Excerpt from The Study of Shakespeare's King Henry the Fifth: Studies of the Historical Plays of Shakespeare

This guide for the study of Shakespeare's historical plays is arranged for practical ends. No attempt has been made to specialize the study in any one direction. The aim is rather to secure intelligent reading and thorough familiarity with the text of the plays and at the same time to aid effectively in the study of the drama as a form of literary art.

The objects which have determined the selection and arrangement of topics for study may be summarized as follows: It is intended to aid students, first, in reading with close attention, and in retaining, from scene to scene, the dramatic significance of all that has preceded, that, as the plot develops, it may carry the imagination steadily forward to those complex crises of dramatic action in which many conflicting motives mingle.

Secondly, to aid in understanding the dramatic relation and significance of plot and counter-plot, of mingling tendencies, and forces.

Thirdly, to aid readers in catching, in each scene and act the true significance of the characters that carry the action.

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