he has his own set of solid moral values: knowing that their ‘cause is just’ helps him to reconcile with his highly honourable conscience that there is indeed cause for war. Still maintained is the conflict between the very format of the text, with Hal and Henry’s conversation held in formal verse typical of the court world, in which Hal is now firmly embedded. Falstaff, however, sustains his equally typical prose speech, which indicates to the audience the enduring division between the court and tavern worlds.
Jenkins Jennifer “On Punishment and Teen Killers.” Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, 2 August 2011. 7 May 2014.
Leibovitz, Annie. Annie Leibovitz at Work. Random House; First Edition edition (November 18, 2008) Print.
The father and son relationship is one of the most important aspects through the youth of a young man. In Shakespeare’s play Henry IV, he portrays the concept of having "two fathers". King Henry is Hal’s natural father, and Falstaff is Hal’s moral father. Hal must weigh the pros and cons of each father to decide which model he will emulate. Falstaff, who is actually Hal’s close friend, attempts to pull Hal into the life of crime, but he refuses.
The demands on health care providers to provide the best quality care for patients is increasing. With added responsibilities and demands on our health care workers, it is hard not become overwhelmed and forget the reason and purpose of our profession. However, there is a way where all professionals can meet and come together for a common cause, which is the patient. A new approach in patient care is coming of age. This approach allows all health care professionals to collaborate and explore the roles of other professions in the hope of creating a successful health care team. This approach is referred to as the Interprofessional Collaboration Practice (IPC). To become an effective leader and follower, each professions will need to work together
Shakespeare, William. The Life of King Henry the Fifth. New York: Unicorn Publishers Inc, 1950. Pg. 173-295.
The last genre Shakespeare uses is History; an example of this is ‘Henry V’ where he bases this play on actual historic events. The play is set around the year 1420 and King Henry is faced with the difficult decision, whether to attack France or not. There are a lot of incidents in this play where Shakespeare exaggerates the qualities/attributes of King Henry; he changes the way we think of King Henry. The attributes of King Henry are exaggerated to such an extent we believe that he must have been ‘the perfect king’, cunning, merciful, charming and an excellent speaker.
The relationship between a father and his son is an important theme in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part One, as it relates to the two main characters of the play, Prince Hal and Hotspur. These two characters, considered as youths and future rulers to the reader, are exposed to father-figures whose actions will influence their actions in later years. Both characters have two such father-figures; Henry IV and Falstaff for Prince Hal, and the Earl of Northumberland and the Earl of Worcester for Hotspur. Both father-figures for Hal and Hotspur have obvious good and bad connotations in their influence on the character. For example, Falstaff, in his drinking and reveling, is clearly a poor influence for a future ruler such as Prince Hal, and Worcester, who shares Hotspur's temper, encourages Hotspur to make rash decisions. The entire plot of the play is based on which father-figure these characters choose to follow: had they chosen the other, the outcome would have been wholly different.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Paul Werstine and Barbara A. Mowat. Folger Shakespeare Library ed. New York: Washington Square Press, 1992. Print.
Interprofessional collaboration has been shown to increase access to healthcare, improve outcomes for patients with chronic disease, reduce medical errors, reduce tension and conflict among caregivers, improve the use of clinical resources, and lower rates of staff turnover (Lemieux-Charles & McGuire, 2006). IPE is a means to promote collaboration between health care professions. In a study designed to assess the effectiveness of IPE interventions compared to separate, profession-specific education interventions, 4 of 6 studies found that IPE improved patient satisfaction, collaborative team behaviour, and decreased clinical error in emergency departments (Reeves et al., 2008).
Stars are born and reborn from an explosion of a previous star. The particles and helium are brought together the same way the last star was born. Throughout the life of a star, it manages to avoid collapsing. The gravitational pull from the core of the star has to equal the gravitational pull of the gasses, which form a type of orbit. When this equality is broken, the star can go into several different stages. Some stars that are at least thirty times larger than our sun can form black holes and other kinds of stars.
Shakespeare, William. The Norton Shakespeare. Edited Stephen Greenblatt et al. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
One of the most famous scenes in Henry IV: Part I is the scene in which Prince Hal and Falstaff put on a play extempore. This is often cited as the most famous scene because it is Hal’s turning point in the play. However, the scene is much more than that. The play extempore is a moment of prophecy, not epiphany because is cues the reader in to the play’s major themes, and allows readers to explore the possibilities of the play’s continuance.
astounding wonders of the galaxy, but we may never find the answers that we’re looking for.
Damrosch, David, et al., ed. The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Vol. B. Compact ed. New York: Longman - Addison Wesley Longman, 2000.