1. BBL 3208 Week 12 SHAKESPEARE'S HISTORICAL PLAYS

2. Not only a history of England, but also the characteristics of good and bad leaders and the nature of choices.

3. If people were asked to name the most memorable Shakespeare plays, the histories would likely not come to mind. Although the tragedies have memorable characters like Hamlet and Macbeth and the comedies include hilarious dialog and eccentric characters, the histories tend to be somewhat confusing, with intricate plot lines, wide-ranging casts of characters, and sometimes abrupt endings.

4. Histories are based on 16th-century history books called chronicles or chronicle histories. These books are not objective by today’s historical standards but rather reflect an ideology known as the Tudor myth. Impetus for creation of this genre: The patriotic fervor following the English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 inspired the composition and performance of about 200 history plays from 1588 to 1603.

5. Characteristics of history plays: History plays usually have loose, episodic plots that are unified primarily by their presentation of significant events from the reign of one monarch after whom the play is titled. History plays drastically condense the events of many years into two- or three-hour productions. History plays integrate scenes created by the imagination of the playwright (fiction) with scenes described in the chronicle history books (nonfiction that reflects the bias of the writers). History plays reflect the political ideology of the chronicle history books as well as the personal bias of the playwright.

6. History plays have large casts of characters—often much larger than the casts of Shakespeare’s tragedies or comedies—and little depth of characterization for most of the characters. History plays rely on the spectacle of portraying great battles and public ceremonies. History plays may combine elements of tragedy and comedy or exhibit the traits of just one of these genres. In addition to being history plays, Shakespeare’s Richard II and Richard III are tragedies, and Henry IV, Part I, and Henry V are comedies.