Henry V

William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.6

Word count: 152K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Henry V by William ShakespeareAuthor: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jul 1, 2000

Editor's review

Henry V is the most epic in spirit of Shakespeare's history plays, following a young monarch's growth from his accession through the period around the Battle of Agincourt. Its strength lies in setting the responsibilities of kingship alongside personal feeling: the king's night walk among his soldiers before the battle and his repeated weighing of the justice of war keep the image of the ruler from being flat. The play interweaves soldiers of different classes and accents, offering both battlefield tension and street-level humor, while the Chorus-like openings and closings heighten the sense of staged narrative. Readers can observe how Shakespeare uses dramatic language to handle national narrative and individual fate. This Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English text, suitable as an introduction to Shakespeare's history plays or for close reading of the original, and especially suited to being read together with Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, to understand the arc of transformation from prince to king.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to read Shakespeare's history plays systematically, from beginner to advanced level
Readers interested in kingship, the ethics of war, and leadership
Students who need a public-domain English play for classroom discussion or line practice
English learners who enjoy ensemble scenes and speeches and are willing to read the original text

Not a good fit for

Readers accustomed only to modern Chinese translations who find early modern English difficult
Readers who want a quick grasp of complete English history and need a systematic account of historical facts
Readers who prefer a single main plot and intense emotional conflict and are unused to the structure of history plays

Reading tips

You may read Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 first, then this play, to feel the transformation from prince to king.
Closely read the pre-battle night-watch and pre-battle speech passages, comparing the king's perspective with the soldiers' perspective.
While reading, pay attention to the dialogue of soldiers of different accents and classes; it is a window into the war as a whole.
Read the speech passages aloud and listen to recordings of yourself to feel how rhetoric serves mobilization and persuasion.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can I read Henry V directly without having read Henry IV?

You can read it directly. The main plot centers on the campaigns and political decisions after the accession, and the story is relatively self-contained. However, the protagonist's experiences and character groundwork before he took the throne lie mainly in Henry IV; reading the earlier plays first will give you a better understanding of why he repeatedly stresses the weight of the crown and the restraint of personal feeling.

Is the text of this edition suitable for line practice?

According to the information provided, this is a public-domain English text of Shakespeare's work released by Project Gutenberg, with the language marked as English. It preserves the play's dialogue and scene structure, making it suitable for reading lines aloud and analyzing roles; the vocabulary and syntax of early modern English require notes, so it is advisable to use it alongside a reliably annotated edition.

What are the features of the way the play's battle scenes are written?

Shakespeare does not aim for a realistic presentation of large-scale combat but creates the atmosphere of war through pre-battle mobilization, night-watch dialogue, soldiers as an ensemble, and brief battlefield interludes. The dialogue of soldiers of different classes and accents broadens the perspective, so that war is not only the king's achievement but also the situation and doubts of ordinary people.

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About the author

William Shakespeare Author · English · 1564–1616

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was the greatest playwright, poet and actor of the English Renaissance. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, he is known as the "Bard of Avon." He wrote roughly thirty-seven to thirty-nine plays, one hundred and fifty-four sonnets and narrative poems. His representative works include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. His works span tragedy, comedy and history play, distinguished by rich, poetic language and profound characterization. His explorations of human nature, power, love and fate have had a lasting influence, and his works have been translated into many languages and circulated widely around the world.