Henry IV, Part 1

“Marry then, sweet wag, when thou art king,

let not us that are squires of the night’s body be

called thieves of the day’s beauty. Let us be Diana’s

foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the

moon, and let men say we be men of good government,

being governed, as the sea is, by our noble

and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance

we steal.”

The liberties that Falstaff takes with Prince Hal show, on the one hand, Falstaff’s likable personality and affection for the prince, and, on the other, the extent to which Prince Hal has denigrated his station as heir to the throne. Falstaff invokes the goddess Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, to embellish the reputation of thieves. He hopes that their association with Henry will lift their position in life once he is king.

“I know you all, and will awhile uphold

The unyoked humor of your idleness.

Yet herein will I imitate the sun,

Who doth permit the base contagious clouds

To smother up his beauty from the world,

That, when he please again to be himself,

Being wanted, he may be more wondered at

By breaking through the foul and ugly mists

Of vapors that did seem to strangle him.

If all the year were playing holidays,

To sport would be as tedious as to work,

But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,

And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.

So when this loose behavior I throw off

And pay the debt I never promisèd,

By how much better than my word I am,

By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;

And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,

My reformation, glitt’ring o’er my fault,

Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes

Than that which hath no foil to set it off.

I’ll so offend to make offense a skill,

Redeeming time when men think least I will.”

While Prince Hal enjoys his time with Falstaff and his band of rogues, his love for them is not as sincere as Falstaff’s love for Hal. Hal plans to use them restore his honor: His calculated foray into society’s underbelly will endear him to the common folk, while his true, noble nature will stand out all the more by the contrast. This passage reveals Henry as A Calculating Prodigal Son.

“Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners,

But with proviso and exception

That we at our own charge shall ransom straight

His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer,

Who, on my soul, hath willfully betrayed

The lives of those that he did lead to fight

Against that great magician, damned Glendower,

Whose daughter, as we hear, that Earl of March

Hath lately married. Shall our coffers then

Be emptied to redeem a traitor home?

Shall we buy treason and indent with fears

When they have lost and forfeited themselves?”

As king, Henry holds the right to prisoners taken in military campaigns. Hotspur denies him, using his hostages from his Scottish campaigns as leverage to force the king to ransom his brother-in-law Mortimer. This plan is complicated by the fact that Mortimer has a claim to the throne that is as legitimate as Henry’s. King Henry recognizes that Mortimer is colluding with the Percy family.

“All studies here I solemnly defy,

Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke.

And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales—

But that I think his father loves him not

And would be glad he met with some mischance—

I would have him poisoned with a pot of ale.”

Hotspur demonstrates his characteristic temper, interrupting Worcester and Northumberland as he vents his rage toward King Henry. This rage extends to Prince Hal, the heir to the throne and thus the main obstacle to Hotspur’s ambitions. Hotspur views Henry as illegitimate due to his usurpation of Richard II, whom he seems to view favorably.

“PRINCE. Peace, you fat guts! Lie down, lay thine ear

close to the ground, and list if thou canst hear the

tread of travelers.

FALSTAFF. Have you any levers to lift me up again being

down? ’Sblood, I’ll not bear my own flesh so

far afoot again for all the coin in thy father’s Exchequer.

What a plague mean you to colt me

thus?

PRINCE. Thou liest. Thou art not colted; thou art

uncolted.

FALSTAFF. I prithee, good Prince Hal, help me to my

horse, good king’s son.

PRINCE. Out, you rogue! Shall I be your ostler?”

Falstaff’s weight is a frequent object of mockery, though he usually quick to spin the humor in his favor. This scene illustrates the power dynamics between Prince Hal and Falstaff based on Hal’s royal status. Under ordinary circumstances, Falstaff would not dare to treat a prince as an “ostler,” a servant in charge of taking care of horses. This exchange also highlights Falstaff’s proclivity to use puns, one of Shakespeare’s favorite forms of wordplay. “Colt” is a verb similar to the modern phrase “horsing around.” Falstaff asks Hal “Why are you horsing around with me?” Hal then makes fun of Falstaff for being “uncolted,” or “unhorsed,” because he is too overweight to mount his horse.

