Stages of History

Divine Courtesy: Providence and Human Language in Shakespeare's History Plays

“…In King John and the Harry Cycle, 'he returns to a diffuse, episodic structure to depict a world where no principle of historical causation can be discovered.' 11 The latter undoes the conclusions of the first by moving 'in the opposite direction:' 12 from a king who articulates a bold confidence in God's care for his throne and realm, to a reign of a father and a son whose greatness is tied primarily to the strength of their armies, their ability to manipulate, and their busying themselves with foreign wars. Shakespeare attains an epic breadth in the Henry IV plays precisely because he surrenders the faith in providence, just as the historiographies of the first decades of the 17 th century were beginning to do.…”

“…In this way, we hear in the chorus's interruption small reminders that the thin line between history and theater runs through Harry himself, and we are an audience to his script every bit as much as to the one penned by Shakespeare. 15 Hal is an actor in a history play, played on stage by an actor in a history play. If Richard III reminds us that fact leaks over into fiction ('true tragedy'), Henry V asks us to notice that the leakage runs the other way as well, and fictionalizing can harden into historical fact.…”

In Mendacio Veritas

“…when he finally appears as king, all that longingly remembered and eagerly anticipated glory evaporates in ambiguity. 32 'Honour', Falstaff reminds us in his famous mock catechism is mere 'Air. A trim reckoning!'…”

Shakespeare's History Plays

“…In centring history on individuals, Shakespeare was, at least in part, opposing long-held beliefs inherited from the medieval period about the primacy of God's will in historical events. Although Phyllis Rackin rightly argues that 'it is impossible to derive a single, coherent theory of history from the plays', 114 it is equally impossible to deny that the plays, as David Scott Kastan points out, 'all too clearly . .…”