Shakespeare wrote about the Wars of the Roses first, and he wrote a great deal about a weak king. The weak king served his dramatic purpose as well, because these great wars were going on. But you can never say with certainty that Shakespeare set out to write one vast sweeping history leading to the tutors. What's your opinion about why he stuck at this for eight plays? Do I think he had a grand plan? No. I think he was an improviser. And he had a major hit on his hand, not so much with the history, perhaps, as with false stuff. So it was worth perhaps rewriting. But we don't know. We only have the text that
In the first of two programmes marking In Our Time's 20th anniversary on 15th October, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's versions of history, starting with the English Plantagenets. His eight plays from Richard II to Richard III were written out of order, in the Elizabethan era, and have had a significant impact on the way we see those histories today. In the second programme, Melvyn discusses the Roman plays.
The image above is of Richard Burton (1925 - 1984) as Henry V in the Shakespeare play of the same name, from 1951
With
Emma Smith
Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford
Gordon McMullan
Professor of English at King’s College London and Director of the London Shakespeare Centre
And
Katherine Lewis
Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Huddersfield
Producer: Simon Tillotson