ABSTRACT
The two parts of Henry IV, written probably in 1597 and 1598, are an astonishing development of drama in the direction of inclusiveness, a development possible because of the range of the traditional culture and the popular theater, but realized only because Shakespeare's genius for construction matched his receptivity. The Henry IV plays are masterpieces of popular theater whose plays were, in Sidney's words, 'neither right tragedies nor right comedies, mingling kings and clowns'. Shakespeare was the opposite of primitivistic, for in his culture what we search out and call primitive was in the blood and bone as a matter of course. The Renaissance, moreover, was a moment when educated men were modifying a ceremonial conception of human life to create a historical conception. The fascination of Falstaff as a dramatic figure has led criticism, from Morgann's essay onward, to center 1 Henry IV on him, and to treat the rest of the play merely as a setting for him.
