Penguin Classics: Henry IV - Part One

Come, sing me a bawdy song, make me merry. I was as virtuously given as a gentleman need to be. Virtuous enough. Swore little. Diced not above seven times a week'

Prince Hal, the son of King Henry IV, spends his time in idle pleasure with dissolute friends, among them the roguish Sir John Falstaff. But when the kingdom is threatened by rebellious forces, the prince must abandon his feckless ways. Ranging from taverns and brothels to the royal court and the battlefield, Shakespeare's masterful drama shows a prodigal son rising to meet his destiny as a ruler of men.

'The finest, most representative instance of what Shakespeare can do.' Harold Bloom

General Introduction by Stanley Wells
Edited by Peter Davison
Introduction by Charles Edelman