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Satire
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Induction
Explanation and Analysis:
Henry IV, Part 2 is set in England during the early 15th century, with key scenes taking place in a number of royal courts and public inns and taverns in London. More specifically, the play takes place after the events depicted in Henry IV Part 1, beginning at the conclusion of the violent Battle of Shrewsbury. As with his other history plays, Shakespeare draws from the historical chronicles of Raphael Holinshed, incorporating real figures from the early 15th century but also inventing figures with no clear historical counterparts.
The figure of Rumor opens the play, reminding the reader of the events of the previous play and the broader historical context:
Why is Rumor here?
I run before King Harry’s victory,
Who in a bloody field by Shrewsbury
Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops,
Quenching the flame of bold rebellion
Even with the rebels’ blood.
But what mean I
To speak so true at first? My office is
To noise abroad that Harry Monmouth fell
Under the wrath of noble Hotspur’s sword,
And that the King before the Douglas’ rage
Stooped his anointed head as low as death.
This have I rumored through the peasant towns [...]
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