Well, this'll be a long boyo so have this frontloaded conclusion:

Sir John Falstaff is the man who murdered Thomas Woodstock, the Duke of Gloucester. This off-stage assassination pits the tyrannical Richard II against his future usurper, Henry Bolingbroke, and consequently sets in motion the events of both Richard II and the second tetralogy as a whole. And yet, despite the initial intrigue surrounding the murder, the audience is never granted closure. At the end of Richard II, the audience only knows that Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk was involved, and that he was likely (though not certainly) acting on Richard's orders. However, Mowbray dies off-stage before he can clear things up, and Richard is too busy lamenting his fate to confess to anything specific. Other than that, the murder of Gloucester becomes a political football utilised by power-grabbing nobles to defame their rivals in the latter half of Richard II, and then is scarcely mentioned again in the rest of the Henriad. Therefore, it is interesting that, in 2 Henry IV, Falstaff is said to have once been Mowbray's page.

Now, there are elements that could diminish the significance of this, including Falstaff's origins in the historical figure Sir John Oldcastle, but all in all I think there is meaningful textual and dramatic evidence to suggest a connection between Falstaff and the murder of Gloucester. Moreover, I just find the role of continuity in the Henriad really interesting, and thought it would be fun to go full Game Theory on Shakespeare, so this is going to be a little long but will hopefully this will at least interest if not entertain you.

I'm going to assume you've not necessarily read all of the Henriad plays in order so let's start with a bit of an overview of the important information pertaining to Gloucester's murder to explain how I ended up thinking about this crack theory.

1 - Summary of evidence and key assumptions

Richard II starts with Richard overseeing a dispute between his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, and the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray. Bolingbroke accuses Mowbray of murdering the Duke of Gloucester, another member of the royal family. Mowbray's response is weird. He fully owns up to a prior conspiracy to murder John of Gaunt (Bolingbroke's father who is standing right there) but cryptically says he "neglected [his] duty" to protect Gloucester. Mostly, Mowbray seems outraged that Bolingbroke is calling him a traitor, and agr

Hello Shakespearians. New fan here. I’ve read King Lear, Othello, Caesar, Tempest, Midsummer, R&J, and Hamlet. I’m reading a giant history book at the moment that will probably take me a while, but after I’m done with that I’d like to read the Henriad. What order should I read that particular group of plays in?

I've already read Richard II-->Henry V, and am rereading the tetralogy this summer for the first time in a while (this time with a lot more history read to supplement the plays). Never read Edward III and I'm wondering if it would add a lot if I made this a prologue of sorts.

Already am quite familiar with Edward III's reign and the time period up to Richard II. This would be more to see what Shakespeare (and the dominant, unknown co-author) did with that long reign of Mr. Windsor's.

Interesting take on the 100 Years War and his claim to the French throne, with the courtship of Salisbury thrown in?

Or is this more or less a pot boiler, as far as drama and literature goes?

I’m a Richard III fanboy and I don’t have anyone to talk to who cares about this. Anyway. Does Shakespeare’s representation of Richard III make you feel like the bard is a shameless propagandist for the Tudors?

Have any of you watched the trailer for The King? Looks like it's supposed to start streaming on Netflix on November 1st. I haven't seen Timothee Chalamet in any movies yet, but imo he looks younger than 23--wonder how this will affect how I see him as Hal. I'm interested to hear your thoughts!

(Also, apologies if this has already been posted before, I scrolled back through the sub and didn't see anything about it recently!)

I've only read Julius Caesar, Romeo & Juliet, and Othello (twice), so there are other bigger name plays of his such as Macbeth and Hamlet that I haven't gotten to yet which I definitely want to read but the idea of a Shakespearean epic sounds awesome. Did you guys find it was worth reading them all or are they more or less passable? Generally speaking, what are your thoughts on the individual works and/or the series as a whole?

Do your worst!

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Hi!

Trying to find a collection of (preferably short) novels or plays with focus on a specific theme or location a la August Wilson's cycle (composed of ten plays). Preferably European, so no Mishima and not something too famous like the Henriad.

Balzac is a bit too long for me too, so something close to ten, but not much longer. Would really appreciate suggestions.

Pilot on me!!

Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.

This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.

If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.

Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.

What did 0 say to 8 ?

" Nice Belt "

So What did 3 say to 8 ?

" Hey, you two stop making out "

I won't be doing that today!

You take away their little brooms

There hasn't been a post all year!

This morning, my 4 year old daughter.

Daughter: I'm hungry

Me: nerves building, smile widening

Me: Hi hungry, I'm dad.

She had no idea what was going on but I finally did it.

Thank you all for listening.

It’s pronounced “Noel.”

After all his first name is No-vac

What, then, is Chinese rap?

Edit:

Notable mentions from the comments:

• Spanish/Swedish/Swiss/Serbian hits

• French/Finnish art

• Country/Canadian rap

• Chinese/Country/Canadian rock

• Turkish/Tunisian/Taiwanese rap

There hasn't been a single post this year!

(Happy 2022 from New Zealand)

Bob

Just to clarify, 12345678

Me grabbing a soda from my (what I thought was) half full 12pk...

Notices there's only 2;

Me: "Awe man... This is a damn bird box!" Her: "What the hell does that mean?!" Me: (Pulls both cans out & shows them to her) "It's only got Toucans."

I'm not ashamed to admit the look on her face was glorious.

So that I could frequently say, "I am going to walk 5 miles now."

I was just sitting there doing nothing.

“BOOM”?!

free

Because his Visa didn’t work.

Has anyone come across any analyses of the Henriad or its constituent plays that focus on the text rather than on the history? Every reading of the plays I’ve seen so far seems to focus on putting the plays in context, particularly the analyses of Henry V’s actions at Agincourt and Harfleurs. In fact, no reading of “Henry V” seems capable of escaping the Irish expedition (partly because it’s one of the few Shakespeare plays that has what can be described quite literally as a “dated” pop culture reference) and whether it’s pro or anti-Elizabethan. Trying to figure out what the plays say if you stop trying to guess Shakespeare’s immediate political concerns.

I do primarily mean the second tetralogy (Richard II through Henry V), but if you know of any which cover Henry VI-Richard III that would also be useful.

Also, not expecting anything but if anyone can point me in the direction of readings of “Edward III” (the one Shakespeare maybe-probably contributed to/co-wrote) I would be super-grateful.

"That's what they're fighting about."