Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on William Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 2. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.
Henry IV Part 2: Introduction
Henry IV Part 2: Plot Summary
Henry IV Part 2: Detailed Summary & Analysis
Henry IV Part 2: Themes
Henry IV Part 2: Quotes
Henry IV Part 2: Characters
Henry IV Part 2: Symbols
Henry IV Part 2: Literary Devices
Henry IV Part 2: Theme Wheel
Brief Biography of William Shakespeare
Historical Context of Henry IV Part 2
Other Books Related to Henry IV Part 2
- Full Title: Henry IV Part 2
- When Written: 1596-1599
- Where Written: London
- When Published: 1600
- Literary Period: Elizabethan England
- Genre: History play
- Setting: England, early 1400s
- Climax: King Henry V’s turn against Falstaff.
- Antagonist: The Archbishop of York, Lord Bardolph, Mowbray, and Hastings.
Extra Credit for Henry IV Part 2
Chimes at Midnight. Orson Welles was so inspired by the character of Falstaff that he based an entire movie around him, starring as the fat man himself. Welles took the title of the film from a line Falstaff says in Henry IV Part 2 to Justice Shallow—“We have heard the chimes at midnight”—indicating that they had stayed up late in their youth, living life to the fullest.
False Promises. Although the epilogue in Henry IV Part 2 makes a big show of promising to continue Falstaff’s story in Henry V the old man does not ever actually appear onstage in that play. His sole mention occurs when another character recounts his death.
