Henry IV: Part 2
Written by William Shakespeare
Narrated by Ian McKellen
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.
More audiobooks from William Shakespeare
The Tempest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Comedy of Errors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twelfth Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Richard II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Much Ado About Nothing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Lear Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Titus Andronicus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry V Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Taming Of The Shrew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tempest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo & Juliet & Vampires Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shakespeare in Autumn (Seasons Edition -- Fall): Select Plays and the Complete Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAs You Like It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Sonnets of Shakespeare Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Henry VI, Pt.1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Measure for Measure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Henry IV
Related audiobooks
Henry IV Part 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry V Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry IV, Pt. 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Richard III Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Richard III: A Fully-Dramatized Audio Production From Folger Theatre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry VI, Pt.3 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry VIII Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Romeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love’s Labour’s Lost Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tempest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Richard II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King John Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Julius Caesar: A Fully-Dramatized Audio Production From Folger Theatre Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Henry IV, Pt.2 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Antigone (unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Henry IV, Part 2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Henry IV: The Shadow of Succession Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anthony and Cleopatra Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shakespeare: The Masque Quartet: Henry VIII, A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOedipus Rex (unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Spanish Tragedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Knyghte's Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Two Noble Kinsmen Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Head That Wears a Crown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Troilus and Cressida Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Antony and Cleopatra Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry VI, Pt.1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Performing Arts For You
NPR Funniest Driveway Moments: Radio Stories That Won't Let You Go Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Power of Myth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death of a Salesman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dying of Politeness: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Macbeth: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best of Second City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jim Gaffigan: Quality Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Is this Anything? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grapes of Wrath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Julius Caesar: A Fully-Dramatized Audio Production From Folger Theatre Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Save the Cat! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hamlet: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Othello: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way I Heard It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Life in Parts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pure Drivel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Storytelling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet: The Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Midsummer Night's Dream: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dirty Daddy: The Chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Racing in the Rain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Frankenstein (dramatic reading) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Create: Tools from Seriously Talented People to Unleash Your Creative Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (dramatic reading) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Henry IV
381 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I'm not big into the histories
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Didn't actually need to read this for my course, but since it comes between Henry IV Part One and Henry V, I thought I'd read it to make sure I have all the details.
I didn't like it as much as Part One -- it doesn't seem to tie together as well, and anyway I'm not fond of the character of Falstaff. Perhaps on stage it'd be funny and worth watching, but I didn't enjoy those scenes just reading it. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5There were two real highlights in this play: The first is the interaction of Henry IV with his court and with Hal as his death approaches. The second is the ultimate transition of Hal into Henry V, who rejects his erstwhile friends in a scene both touching and uplifting. But much of the rest of the play was a real chore to read, being written in 16thC vernacular prose and possessing little in the way of plot development. Perhaps Henry IV was more like 1.5 plays than 2.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not a scholarly review here, just a note for myself that I read this. The drama was pretty good, but my reading mood was off and so it took me two months to finish. Not good for continuity. Even so, I was able to pick up the main characters and plot. All the side characters became rather muddled for me though. Not sure what to think of Henry V. Seems a rather calculating and mean sort of man. Used Falstaff harshly, although I don't have much sympathy or care for Falstaff, either. Not sure why people have loved him so, I found him repulsive. Possibly the language barrier? I would like to read this in a more modern language to see if it makes a difference. Loved Henry the IV's speech about sleep, or the lack thereof. Also, one of the women who gave her father-in-law (or was he her father?) what-for because he deserted her husband when he needed him most.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This play was the third in a series of 8 which together formed Shakespeare’s masterful saga of 'History' plays chronicling the turbulent final century of the Plantagenet Dynasty from the deposition of Richard II in 1399 to the death of Richard III at Bosworth field in 1485.
Altogether, they have all the high drama of an epic saga with their vivid accounts of treachery, ambition, power, betrayal, feuding and war in an age of bloody upheaval.
