INTRODUCTION

Summary

Two Parts but one play

As with Hamlet so with 1 and 2 Henry IV the commentary has much exceeded the limits of this edition, and I have found myself obliged to contrive two supplementary volumes for the overplus. The Fortunes of Falstaff, published in 1943, deals with the much debated character and career of the fat knight, and so allows me to concentrate here upon Henry IV as a chronicle-play, which was after all what Shakespeare set out to write. A second excursus, concerned with the sources and textual history of the double play and its sequel Henry V, and including a discussion of the reasons for the change from “Oldcastle” to ‘Falstaff’ (see below, p. xxix), is being prepared in collaboration with Dr Duthie; and I have contributed to the Greg Presentation Number of The Library (June 1945) a tentative outline of my conclusions as regards Henry IV, references to which will be found in the Notes below. Meanwhile, the present Introduction1 and the Stagehistory are concerned with both Parts, which, issued separately for convenience, each with its own notes and glossary, have in fact been envisaged and edited as one drama.