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.
Bulman's commentary notes are exhaustive, and he highlights many previously unnoted moments of chronicle history influence . Bulman's new Arden edition does not merely give textual scholars a tight text and graduate students an authoritative survey of sources and theatrical history. It also effectively argues that we should reevaluate the position of 2 Henry IV within the canon. This masterful edition was well worth the wait. Shakespeare Quarterly