Acknowledgements.

1. The Development of Criticism of Shakespeare’s Histories:.

2. Genre:.

Overview.

Marjorie Garber, ‘Descanting on Deformity: Richard III and the Shape of History’.

Paola Pugliatti, ‘Time, Space and the Instability of History in the Henry IV sequence’.

3. Language:.

Overview.

Harry Berger, ‘Psychoanalysing the Shakespeare text: The first three scenes of the Henriad’.

Sandra Fischer, ‘He Means to Pay’: Value and Metaphor in the Lancastrian Tetralogy.

4. Gender and Sexuality:.

Overview.

Leah Marcus, ‘Elizabeth’.

Jean Howard and Phyllis Rackin, ‘King John’.

5. History and Politics:.

Overview.

Andrew Murphy, ‘Shakespeare’s Irish History’.

Graham Holderness, ‘What Ish My Nation?’ Shakespeare and National Identities.

6. Performance:.

Overview.

Margaret Shewring, ‘In the Context of English History’.

Alan Dessen, ‘Stagecraft and Imagery in Shakespeare’s Henry VI’.

Index