“What a lack-brain is this! By

the Lord, our plot is a good plot as ever was laid,

our friends true and constant—a good plot,

good friends, and full of expectation; an excellent

plot, very good friends. What a frosty-spirited

rogue is this! Why, my Lord of York commends

the plot and the general course of the action.

Zounds, an I were now by this rascal, I could brain

him with his lady’s fan. Is there not my father, my

uncle, and myself, Lord Edmund Mortimer, my

Lord of York, and Owen Glendower? Is there not

besides the Douglas? Have I not all their letters to

meet me in arms by the ninth of the next month,

and are they not some of them set forward already?

What a pagan rascal is this—an infidel! Ha, you

shall see now, in very sincerity of fear and cold

heart, will he to the King and lay open all our

proceedings. O, I could divide myself and go to

buffets for moving such a dish of skim milk with so

honorable an action! Hang him, let him tell the

King. We are prepared. I will set forward tonight.”

Hotspur gets a rejection letter from a lord he propositioned to join in the rebellion against King Henry. Hotspur has full faith in his plans and in the strength of his compatriots; his confidence makes it seem absurd that someone would doubt his plan. However, this lord’s message foreshadows cracks in the rebellion. Their plan relies on working together; if any faction fails to do their part, the enterprise is doomed. In addition this lord will report back to the king, exposing the Percy’s conspiracy, and ruining the element of surprise.

“HOTSPUR. Come, wilt thou see me ride?

And when I am a-horseback I will swear

I love thee infinitely. But hark you, Kate,

I must not have you henceforth question me

Whither I go, nor reason whereabout.

Whither I must, I must; and to conclude

This evening must I leave you, gentle Kate.

I know you wise, but yet no farther wise

Than Harry Percy’s wife; constant you are,

But yet a woman; and for secrecy

No lady closer, for I well believe

Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know,

And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate.

LADY PERCY. How? So far?

HOTSPUR.

Not an inch further. But hark you, Kate,

Whither I go, thither shall you go too.

Today will I set forth, tomorrow you.

Will this content you, Kate?

LADY PERCY. It must, of force.”

Lady Percy is almost as fiery-tempered as her husband. Their relationship is depicted as antagonistic, with the two of them exchanging insults almost at the rate of Prince Hal and Falstaff. Hotspur trusts Lady Percy as a wife, but not as a woman. He sees it as prudent to keep his plans secret from her. However, the fact that he sends for her after he leaves shows he does care for her; he does not want her to be alone. 

“I have sounded the very

bass string of humility. Sirrah, I am sworn brother

to a leash of drawers, and can call them all by their

Christian names, as Tom, Dick, and Francis. They

take it already upon their salvation that though I be

but Prince of Wales, yet I am the king of courtesy,

and tell me flatly I am no proud jack, like Falstaff,

but a Corinthian, a lad of mettle, a good boy—by

the Lord, so they call me—and when I am king of

England, I shall command all the good lads in

Eastcheap. They call drinking deep ‘dyeing scarlet,’

and when you breathe in your watering, they

cry ‘Hem!’ and bid you ‘Play it off!’ To conclude, I

am so good a proficient in one quarter of an hour

that I can drink with any tinker in his own language

during my life.”

Prince Hal’s monologue to Poins describes the prince’s foray among commoners, continuing the theme of his soliloquy at the end of Act I, Scene 2. Hal plans to use the affection of the common people to his advantage when he is king. He seems to respect Poins more than Falstaff. Rather than the butt of his jokes, Poins is Hal’s accomplice, aiding him in his prank against Francis, the waiter at the Boar’s Head Inn.

“PRINCE. What, four? Thou said’st but two even now.

FALSTAFF. Four, Hal, I told thee four.

POINS. Ay, ay, he said four.

FALSTAFF. These four came all afront, and mainly

thrust at me. I made me no more ado, but took all

their seven points in my target, thus.

PRINCE. Seven? Why there were but four even now.

FALSTAFF. In buckram?

POINS. Ay, four in buckram suits.

FALSTAFF. Seven by these hilts, or I am a villain else.”

Prince Hal and Poins enjoy the payoff of the prank they devised against Falstaff. Falstaff frequently lies to make himself seem virtuous, manly, or heroic. Throughout this exchange, in which Falstaff describes the costumed Prince Hal and Poins robbing him of the pilgrims’ gold, Falstaff inflates the number of assailants he fought off, but he is unable to keep the details consistent. However, merely catching Falstaff in a lie is not enough to humiliate him—it easily slides off his back, somewhat diminishing the prank’s effect.

