11 - King Henry IV Part 2

Okay, so I freely admit that I’ve had a little Bard-break. I think it might be necessary to do so every ten plays or so as my reading pile of the non-Shakespeare variety is starting to look decidedly top-heavy! When I began this challenge I wasn't sure it would take me a full year but Spring has sprung and here I am only a quarter of the way through! They do say, however, that it's not the arriving which is important but the getting there! And so on with the journey...

As previously stated I have always avoided the Histories in the past, thinking them to be just a bunch of battles and back-stabbing with the odd bit of regicide thrown in. But the Histories are in a way the first 'box-set', following  the crown from one generation to the nest and the political changes being made as a result. Come to think of it's almost exactly the same as 'Game of Thrones' (just without the zombies or the dragons or the naked bodies!). But where you miss out on the CGI and the SEX Shakespeare makes up for with the characters.
 

Mrs Slocombe

At the same time that a 'peace' is reached for the country so the King and Hal emotionally reunite. Thus the king ensures the safe passage of the Crown before he makes his way to his own private Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the subplot of the Cheapside crew also continues and we are introduced to the 'Mrs Slocombe' of Shakespeare in the guise of Mistress Quickly. Never before has so much innuendo been undertaken by one woman as she is "swaggered", "fubbed" and "stabbed" through the streets of London!

And importantly as Hal is reconciled with one father so he must forgo another. Sir John Falstaff is spurned and banished from the new king's sight and condemed as a "white haired" fool! Maybe Falstaff had it coming with all his lying and cheating but it is still sad to see the last of the old rascal. Or have we...

And finally – That Prince John of Lancaster’s a tricky one and no mistake. Watch your back Hal. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him…

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