Great. So the final lecture in this series from autumn 2011 is on the first part of Henry

the 4th. So this is a play written in about 1596 to 7 and therefore, although it's obviously

got historical sequential links with Richard II, the previous play in the historical

sequence, and with Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V, which are coming after it in historical

chronology.

It's actually, I think, got more in common in certain ways with the comedies of that period

than with the histories.

So Richard II is a play,

as I talked about earlier in the term, all in verse, very formal verse play. Henry IV,

part one has a lot of prose in it, proportions quite similar to Merchant of Venice, say, Merry Wives

of Windsor, plays of about this same 1596 to 7 period.

It's not always clear, I think, that Henry IV was intended as the first part of a pair of plays.

I don't think that was always clear, and I'm going to try and talk a bit more about that during the lecture.

It's first printed in 15 lecture. It's first printed in 1598, and it's one of the most popular plays.

In fact, it's the most popular Shakespeare play in print in the immediate 1590s into the 17th century.

I think that's largely because of the dramatic attractiveness of its fat anti-hero

false staff.

And so the question I wanted to ask about this play is, why is false staff fat?

Okay, so let's recap the plot of the play.

Henry VIII, who has in the previous play, Richard

the second, taken the throne from Richard, his cousin, is beset from the outset of Henry

the 4th, Part 1 by conspiracy, civil war and insubordination. And it's useful in a way,

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