| |
| | GradeSaver: Henry V Essay: A Game of Winning the Crown: Shakespeare's Henries |
 | | King Henry IV, previously Bolingbroke, usurped the crown from King Richard II in Shakespeare's play of that title, and now, in this King Henry Hotspur is trying to take from "Bolingbroke," the name he contemptuously insists on using for the king, the crown which the king 'rightfully' stole already. |
 | | In Henry IV part two, some of Prince Hal's last words to his dying father are, "You won it [the crown], wore it, kept it, gave it to me" (IV.v.220). |
 | | When King Henry V is put into the unnerving position of hanging his old friend Bardolph, he justifies and explains his so doing with the line, "When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom the gentler gamester is the soonest winner" (Henry V III.vi.109-10, italics mine). |
| www.gradesaver.com /classicnotes/titles/henryv/essay1.html (1871 words) |
|