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Rating: 
Summary: The best edition of "Henry V"
Review: Andrew Gurr's brilliant editing of Shakespeare's "Henry V" makes this essential to anyone seriously interested in this play. Gurr's introduction could almost stand on its own as a first rate scholarly article on the origins of Shakespeare's "Henry V" and the historical background in which the play was written. Domestic turmoil concerning the earl of Essex, threat of foreign invasion with the Spanish Armada, and foreign war in the Spanish Netherlands (where Sir Phillip Sidney met his untimely death) among other factors provide the impetus behind Shakespeare's most rhetorically soaring play. Of course the actual play itself is what would draw most readers, and Gurr's editing is brilliant. Based (I think) on the original so-called "Folio" version of Shakespeare's play, and including an easy to use page by page gloss, you could not ask for a better version of this play. Having written an honors thesis on this particular subject and having read Gurr's edition several times I can attest that this is the most useful and accessible edition of Shakespeare's finest play.
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Summary: Shakespeare is a damned liar!
Review: I just have to share this with everybody...
Henry was not the nice "Welshman to the core" of this play. After Agincourt, he ordered "the slaughter of all disarmed prisoners, noble or otherwise, and his foot soldiers watched, deeply shocked as two hundred archers stabbled, clubbed, or burned the captives to death."Coupled with the fact that Henry didn't smile once during his victorious progress through London...I must conclude that the historical guy was an evil hardass. The Duke of York was not stabbed to death, and did not dramatically barf blood like in the Kenneth Branagh film. "He was a big man and very overweight, and it is reported that he either suffocated to death in his armor or suffered a heart attack in the press of the fighting." So the next time you read Shakespeare, especially this play or, my favorite ahistorical pro-Lancastrian history twister, Richard III....just remember.... Shakespeare is a damned liar. :-) Thanks to Alison Weir for the information in "The Wars of the Roses".
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Summary: Profoundly Brilliant!
Review: Written by Shakespeare for Queen Elizabeth I amidst a time of Irish rebellion, Henry V more than adequately serves its intended purpose of galvanizing nationalistic fervor. It proved itself to be an unwavering and unfaltering impetus of patriotism in Shakespeare's day, during WWII, and still today it continues to resonate and reverberate this provocatively telling tale of the most gloriously revered monarch in English history. Henry V's stirring orations prior to the victorious battles of Harfleur("Once more unto the breach") and Agincourt("We few, we happy few, we band of brothers") astonish and inspire me every time I read them. Simply amazing. Having read Henry IV Parts I&II beforehand, I was surprised Shakespeare failed to live up to his word in the Epilogue of Part II in which he promised to "continue the story, with Sir John in it." The continuing follies of the conniving Bardolph, Nym, & Pistol and their ignominious thieving prove to be somewhat of a depricating underplot which nevertheless proves to act as a succinct metaphor for King Harry's "taking" of France. Powerful and vibrant, the character of Henry V evokes passion and unadulterated admiration through his incredible valor & strength of conviction in a time of utter despondency. It is this conviction and passion which transcends time, and moreover, the very pages that Shakespeare's words are written upon. I find it impossible to overstate the absolute and impregnable puissance of Henry V, a play which I undoubtedly rate as the obligatory cream of the crop of Shakespeare's Histories. I recommend reading Henry IV I&II prior to Henry V as well as viewing Kenneth Branagh's masterpiece film subsequent to reading the equally moving work.
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