Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Henry IV (Part Two)
    Unavailable
    Henry IV (Part Two)
    Unavailable
    Henry IV (Part Two)
    Audiobook2 hours

    Henry IV (Part Two)

    Written by William Shakespeare

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    Read the ebook instead

    About this audiobook

    Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V.

    GOD KNOWS, MY SON, BY WHAT BY-PATHS AND INDIRECT CROOK'D WAYS I MET THIS CROWN; AND I MYSELF KNOW WELL HOW TROUBLESOME IT SAT UPON MY HEAD. TO THEE, IT SHALL DESCEND WITH BETTER QUIET, BETTER OPINION, BETTER CONFIRMATION…

    Following his victory at the battle of Shrewsbury that ended Part 1, King Henry now finds that he must deal with a rebellion by Scroop, Hastings and Mowbray. They are eventually tricked into disbanding their army and are sentenced to death. Henry is finally secure on the throne, but it has come too late: he is dying. The play ends with the accession of his son, Prince Hal, as Henry V. The new king immediately reforms, renouncing his dissolute lifestyle; and when his former companion Sir John Falstaff hastens to London in the belief that the new king will show him favour he is cruelly disillusioned.

    Harry Andrews, Richard Johnson and Sir Anthony Quayle lead a distinguished cast in this powerful production.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateJan 6, 2011
    ISBN9780007429141
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare is the world's greatest ever playwright. Born in 1564, he split his time between Stratford-upon-Avon and London, where he worked as a playwright, poet and actor. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two, leaving three children—Susanna, Hamnet and Judith. The rest is silence.

    More audiobooks from William Shakespeare

    Related to Henry IV (Part Two)

    Related audiobooks

    Performing Arts For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Classifieds

      Jun 12, 2019

      ALLPOETRY.COM—Join the largest poetry community, more than 500,000 poets strong. From beginners to experts, get friendly encouragement and detailed critiques when you’re ready. No-fee contests, $50 cash prizes, active discussion forums, and join our

      26 min read

    • Article

      Smeltzer the Musky Angler

      Oct 17, 2020

      Smeltzer the Musky Angler
      4 min read

    • Article

      Readers’ Letters

      Jun 28, 2023

      Readers’ Letters
      6 min read

    • Article

      1887 Vrc Derby

      Sep 30, 2021

      1887 Vrc Derby
      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Dec 1, 2022

      Letters
      3 min read

    • Article

      Down The Decades: The 1900s

      Mar 16, 2022

      Down The Decades: The 1900s
      7 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Jun 14, 2022

      Our Father,big chief in heaven,I sent my assistant Calixtoto make an appointmentwith Her Highness, la licenciada,who has left for lunch before noon,gone for the day, was fired, or fled,who can tell; the third directorat this post in fifteen months. D

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Epic Of Gilgamesh

      Jan 1, 2020

      My friends, who can reach heaven? The monster bellows like a river swollen with flood.Many are consumed in his fiery breath. My friends, who can reach heaven? Let us ask the mountain for a sign.Let us cut the spirits from the cedars. My friends, who

      3 min read

    • Article

      from BLACK PASTORAL

      Nov 1, 2023

      somewheres, some lifetimes ago I have run so far, so long.There is nowhere I haven’t beenBut here, in this field, a bodyLength from the ragged brinkThat gives way to forest.I collapsed here, the thin, hard slipOf me whittled at both ends.I want badly

      4 min read

    • Article

      On Grief

      Jul 29, 2019

      On Grief
      5 min read

    • Article

      Hook, Line And Sinker

      Oct 18, 2018

      Hook, Line And Sinker
      4 min read

    • Article

      Tessa Castro

      Mar 6, 2024

      IN COMPETITION No 303 you were invited to write a poem called Best Wishes. Polly Sharpe's sad tale began, ‘My dad was cool, he played guitar, / He shagged a woman in HR, / My mum said he had gone too far, / Divorced him for deception.’ Bill Holloway'

