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masterpiece of Henry V, which is certainly ambiguous, as we'd expect from the genius of Shakespeare, but which ultimately comes down on the side of mature and patriotic leadership.

As Chorus tells us in the epilogue, the early death of Henry V led to the accession of his nine-month-old son, of whom so many had the ruling that they made his England bleed,' a process breathlessly and triumphantly chronicled in the Henry VI trilogy. Considering that this was Shakespeare's first history, it's an astonishing piece of work, ranging from Joan of Arc's girl power in Part One to the rise of Richard Gloucester in Part Three, which in itself encapsulates the havoc wreaked upon England by the Civil War. Part One shows us a nation becoming riven by factionalism as the attempt to pursue Henry V's French campaign impinges upon good government at home; this escalates and accelerates in Part Two, during which it becomes slightly tricky to remember who is on the side of whim, and indeed what they're called in this Act; and Part Three is a bloody culmination and fruition of the seeds earlier sown. It is only in this climate that a monster like Richard could flower; we are a long way from Henry V (or even Richard II) and there is a distinct undercurrent in the chilling but brilliant Richard III that the eponymous tyrant is secretly rather surprised at what he is permitted to get away with.

One of Shakespeare's final efforts was the collaboration (with John Fletcher) on Henry VIII, which isn't as bad as the fact that you've never seen it might suggest, and contains one of his most interesting female characters in the irreproachable Catherine of Aragon, a most sympathetic Catholic quite a statement in the reign of James I. Although as the fire from a cannon in a performance of Henry VIII started the fire that consumed the original Globe Theatre, it may be no surprise that (a) it's not rated particularly highly in the canon and (b) Shakespeare thereafter retired.

Learn more about this author, Nick Baldock.
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