More troubled and troubling than King Henry IV Part 1, the play
continues the story of King Henry's decline and Hal's reform. Though
Part 2 echoes the structure of the earlier play, it is a darker and more
unsettling world, in which even Falstaff's revelry is more tired and
cynical, and the once-merry Hal sloughs off his tavern companions to
become King Henry V.
James C. Bulman's authoritative edition provides a wealth of incisive
commentary on this complex history play.