Summary: Kerry Walters reflects on Shakespeare’s Henriad, praising Richard II and Richard III as the standout plays. He finds Falstaff to be a negative character rather than a comic figure, embodying moral failure. Walters also critiques Henry V, suggesting that Henry VI Parts 2 and 3 are stronger than often recognized.
Richard’s fall from the throne (and jerkitude) and subsequent ascent to genuine greatness is as powerful as anything written by Aeschylus. (View Highlight)
If Richard III is the personification of baleful evil, Falstaff is the personification of seedy moral failure. (View Highlight)