      2 min read

    • Article

      If I Am Killed …

      Jul 1, 2018

      My Dear Wife: I expect that the time has nearly arrived when we shall have a bloody battle, as I understand tonight that the enemy are crossing the Rapidan River, with 25 or 30 thousand men, and advancing towards us. If so, probably before you receiv

      2 min read

    • Article

      My Dream Team

      Nov 19, 2020

      My Dream Team
      2 min read

    • Article

      FALSE IMPRESSIONS Part 3

      Apr 1, 2020

      FALSE IMPRESSIONS Part 3
      10 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      May 14, 2020

      LETTERS MAY BE EDITED FOR CLARITY OR SPACE I was delighted to read the article by Neil Cross about his outing with Martin Whitley and his hawks [In full flight on Dartmoor, May issue]. Two autumns ago, my daughter and I arranged a similar afternoon’s

      7 min read

    • Article

      A Refusal To Mourn The Deaths, By Gunfire, Of Three Men In Brooklyn

      Jan 1, 2019

      And at times, didn’t the whole countrytry to break his skin?—Tim Seibles You strike your one good match to watch its bloomand jook, a swan song just before a nightwind comes to snuff it. That’s the kind of dayit’s been. Your Black & Mild, now, useles

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Nov 23, 2022

      AS a child in Perthshire in the 1940s and 1950s, I thought it was quite normal that the frost was inside the bedroom window when I woke in the morning—Father demanded windows at night should be open (‘The winds of winter’, November 16). If one had a

      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Henry IV (Part Two)

    3.5/5

    370 ratings11 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      I'm not big into the histories
    • 3/5
      Didn't actually need to read this for my course, but since it comes between Henry IV Part One and Henry V, I thought I'd read it to make sure I have all the details.

      I didn't like it as much as Part One -- it doesn't seem to tie together as well, and anyway I'm not fond of the character of Falstaff. Perhaps on stage it'd be funny and worth watching, but I didn't enjoy those scenes just reading it.
    • 2/5
      There were two real highlights in this play: The first is the interaction of Henry IV with his court and with Hal as his death approaches. The second is the ultimate transition of Hal into Henry V, who rejects his erstwhile friends in a scene both touching and uplifting. But much of the rest of the play was a real chore to read, being written in 16thC vernacular prose and possessing little in the way of plot development. Perhaps Henry IV was more like 1.5 plays than 2.
    • 3/5
      Not a scholarly review here, just a note for myself that I read this. The drama was pretty good, but my reading mood was off and so it took me two months to finish. Not good for continuity. Even so, I was able to pick up the main characters and plot. All the side characters became rather muddled for me though. Not sure what to think of Henry V. Seems a rather calculating and mean sort of man. Used Falstaff harshly, although I don't have much sympathy or care for Falstaff, either. Not sure why people have loved him so, I found him repulsive. Possibly the language barrier? I would like to read this in a more modern language to see if it makes a difference. Loved Henry the IV's speech about sleep, or the lack thereof. Also, one of the women who gave her father-in-law (or was he her father?) what-for because he deserted her husband when he needed him most.
    • 4/5
      This play was the third in a series of 8 which together formed Shakespeare’s masterful saga of 'History' plays chronicling the turbulent final century of the Plantagenet Dynasty from the deposition of Richard II in 1399 to the death of Richard III at Bosworth field in 1485.

      Altogether, they have all the high drama of an epic saga with their vivid accounts of treachery, ambition, power, betrayal, feuding and war in an age of bloody upheaval.
      If all this sounds gloomy and depressing, there are also colourful well-developed and memorable characters including the 'man mountain' plump and usually tipsy John Falstaff and the heroic Henry V as well as plenty of courage, chivalry and deeds of daring-do with a smattering of romance and humour.

