Henry IV Part 2 Resources

Check out Shakespeare's biography and read about Elizabethan theater at this site.

Biographical information about the historical King Henry's life and reign.

Want to know more about the historical Prince Hal? Check out this website.

Awesome tool for all students to look up words in any of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets.

Read Henry IV Part 2 online. Warning: There aren't any footnotes but this is good in a pinch.

The English Shakespeare Company's production, directed by Michael Bogdanov is available in most libraries on DVD and VHS as part of a larger collection, The War of the Roses, which chronicles Shakespeare's history plays. You can also watch the whole thing on YouTube.

Also known as Falstaff, Chimes at Midnight (a.k.a. Campanadas a Medianoche ) is Orson Welles' 1965 film adaptation of the Henry plays. A cool film, but don't depend on this if you're preparing for a quiz on the play text. (Welles conflates Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, Richard II, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Holinshed's Chronicles to paint a portrait of a "tragic" Falstaff.) This film can be hard to get hold of so your best bet is to watch the whole thing on YouTube.

The BBC's production is smart and mostly faithful to the text of the play but it's also pretty dark and depressing. Anthony Quayle gives a stellar performance as Falstaff.

One of Shakespeare's main sources for both Henry plays is Volume III of Holinshed's Chronicles (1587). You can check out Project Gutenberg's e-text of the 1808 edition online.

Another source for Shakespeare's Henriad is the pre-1588 play The Famous Victories of Henry V, which chronicles Hal's life during his father's reign and his own. Check it out here.

For a better understanding of how Shakespeare's Elizabethan audience might have approached the play's representation of rebellion, check out this authorized (by the monarch) sermon, which was read in churches on a regular basis during Queen Elizabeth's reign. Rebellion, according to the Elizabethan worldview, was a "great a sin against God."

This is a great clip from the tavern scene in Act 2, Scene 4.

Check out the English Shakespeare Company's 1990 production on YouTube.

From Chimes at Midnight. Check out Orson Welles's production of Hal's rejection of Falstaff in the second half of this ten-minute clip.

Falstaff takes a prisoner and delivers a speech praising wine. From Act 4, Scene 3.

You might want to print out this useful map of Britain denoting major locations for Shakespeare's plays. Tip: Use your cursor to enlarge the map.

Check out this image of the 1600 quarto title page of Henry IV Part 2.

Adolf Schrödter's "Falstaff und sein Page" (1867).

Photograph from the Marin Shakespeare Company's 2007 performance of Henry IV Part 2.