History plays: William Shakespeare history plays

 Critics “recognize that the history plays are dramas, not objective historical accounts” (Scott). Discuss Shakespeare’s history plays in light of this statement.

William Shakespeare is the greatest dramatist of all time. He is best known for his dramas. He is the one who made a great contribution to the genre of drama and drama was most popular in the Elizabethan age. Critics like Scott recognized history plays as dramas and not only historical facts and accounts. We can find the historical dimension in the dramas of Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s historical plays are made for entertaining, so they’re dramas and meant to be performed. Shakespeare has written both Tragedies and comedies.  Shakespeare ‘history’ plays contain comedy, tragedy, and everything in between. All Shakespeare’s plays are dramas written for the entertainment of the public and Shakespeare’s intention in writing them was just was to entertain so he had added some elements of fiction, including the fictional characters as well, for example, Shakespeare made Richard lll an evil character more than he originally and he added new characters that weren’t in the real history like Falstaff (he added Falstaff to provide a new perspective on politics). The plays normally referred to as Shakespeare history plays are the ten plays that cover English history from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Each historical play is named after and focuses on, the reigning monarch of the period. In chronological order of setting, Shakespeare’s historical plays are King John, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, and Richard III, etc. The plays dramatize five generations of’ medieval power struggles. For the most part, they depict the Hundred Years War with France. They are works of imagination, based very loosely on historical figures as he is looking for the dramatic impact of historical characters. Works like "Macbeth" and "Hamlet," for example, are historical in setting but are more correctly classified as Shakespearean tragedies.  Some other historical plays such as Julius Caesar," "Antony, and Cleopatra, all recall historical sources but are not technically historical plays but are dramas. Shakespeare was writing for the entertainment of his theater audience and therefore molded historical events to suit their interests for dramatic purposes and to get the attention of the readers. Shakespeare provides social commentary through his characters and plots. He is depicting the era in which he lives and had highlighted the evils in society. He has done satire on the socio-politics of his time and it can be achieved through dramas. For example, Shakespeare cast King Henry V as an everyman hero to exploit the growing sense of patriotism in England. Yet, his depiction of this character is not necessarily historically accurate. There's not much evidence that Henry V had the rebellious youth that Shakespeare depicts, but he wrote that way to make his desired commentary.