Shakespeare's "Henry IV Part II"

Henry IV Part II is (obviously) the sequel to Henry IV Part I, continuing the story of the king after his triumph over conspirators. The king is now old and sick, and distrustful of the ability of his oldest son, Prince Harry "Hal", to succeed him.

There isn't much to the story, which makes this play such a pain to read. The introduction in my edition offers some really interesting information. One is that Shakespeare probably split the history of this kind into two parts because he realized, as he was working on the first one, that he did not have enough room. This play, then, is what was left over from the first, which makes it hardly surprising that there isn't much left to be told. It spends a lot of time showing the popular character from the prequel, Sir John Falstaff, who apparently was the crowds' favorite. As for me, I found all of Falstaff's scenes annoying. They don't move the story forward, and they are boring as hell to read. Once again, this is probably something that will be fun to see on stage, but that would also imply that the audience is very well equipped with the Elizabethan language and references. If I were to stage this play, these scenes would be heavily edited.

Some of the best scenes in the play are the ones with the dying king as he converses with his sons. These are beautifully written, and they remind us of the Shakespeare that we know and love. Other than that I find very little to enjoy in this play. It does no justice to the prequel, and is better left for a day when there really isn't anything else to read--perhaps after you finish reading the rest of the canon.