Did Shakespeare Write Historical Fiction?

article by Kelly Leanne Green

I actually think Shakespeare invented the genre of historical fiction (although a good case could be made for the Greek writer Herodotus). More than a quarter of Shakespeare’s entire oeuvre was based on events that took place under the Plantagenet kings of England. If you consider his Roman plays and works like King Lear and Macbeth, the ratio is closer to half. But I became fascinated with Shakespeare as a writer of history and historical fiction after seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company’s histories cycle, during which they staged the eight Plantagenet history plays from Richard II to Richard III.

My own re-vision of Shakespeare’s historical fiction started when I couldn’t find much in the way of stories or books about the events in these plays for young adults and older children. Since I was taking my sons to see the plays, I wanted them to get the most they could from the experience. There were a few books for adults, mostly written by historians, but they were very dense, and assumed you already knew the plays’ plots and stories.

What did I want? Certainly more than a thrown-together synopsis of the plots. I wanted to understand the stories behind the story, and to get the jokes! I wanted to have those dukes of Gloucester and earls of Warwick sorted out in my head. I wanted to know which characters were real, or based on real people, and which ones were complete products of Shakespeare’s allusive imagination. I wanted to know how he changed events and characters, and what he left out.

That desire led to several years of research. Along the way I learned, and wrote, not only about castles, battles, knights and princesses, but also about the common people who fought and marched to make their case against aristocratic abuse and the taxman. The culmination of this effort was Plantagenet Plots: Shakespeare’s Stories of the Middle Ages, a novelized retelling of Shakespeare’s four history plays known as the Henriad: The Tragedy of King Richard II, The History of Henry IV, Parts One and Two, and The History of King Henry V.

Retellings, and re-imaginings, of Shakespeare’s plays have long been popular, but the histories usually get left out. On occasion they have simply been “retold” without any “reconsideration.” Since my academic background is in history, I wanted my retelling to include historical context and backstory about the characters and events, while keeping much of the plays’ beautiful language. What I learned along the way was that Shakespeare was actually a pretty good historian. The fiction part? The many wonderful, full-bodied characters he invented, like Sir John Falstaff (based on two real people), tavern hostess Mistress Quickly, prostitute Doll Tearsheet, drunkard Bardolph, and the mercenary and cowardly soldier Ancient Pistol. Shakespeare also created touching fictional scenes based on real people, like the English troops who sat in the rain and mud of the field at Agincourt, convinced that the next day they would meet their deaths.

I wrote this book to demystify the history plays for people who love Shakespeare, to re-introduce Shakespeare to people who have been put off by deadly school experiences, and to help those who already love the histories sort through what was real and what was fiction. Along the way, I hoped to tell some gripping stories, peopled by unforgettable characters. Shakespeare’s historical fiction is a part of our cultural heritage, and I think everybody should get the chance to enjoy it, one way or another.

While I wrote the books for a young adult audience, I’ve gotten good comments back from readers as young as 10, and from people over 50. One Virginia philosophy professor told me he had never been to a Shakespeare play until he read my version of Henry IV and went to see a production of it at the Folger Library in Washington, D.C. with his son. They loved it, and felt my retelling helped them appreciate the play and know what was going on. I couldn’t ask for a better endorsement than that. It is my hope that other readers will meet Shakespeare through these retellings, and then go on to enjoy more of the “historical fiction” he wrote throughout his career.

Book Description:

“Plantagenet Plots: Shakespeare’s Stories of the Middle Ages includes retellings of four of William Shakespeare’s Plantagenet history plays: Richard II, both parts of Henry IV, and Henry V. These stories focus on the needs of modern readers and audiences. They preserve the best of Shakespeare’s beautiful language, but incorporate the historical details and context we don’t necessarily know today. Loaded with illustrations from the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century, each story concludes with a chapter considering Shakespeare as historian–what did he change, make up or get wrong? Appendices include suggestions for further reading, recommendations on how to experience the plays through film and audio, maps, and a geneology of the Plantagenet family. Recommended for ages 10 and up.”

Read more about this book series at Rubeus Books.

Giveaway Info: 1 copy of Plantagenet Plots. Open Worldwide. Ends August 30, 2010.