Henry V completes the four plays often referred to as Shakespeare’s second tetralogy, comprised of Richard II; Henry IV, Parts One and Two; and Henry V.
Richard II: This fractious period of history starts when the titular monarch banishes his cousin Henry Bolingbroke from England for six years. While Richard mismanages his court, the country increasingly grows unsettled. When Richard seizes the land and money left by Bolingbroke’s father to pursue his wars in Ireland, Henry returns to England, claiming only to want the return of what is rightly his. Richard’s former allies abandon him to join Bolingbroke. When the king returns from Ireland, he surrenders his throne. Richard is imprisoned in Pomfret Castle, where he is murdered by men seeking favor with Bolingbroke. The new king had wanted Richard out of the way but feels enormous guilt over his death.
Henry IV, Part One: Picking up where the previous play ended, King Henry vows to go on crusade as penance for Richard’s murder, just as soon as things have settled down in the kingdom. Unfortunately, the Scots are acting up, and there are rumblings of rebellion from Wales and even within his own court. Meanwhile, his son and heir, Hal, spends the majority of his time drinking and carousing with the wastrel denizens of Eastcheap, in particular a fat old knight named Falstaff. The disaffected nobles, led by the Earls of Worcester and Northumberland and Northumberland’s heir Hotspur, ally with the Welsh and the Scots and raise an army against the king. Hal, seeking to redeem himself, joins with the army, killing Hotspur on the field and helping to win the day as a reformed son and valiant prince.
Henry IV, Part Two: The rebellious nobles, chastened by the defeat at Shrewsbury but unwilling to give up, must regroup, while Hal falls into his old ways again. The ailing king struggles to hold his country together. Hal and his father reconcile before the king’s death. The new King Henry V (shedding his nickname Hal) finally breaks with Falstaff and his inglorious youth for good.
—Kate McConnell
Reprinted from OSF’s 2018 Illuminations, a 64-page guide to the season’s plays. Members at the Donor level and above and teachers who bring school groups to OSF receive a free copy of Illuminations.