Shakespeare's garter plays

The second cycle of Shakespeare histories (Richard II, 1 and 2 Henry IV, Henry V) is presented in a new perspective by extending it to include the earlier Reign of King Edward the Third and The Merry Wives of Windsor, so as to create a single dramatic continuum with the five histories as acts and the comedy as the final jig.

What holds them together is Shakespeare's attitude toward the concepts of policy and honor, reflected both in the figure of Falstaff as anti-hero, and in the open or covert...