This new addition to the Critical Insights series takes a close look at Shakespeare’s 1623 play, Henry V which chronicles the reign of the notorious medieval king from 1413 to 1422.

Although it was written centuries ago, Henry V explores many themes that are very much on the minds of today’s readers including progressive vs. conservative politics, nationalism and patriotism, pacifism, and defenses of war, to name a few.

In addition to exploring the play’s central themes, this volume offers a variety of fresh perspectives on related issues including gender, ethnicity, class, and morality, exploring the work as a reflection of its own times and as a work of art that has withstood the test of time.

A collection of four Critical Contexts essays is intended to view the work:

1) From a historical vantage point

2) In terms of its critical reception

3) Using a specific critical lens

4) And by comparing and contrasting it with another important work.

The four Critical Context essays include:

•“The Law of Arms”: Jurisprudence and Warfare in Henry V
• The Introductions to Important Editions of Shakespeare’s King Henry V
• The King Who Would Not Be Ransomed: Risk, Character, and Genre in Shakespeare’s Henry V
• Shakespeare’s Henry V on Trial (Before a Panel of Recent Judges)

Following these four Critical Context essays is the Critical Readings section of this book, which contains the following essays:

• Henry V’s Order to Kill the French Prisoners: Medieval and Renaissance Reactions

• Nationalism, Propaganda, and the Cost of War: Recent Scholarship on Shakespeare’s Henry V

• Shakespeare’s Henry V and the Farewell Discourse of John’s Gospel

• Shakespeare’s Garden of Peace in Henry V

• “We must bear all”: Leadership, Responsibility, and the Royal “We” in Shakespeare’s Henry V

• “He never killed any of his friends”: Tragicomic Juxtaposition and Irony in Shakespeare’s Henry V

• Imagined Wing: A Close Reading of Henry V, 3.0.1–35

• The Initial Reception of Laurence Olivier’s Henry V in the United States

• The Reception of Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V among Academic Critics

Each essay in Critical Insights: Henry V includes a list of Works Cited and detailed endnotes. In the final section, Resources, a Chronology of Shakespeare’s life is provided along with a list of his Works, and a Bibliography. Finally, this section closes with an About the Editor section, Contributors, and a detailed Index.

The Critical Insights Series distills the best of both classic and current literary criticism of the world’s most studied literature. Edited and written by some of academia’s most distinguished literary scholars, Critical Insights: Henry V provides authoritative, in-depth insights that will be valuable students, researchers, and anyone who is interested in learning more about the themes in this work. This volume is destined to become a valuable purchase for all.

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