Poetic Truth or Historical Truth; Dramatists or Historian: Shakespeare?s King Henry V History Plays

This study examines Shakespeare?s deviation from the historical sources upon which he relied in dramatizing the character of King Henry V, in 1Henry IV,2Henry IV, and Henry V., and accounts for that deviation from the point of view of the critical perception dominant at the time and which tackled the relation between history and drama(literature): namely, Sir Philip Sidney?s Defense of Poesy, the major sixteenth-century critical piece, and also in connection with the classical model for the employment of history in drama established in Aristotle?s De Poetica. The main question of the study is whether Shakespeare, in his employment of history and deviation from it, is conforming to literary/critical obligations, or manipulating history to suit ideologies beyond the critical criteria. It turns out that those who think immoral, mischievous, manipulative, and falsifying Shakespeare?s deviation from history necessarily overlook, or are ignorant of, the license given to or, indeed, the almost obligatory rules set for him, by Aristotle and Sidney. Nonetheless, as long as Shakespeare might be a committed dramatist conforming to literary and critical norms, one cannot deny that his manipulation of the history of a major English monarch probably turns Shakespeare into a Machiavellian politician and artist, one who exploits drama for ideological goals, such as denouncing the power of royalty in favor of the power of art.