Shakespeare's Historical Plays

Shakespeare's Histories have received less attention than his Comedies and Tragedies. Ever since the publication of Richard Simpson's 'The Politics of Shakespeare's Historical Plays" (1874), critics have tended to look upon them as political and didactic treatises rather than aesthetic creations. Professor Sen Gupta disposes of these homiletic interpretations and presents the Histories as works of art portraying characters issuing in action, and shows that whatever ideas they may have emerge from the developing plot.