“FALSTAFF, as Prince. But to say I know more harm in

him than in myself were to say more than I know.

That he is old, the more the pity; his white hairs do

witness it. But that he is, saving your reverence, a

whoremaster, that I utterly deny. If sack and sugar

be a fault, God help the wicked. If to be old and

merry be a sin, then many an old host that I know is

damned. If to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh’s

lean kine are to be loved. No, my good lord,

banish Peto, banish Bardolph, banish Poins, but for

sweet Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack

Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more

valiant being as he is old Jack Falstaff, banish not

him thy Harry’s company, banish not him thy

Harry’s company. Banish plump Jack, and banish

all the world.

PRINCE. I do, I will.”

Falstaff values Hal’s friendship. In the dramatization of Hal’s meeting with the king, Hal adopts the king’s perspective to mock Falstaff and demonstrate the negative influence he has on Hal. Falstaff, acting as Hal, expresses his desire to be accepted by the prince in his defense of his faults. True to his character, Falstaff spins these faults into virtues; thus, to banish Falstaff from Hal’s company is to “banish all the world.” This is dramatic irony: Falstaff does not know Hal already forswore his company in the future.

“GLENDOWER. Cousin, of many men

I do not bear these crossings. Give me leave

To tell you once again that at my birth

The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,

The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds

Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields.

These signs have marked me extraordinary,

And all the courses of my life do show

I am not in the roll of common men.

Where is he living, clipped in with the sea

That chides the banks of England, Scotland, Wales,

Which calls me pupil or hath read to me?

And bring him out that is but woman’s son

Can trace me in the tedious ways of art

And hold me pace in deep experiments.

HOTSPUR.

I think there’s no man speaks better Welsh.

I’ll to dinner.”

Glendower’s association with the supernatural and pagan Celtic beliefs adds an air of wildness and mystique to his persona. This characterization of Glendower highlights his foreignness, especially when compared with Hotspur’s straightforward rationality. Hotspur’s retort to Glendower in this passage shows his disdain for Glendower’s boasts: To Hotspur, Glendower might as well be speaking in Welsh, a language he does not understand.

“GLENDOWER.

Come, here is the map. Shall we divide our right

According to our threefold order ta’en?

MORTIMER.

The Archdeacon hath divided it

Into three limits very equally:

England, from Trent and Severn hitherto,

By south and east is to my part assigned;

All westward, Wales beyond the Severn shore,

And all the fertile land within that bound

To Owen Glendower; and, dear coz, to you

The remnant northward lying off from Trent.

And our indentures tripartite are drawn,

Which being sealèd interchangeably—

A business that this night may execute—

Tomorrow, cousin Percy, you and I

And my good Lord of Worcester will set forth

To meet your father and the Scottish power,

As is appointed us, at Shrewsbury.

My father Glendower is not ready yet,

Nor shall we need his help these fourteen days.”

This is one of the few instances in Shakespeare’s plays where a map is used as a prop. If the rebellion succeeds, Hotspur and the other rebels will divide the kingdom. They enlist the Archdeacon of York in their conspiracy as involving the church lends them another degree of legitimacy. However, Hotspur and Glendower’s reactions to their allotments show growing friction in the rebel camp, which foreshadows a bad end to their cause.

“By being seldom seen, I could not stir

But like a comet I was wondered at,

That men would tell their children ‘This is he.’

Others would say ‘Where? Which is Bolingbroke?’

And then I stole all courtesy from heaven,

And dressed myself in such humility

That I did pluck allegiance from men’s hearts,

Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths,

Even in the presence of the crownèd king.

Thus did I keep my person fresh and new,

My presence, like a robe pontifical,

Ne’er seen but wondered at, and so my state,

Seldom but sumptuous, showed like a feast

And won by rareness such solemnity.”

King Henry educates Hal on proper royal conduct. As heir to the throne, Hal should be concerned with his reputation: How his subjects see him now will affect their respect for him as king. Henry claims he was careful of his reputation, but his account contradicts Worcester and Hotspur’s recollection of the king before he deposed Richard II.

