The First Part of Henry the Fourth

Shakespeare's play, Henry the Fourth, Part One, is considered one of Shakespeare's greatest, with complex, antithetical perspectives on questions of life, honor, and duty. Perhaps more than any other of Shakespeare's history plays, Henry the Fourth overflows with life. It is an encyclopedic look at the world of England in the early 1400s, traveling from the council chambers of the king to the taverns of Eastcheap, from a remote country road to the battlefield of Shrewsbury. The play is peopled by some of the most varied and flamboyant characters in Shakespeare, each with their own distinctive vocabulary, imagery, and style.