      Whoever said Shakespeare was boring? It should be said, however, that I could not fully appreciate these plays by simply reading them- they had to be seen as well. They are not, after all, novels, and reading through them in the way one would a book can be a tedious experience.

      An increasingly unstable and insecure King Henry faces yet more rebellion and opposition from within and without.
      Beset by failing health and troubled all the more by his conscience and fear of divine judgement upon him and his line for his crime of the deposition and murder of the rightful King.
      The Earl of Northumberland and other nobles gather together their forces to make war against the King once again, but their readiness to negotiate proves fatal.
      Meanwhile, Prince Hal still frequents the taverns of London, but his old friend Falstaff has come up with a new scheme to make gain money, prestige and hopefully the favour of the King and is the source of as much humour as before.
      As King Henry's troubled reign comes to an end, however, Price Hal has some must mature to accept the great responsibility which is soon to be thrust upon him, even though it comes at the price of disowning his former companions of friends.

    • 4/5
      Falstaff has an entire speech about drinking. Of course. Not as entertaining as the first part, but acts IV and V make it worth it.
    • 3/5
      Falstaff is at his best in this play. Hal's abuse of him almost inspires sympathy for the blackguard. The transformation of the irresponsible Hal into a stately King is, however, rather hard to swallow.The death scene of HIV is a wonderful scene. It's easier for me to see Hal take the crown for his own head before his father is even cold (or dead for that matter) than it is for me to see Hal become a serious young man.
    • 2/5
      Shakespeare's "Henry IV: Part Two" really doesn't live up to the marvelous story told in part one. I read somewhere that both parts were originally a single play and Shakespeare broke it into two... I don't know whether that's true but I find it fairly easy to believe.There isn't much of a story here-- the battle is over and everyone is just waiting for Henry III to expire so his son can take over. It's pretty slow moving and not terribly interesting.
    • 4/5
      This play is not as enjoyable as its predecessor, largely because the remaining rebels to be mopped up are foolish weasels, not the roaring lion that Hotspur was. There remains the tension between father and son, which ends in a moving deathbed reconciliation and the prince's coming-of-age as king. More interesting is the career of Sir John Falstaff in the countryside, as we are allowed to see how a man of some shrewdness and no honor survives and profits while the kingdom is in an uproar, and the introduction of Justice Shallow, who so wants to be the Elizabethan equivalent of "cool." The play ends with the new king forbidding the evil old man his presence. This is a necessity, especially considering the old fool's plans for graft and glory, but it is a sad necessity.
    • 3/5
      Overall, I thought this was less interesting than Henry V, but that might just be because I paid more attention to HV (I have to teach it; I read this for kicks). There's not a whole lot of beautiful Shakespeare moments, the humor didn't hit me (possibly my fault, of course), and the best bit was probably the Induction, in which Rumour discourses on herself. On the upside, I learned the word 'fustilarian' and the phrase 'I'll tickle your catastrophe!', and I'm pretty sure I now understand the title of Javier Marias' 'Your Face Tomorrow': "What a disgrace it is to me to remember thy name! or to know thy face tomorrow!", says the prince in II.2. Here he's mocking/despairing over those who abandon their friends when they become famous; by the end of the play (V.5) he's the person who's abandoning his friends. This adds a fair bit to Marias' repeated question, "Can I know your face tomorrow?", which for most of the novel seems more epistemic and existential. If he got it from Henry IV, 'YFT' takes on a whole new moral overtone. I guess I should re-read it even sooner than I'd planned.

      This now has nothing to do with Henry IV, which I doubt I'll re-read anytime soon.
    • 4/5
      This play ends with the death of Henry IV of England, and the crowning of Henry V and his dramatic rejection of Falstaff. I prefer it to the first part, and find the play has more pacing and tighter characterization. I guest I'm not that fond of Falstaff, having had to deal with the fallout from some "Lovable Rogues" in my own life. The Henry IV camp deals with the rebellion in the north, and Hotspur Percy gets killed.Read it 9 times, apparently.