“I will redeem all this on Percy’s head,

And, in the closing of some glorious day,

Be bold to tell you that I am your son,

When I will wear a garment all of blood

And stain my favors in a bloody mask,

Which, washed away, shall scour my shame with it.

And that shall be the day, whene’er it lights,

That this same child of honor and renown,

This gallant Hotspur, this all-praisèd knight,

And your unthought-of Harry chance to meet.

For every honor sitting on his helm,

Would they were multitudes, and on my head

My shames redoubled! For the time will come

That I shall make this northern youth exchange

His glorious deeds for my indignities.

Percy is but my factor, good my lord,

To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf.

And I will call him to so strict account

That he shall render every glory up,

Yea, even the slightest worship of his time,

Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.

This in the name of God I promise here,

The which if He be pleased I shall perform,

I do beseech your Majesty may salve

The long-grown wounds of my intemperance.

If not, the end of life cancels all bands,

And I will die a hundred thousand deaths

Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow.”

This passage marks a turning point in Prince Hal’s character arc. Hal’s offer to duel Hotspur to prevent wider bloodshed is the first step toward redeeming his honor. Hal claims that every honor heaped on Hotspur is a mark of shame on himself. Because Hotspur is Hal’s foil and the apparent leader of the rebels, defeating him is the surest way of repairing his reputation.

“Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely since

this last action? Do I not bate? Do I not dwindle?

Why, my skin hangs about me like an old lady’s

loose gown. I am withered like an old applejohn.

Well, I’ll repent, and that suddenly, while I am in

some liking. I shall be out of heart shortly, and then

I shall have no strength to repent. An I have not

forgotten what the inside of a church is made of, I

am a peppercorn, a brewer’s horse. The inside of a

church! Company, villainous company, hath been

the spoil of me.”

Falstaff’s uncharacteristically sullen mood is a sign that the good times are over. He even briefly considers going to confession, but he quickly shifts any guilt he feels onto the “villainous company” he keeps. Ironically, he may be referring to Hal, who is proving not to be the friend Falstaff thinks he is, and who holds the same view of Falstaff and the others.

“HOTSPUR.

He shall be welcome too. Where is his son,

The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales,

And his comrades, that daffed the world aside

And bid it pass?

VERNON. All furnished, all in arms,

All plumed like estridges that with the wind

Bated like eagles having lately bathed,

Glittering in golden coats like images,

As full of spirit as the month of May,

And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer,

Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.

I saw young Harry with his beaver on,

His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly armed,

Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury

And vaulted with such ease into his seat

As if an angel dropped down from the clouds,

To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus

And witch the world with noble horsemanship.”

A common theme throughout the play is the respect for one’s opponents. Early on, the king praises Hotspur for his honorable deeds, despite the fact that Hotspur openly defies the king. Here, to Hotspur’s chagrin, Vernon lavishes praise on Prince Hal, who finally reveals the he possesses The Qualities of a King. The classical imagery makes the prince seem like a hero of antiquity.

“PRINCE. I did never see such pitiful rascals.

FALSTAFF. Tut, tut, good enough to toss; food for powder,

food for powder. They’ll fill a pit as well as

better. Tush, man, mortal men, mortal men.

WESTMORELAND. Ay, but, Sir John, methinks they are

exceeding poor and bare, too beggarly.

FALSTAFF. Faith, for their poverty, I know not where

they had that, and for their bareness, I am sure they

never learned that of me.”

While Falstaff is a mostly likeable rogue, his conduct during his military commission is his darkest moment in the play. He embezzled the funds he was given to enlist soldiers, took bribes from the men he was supposed to enlist, and recruited a pathetic band of men literally not suited for war. Falstaff nonchalantly dismisses their lives as “food for powder,” meaning gunpowder. Most of these men will die in battle.

“The King hath sent to know

The nature of your griefs, and whereupon

You conjure from the breast of civil peace

Such bold hostility, teaching his duteous land

Audacious cruelty. If that the King

Have any way your good deserts forgot,

Which he confesseth to be manifold,

He bids you name your griefs, and with all speed

You shall have your desires with interest

And pardon absolute for yourself and these

Herein misled by your suggestion.”

King Henry gives the rebels one more chance for peace. Given that Northumberland is too sick to join them, and Glendower is nowhere to be found, this offer is the rebels’ last chance to come away unscathed. King Henry is willing to listen to their complaints and assess their merits, demonstrating his sense of justice.

