Quarto 3 of Henry V ( published in 1619 [with a false date of Q3-1608)
had 1623 lines, the First Folio 3227 lines.
How to explain this discrepancy?
 |
|
Q3 the last of the 3 Quartos of Henry V (Q1-1600, Q2-1602 ) published in 1619 [with a false date of Q3-1608 — part of William Jaggard's False Folio]
had 1623 lines, the First Folio 3227 lines.
had 1623 lines, the First Folio 3227 lines.
The only reason or motive – i can see - to completey redo the play decades after its creation must have been the occasion of the publication that warranted a carefull finishing hand to produce a final authorized text in the First Folio 1623 , with the new title "The Life of Henry the Fifth".
There are serious difficulties to imagine why, when and if at all (a decade in advance of the first folio??) the retired Shakspere (not at all involved in the First Folio 1623) felt the need to restructure and add additional 1604(!!) lines .
The most plausible explanation is, that
the additions for the First Folio 1623 were written by surviving Christopher Marlowe (alias the "true" Shake-speare, with many other pseudonyms) .
(See als Blog 118)
