The dramatisation of history in Shakespeare’s historical plays

Abstract

The verses Shakespeare writes throughout his dramatic career to be produced on stage have been admired by audiences worldwide throughout the ages. Due to the popularity of his plays, one could say that Shakespeare excelled at his job, being first and foremost a playwright who earned a living from his production of plays. But, with regards to his history plays, the audience would wonder whether Shakespeare’s priority is actually England’s history, or English drama. This dissertation seeks to explore this dilemma of whether in his historical plays, Shakespeare is to be perceived as a dramatic historiographer, or rather, a historical dramatist. The characters and events of the plays are bestowed onto the audience in such a way that they remain imprinted and embedded within our minds as the factual depiction of such historic individuals and occurrences. It is true that Shakespeare utilises historical facts as the basis for the evolution of his histories, however, the audience ponders on the extent to which Shakespeare distorts and perverts what is historically considered as the truth for his intent of drama. This dissertation aspires to study the way Shakespeare extends the facts of English history to fiction through his dramatisation of history in his history plays, and how he, through this dramatic interpretation, succeeds in becoming our ‘Muse of fire, that would ascend / The brightest heaven of invention.'