“It was myself, my brother, and his son

That brought you home and boldly did outdare

The dangers of the time. You swore to us,

And you did swear that oath at Doncaster,

That you did nothing purpose ’gainst the state,

Nor claim no further than your new-fall’n right,

The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster.

To this we swore our aid. But in short space

It rained down fortune show’ring on your head,

And such a flood of greatness fell on you—

What with our help, what with the absent king,

What with the injuries of a wanton time,

The seeming sufferances that you had borne,

And the contrarious winds that held the King

So long in his unlucky Irish wars

That all in England did repute him dead—

And from this swarm of fair advantages

You took occasion to be quickly wooed

To gripe the general sway into your hand,

Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster;

And being fed by us, you used us so

As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo’s bird,

Useth the sparrow—did oppress our nest,

Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk

That even our love durst not come near your sight

For fear of swallowing; but with nimble wing

We were enforced for safety sake to fly

Out of your sight and raise this present head,

Whereby we stand opposèd by such means

As you yourself have forged against yourself

By unkind usage, dangerous countenance,

And violation of all faith and troth

Sworn to us in your younger enterprise.”

Worcester lists the rebels’ grievances to the king to justify their rejection of his peace deal. This recollection of events from Richard II helps to situate Henry IV, Part 1 in the sequence of plays that make up Shakespeare’s Henriad as well as to remind the king of the debt he owes the Percy family for helping him to rise to power. The cuckoo is a bird that lays its eggs in the nest of another species. When it hatches, it breaks the eggs of the host species so it can get all the food to itself. 

“Tell your nephew,

The Prince of Wales doth join with all the world

In praise of Henry Percy. By my hopes,

This present enterprise set off his head,

I do not think a braver gentleman,

More active-valiant, or more valiant-young,

More daring or more bold, is now alive

To grace this latter age with noble deeds.

For my part, I may speak it to my shame,

I have a truant been to chivalry,

And so I hear he doth account me too.

Yet this before my father’s majesty:

I am content that he shall take the odds

Of his great name and estimation,

And will, to save the blood on either side,

Try fortune with him in a single fight.”

Prince Hal delivers the terms of his duel with Hotspur to Worcester. Hal recognizes the weight of the impending bloodshed, and he is willing to risk his life to stop it. Invoking Hotspur’s sense of honor all but ensures Hotspur would accept the terms if he were there. However, for selfish reasons, Worcester thwarts Hal by lying to Hotspur that the king wants war.

“Honor pricks me on. Yea, but how if honor prick me

off when I come on? How then? Can honor set to a

leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a

wound? No. Honor hath no skill in surgery, then?

No. What is honor? A word. What is in that word

“honor”? What is that “honor”? Air. A trim reckoning.

Who hath it? He that died o’ Wednesday. Doth

he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. ’Tis insensible,

then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the

living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore,

I’ll none of it. Honor is a mere scutcheon. And

so ends my catechism.”

This passage expresses Falstaff’s Virtues: The Futility of Honor. Although he is a knight, Falstaff operates under a code of ethics that falls outside chivalry. He is a hedonist who values pleasure and life. Falstaff analyzes the nature of honor and finds the dead cannot enjoy their honor, which often does not withstand slander (“detraction”) anyway. Honor is, therefore, like a gravestone (one interpretation of “mere scutcheon”), and he wants nothing to do with it.

“O Harry, thou hast robbed me of my youth.

I better brook the loss of brittle life

Than those proud titles thou hast won of me.

They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword my

flesh.

But thoughts, the slaves of life, and life, time’s fool,

And time, that takes survey of all the world,

Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy,

But that the earthy and cold hand of death

Lies on my tongue. No, Percy, thou art dust,

And food for—”

Hotspur’s final words reflect his worldview and values. He values honor over life. As a warrior, he does not mind dying a warrior’s death. However, his honor has been tarnished because of being defeated by Prince Hal, whom he views as disgraceful.

“The better part of valor is discretion, in the / which better part I have saved my life.”

Building on his previously expressed opinions about honor, Falstaff delivers one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines. He believes it is a good to be courageous but not at the cost of death. Playing dead when Douglas attacked him shows discretion on Falstaff’s part. Dying in battle would have been more honorable, but Falstaff values life.