Henry IV of England

comparing two kings or rulers named Alexzander the Great and Henry the 8th or VIII. Alexzander the great was a man that fought with his army or was also known as a warrior for his kingdom. Henry the 8th (VIII) was not a very good king, he was the worst king ever in history because he was a very selfish man. So these two people that I just mentioned are going to be compared in this compare and contrast. Alexzander the Great was a king as well as Henry the eighth. They where both rulers and…

Short Argument 1: Disproving Knightly Virtues The early centuries were a time when chivalry and courtesy were highly valued among men, as seen in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Lord Bertilak is a man who wants to disprove the knightly virtues through tests and games. This alliterative poem points out the scandals in a knight’s reputation. As the poem begins with a green knight entering King Arthur’s feast with a challenge, he states “where’s the fortitude and fearlessness you’re so famous for…

and Death of King Richard the Second”, Richard has come to show that he is one character that is very complex based on the different characteristics that are displayed throughout the play. Whether the common people found him a miserable King of England or an indecisive and childish ruler, not many people appreciated his time on throne. For this reasoning, Scene 5.5 of this play has evidently showed why King Richard has led to his downfall based on all of his attributes that are shown in one…

In act four, scene one of Shakespeare’s Richard II, Richard’s lengthy monologues as Henry Bolingbroke attempts to get him to revoke the thrown serve as a metaphor for the entire play. Lines 194 to 214, specifically, after Bolingbroke asks King Richard if he is “contented to resign the crown?” capture the complicated the relationship between the two men and the crown (4.1.193). Richard’s willingness to step down from the thrown is debatable through his reaction to Bolingbroke’s question.…

From humble beginnings to an oppressive doctrine, the Holy Catholic Church truly underwent change throughout the course of Medieval history. Seen in these two letters, Clericis Laicos and Unam Sanctam, are what would seem to be the culmination of all this history: the responses of Pope Boniface VIII to the continued pressures of secular rule and its jurisdiction in relation to the Church and its functioning. With the Church’s rapid increase in size and influence over the past several centuries,…

time, but his histories always contain relevant reminders to play attendees: history has and always will repeat itself. From the battlefields of England and France, all the way to Ancient Rome, leaders of the state will take any action necessary to protect the state, other than place themselves in harm’s way, as without them, no state exists. King Henry IV fascinated Shakespeare; the author tells the man’s achievements over the course…

Ben Jonson wrote Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time,” indicating how 21st century ideas and themes can be connected through the centuries to the time when 1 Henry IV was written. For instance, a contemporary issue demonstrated in the play is a phenomenon known as helicopter parenting. According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, helicopter parenting is when a parent is extremely involved in a child’s life (“Helicopter Parenting”). Parents will often place expectations on their…

When Shakespeare wrote Henry IV, Part II, England faced issues of kingship, constitution, and rebellion. Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Elizabethans in the 1590s, undoubtedly had anxieties about the aging Queen Elizabeth I’s lack of an apparent heir, much like the anxieties surrounding Hal’s imminent succession to the throne. At the same time, Shakespeare presents to his audience a history play, dramatizes information, introduces fictional characters, and “mingling kings and clowns” on stage, and…

Shakespeare’s second tetralogy, Henry IV is the second play in the sequence. We talked briefly about the plot of Richard II and how Bolivar became king Henry IV. We then talked about the beginning of Henry IV in which the king is being plotted against due to his apparent forgetting of debts due, and his son whom behaves in a non-royal manner hanging out with thieves and commoners. We mentioned the idea that the central hero of Shakespeare’s historical plays was England itself always being…

One of most drawn out themes underlying Shakespeare’s second tetralogy is the idea of authenticity; who is authentic, who is not, what is means to be authentic. On the flip side is the opposite notion—the idea of a counterfeit, an inauthentic imitation, sometimes able to fool, sometimes not. However, Shakespeare’s second tetralogy seems to blur this supposed line between what is authentic and what is counterfeit, and in doing so reveals not simply what makes an “authentic” king, but also how…