Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Paul Dean

Critical Essay by Paul Dean

SOURCE: Dean, Paul. “Chronicle and Romance Modes in Henry V.” Shakespeare Quarterly 32, no. 1 (spring 1981): 18-27.

In the following essay, Dean suggests that the structure of Henry V is a combination of two dramatic forms (“chronicle” history and “romance” history), highlights Shakespeare's sophisticated characterization of King Henry V, and explores the dynamic relationship of the drama's main plot and subplots.

It is customary to divide plays written during the Elizabethan period upon subjects related to English history into two groups: “chronicle” histories, which draw their source-material, in the main, from the work of non-dramatic prose or verse historiographers, and “romance” or “pseudo” histories, which incorporate characters from history within a completely imaginary, usually comic, plot. It is further agreed, by the principal authorities, that only the “chronicle” histories had any important influence on Shakespeare's contribution to the genre.¹ There are grounds for questioning this assumption, which cannot be...
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