If all this sounds gloomy and depressing, there are also colourful well-developed and memorable characters including the 'man mountain' plump and usually tipsy John Falstaff and the heroic Henry V as well as plenty of courage, chivalry and deeds of daring-do with a smattering of romance and humour.
Whoever said Shakespeare was boring? It should be said, however, that I could not fully appreciate these plays by simply reading them- they had to be seen as well. They are not, after all, novels, and reading through them in the way one would a book can be a tedious experience.
An increasingly unstable and insecure King Henry faces yet more rebellion and opposition from within and without.
Beset by failing health and troubled all the more by his conscience and fear of divine judgement upon him and his line for his crime of the deposition and murder of the rightful King.
The Earl of Northumberland and other nobles gather together their forces to make war against the King once again, but their readiness to negotiate proves fatal.
Meanwhile, Prince Hal still frequents the taverns of London, but his old friend Falstaff has come up with a new scheme to make gain money, prestige and hopefully the favour of the King and is the source of as much humour as before.
As King Henry's troubled reign comes to an end, however, Price Hal has some must mature to accept the great responsibility which is soon to be thrust upon him, even though it comes at the price of disowning his former companions of friends. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Falstaff has an entire speech about drinking. Of course. Not as entertaining as the first part, but acts IV and V make it worth it.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Falstaff is at his best in this play. Hal's abuse of him almost inspires sympathy for the blackguard. The transformation of the irresponsible Hal into a stately King is, however, rather hard to swallow.The death scene of HIV is a wonderful scene. It's easier for me to see Hal take the crown for his own head before his father is even cold (or dead for that matter) than it is for me to see Hal become a serious young man.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Shakespeare's "Henry IV: Part Two" really doesn't live up to the marvelous story told in part one. I read somewhere that both parts were originally a single play and Shakespeare broke it into two... I don't know whether that's true but I find it fairly easy to believe.There isn't much of a story here-- the battle is over and everyone is just waiting for Henry III to expire so his son can take over. It's pretty slow moving and not terribly interesting.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This play is not as enjoyable as its predecessor, largely because the remaining rebels to be mopped up are foolish weasels, not the roaring lion that Hotspur was. There remains the tension between father and son, which ends in a moving deathbed reconciliation and the prince's coming-of-age as king. More interesting is the career of Sir John Falstaff in the countryside, as we are allowed to see how a man of some shrewdness and no honor survives and profits while the kingdom is in an uproar, and the introduction of Justice Shallow, who so wants to be the Elizabethan equivalent of "cool." The play ends with the new king forbidding the evil old man his presence. This is a necessity, especially considering the old fool's plans for graft and glory, but it is a sad necessity.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Overall, I thought this was less interesting than Henry V, but that might just be because I paid more attention to HV (I have to teach it; I read this for kicks). There's not a whole lot of beautiful Shakespeare moments, the humor didn't hit me (possibly my fault, of course), and the best bit was probably the Induction, in which Rumour discourses on herself. On the upside, I learned the word 'fustilarian' and the phrase 'I'll tickle your catastrophe!', and I'm pretty sure I now understand the title of Javier Marias' 'Your Face Tomorrow': "What a disgrace it is to me to remember thy name! or to know thy face tomorrow!", says the prince in II.2. Here he's mocking/despairing over those who abandon their friends when they become famous; by the end of the play (V.5) he's the person who's abandoning his friends. This adds a fair bit to Marias' repeated question, "Can I know your face tomorrow?", which for most of the novel seems more epistemic and existential. If he got it from Henry IV, 'YFT' takes on a whole new moral overtone. I guess I should re-read it even sooner than I'd planned.
This now has nothing to do with Henry IV, which I doubt I'll re-read anytime soon. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This play ends with the death of Henry IV of England, and the crowning of Henry V and his dramatic rejection of Falstaff. I prefer it to the first part, and find the play has more pacing and tighter characterization. I guest I'm not that fond of Falstaff, having had to deal with the fallout from some "Lovable Rogues" in my own life. The Henry IV camp deals with the rebellion in the north, and Hotspur Percy gets killed.Read it 9 times, apparently.