Shakespeare’s Histories

Shakespeare’s history plays freely combine historical facts, dramatized versions of people who lived in the past, and fictional characters. In approaching his history plays in this way, Shakespeare created a lively, engaging narrative about the history of England for his own audience as well as subsequent audiences and readers.

In each play Shakespeare brings to life people from the past, in particular the kings whose names carry the titles of each play. They are all different and all deal with a variety of different circumstances in their courts. However, a consistent theme Shakespeare dramatizes is competition for the throne from family members and rebellious aristocrats which creates ongoing tension in their kingdom. Apart from the kings, outstanding characters he created based on historical people include Elinor, Queen of England and Duchess of Aquitaine, Constance, Duchess of Brittany, her son, Prince Arthur, Joan of Arc, Talbot, Hotspurre, Queen Margaret, Queen Katherine, Wolsey and Cranmer. Many other fictional characters add depth, spice and humour to the plays including Falstaff and all those associated with him.

• The Life and Death of King John
• The Reign of King Edward the Third
• The Life and Death of King Richard the Second
• The First Part of King Henry the Fourth
• The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth
• The Life of King Henry the Fifth
• The First Part of King Henry the Sixth
• The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth
• The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth
• The Life and Death of King Richard the Third
• The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth

Jeanne Arthur

Jeanne Arthur BA (Honours Drama) is a retired teacher of Drama, English and History who was inspired to translate Shakespeare’s plays into modern English by her students who asked questions about the plays that were not easy to answer even though she had an honors degree in Drama from Flinders University and thirty years of teaching Drama. Retirement gave Jeanne the time and opportunity to write these translations to answer her students’ questions and to allow her to reflect on Shakespeare’s plays at a leisurely pace. She believes the outcome of this experience will be helpful to readers, performers and theatre workers as it brings many years of working on Shakespeare’s plays and poetry to clarify their meaning and create immediately accessible texts supported by thorough explanatory notes about Shakespeare’s world.