<p>More troubled and troubling than <i>King Henry IV Part 1</i>, 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.</p><p>James C. Bulman's authoritative edition provides a wealth of incisive commentary on this complex history play.</p>