Henry IV, Part 1

Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare. It is the second of Shakespeare's four-part tetralogy that deals with the reigns of Richard II through to Henry V. Henry IV, Part 1 depicts a span of history that begins with Hotspur's battle at Homildon against the Douglas late in 1402 and ends with the defeat of the rebels at Shrewsbury in the middle of 1403. It was probably first performed early in 1597. It has, from its earliest performances, been an extremely popular play both with the public and the critics.

Plot

Henry Bolingbroke - now King Henry IV - is having an unquiet reign. His personal disquiet at the means whereby he gained the crown - by deposing Richard II - would be solved by a journey to the Holy Land to fight Moslems, but broils on his borders with Scotland and Wales prevent that. Moreover, his guilt causes him to mistreat the Earls Northumberland and Worcester, heads of the Percy family, and Edmund Mortimer, the Earl of March. The first two helped him to his throne, and the third was proclaimed by Richard, the former king, as his rightful heir.

Adding to King Henry's troubles is the behavior of his son and heir, the Prince of Wales. Hal (the future Henry V) has forsaken the court to waste his time in taverns with low companions. This makes him an object of scorn to the nobles and calls into question his royal worthiness. Hal's chief friend and foil in living the low life is Sir John Falstaff. Fat, old, drunk, and corrupt as he is, he has a charisma and a zest for life that captivate the Prince, born into a world of hypocritical pieties and mortal seriousness.

The play has three groups of characters that interact slightly at first, and then come together in the battle of Shrewsbury, where the success of the rebellion will be decided. First there is King Henry himself and his immediate council. He is the engine of the play, but usually in the background. Next there is the group of rebels, energetically embodied in Harry Percy -- Hotspur -- and including his father (Northumberland) and uncle (Worcester), the Scottish Earl of Douglas, Edmund Mortimer and the Welshman Owen Glendower. Finally, at the center of the play is the young Prince Hal and his companions Falstaff, Poins, Bardolph, and Peto. Streetwise and pound-foolish, these rogues manage to paint over this grim history in the colors of comedy.

As the play opens, the king is angry with Hotspur for refusing him most of the prisoners taken in a recent action against the Scots. Hotspur, for his part, would have the king ransom Edmund Mortimer (his wife's brother) from Owen Glendower, the Welshman who holds him. Henry refuses, berates Mortimer's loyalty and treats the Percies to threats and rudeness. Stung and alarmed by Henry's dangerous and peremptory way with them, they proceed to make common cause with the Welsh and Scots, intending to depose "this ingrate and cankered Bolingbroke". By Act II, rebellion is brewing.

As Henry Bolingbroke is mishandling the affairs of state, his son Hal is joking, drinking, and whoring. He finds himself embroiled in a highway robbery, which is the chief means that Falstaff and his minions have of supporting themselves. Hal is not, however, a pawn of these fellows, but rather coolly keeps his head, does not participate directly and later returns all the money taken. Rather early in the play, in fact, Hal informs us that his riotous time will soon come to a close, and he will re-assume his rightful high place in affairs by showing himself worthy to his father and others through some (unspecified) noble exploits.

The revolt of Mortimer and the Percys very quickly gives him his chance to do just that. The high and the low come together when the Prince makes up with his father and is given a high command. He orders Falstaff (who is, after all, a knight) to procure a group of footsoldiers and proceed to the battle site at Shrewsbury. The easy life is over for now.

The Battle of Shrewsbury is crucial. If the rebels even achieve a standoff their cause gains greatly, as they have other powers awaiting under Northumberland, Glendower, Mortimer, and the Bishop of York. Henry needs a decisive victory here. He outnumbers the rebels, but Hotspur, with the wild hope of despair, leads his troops into battle. The day wears on, the issue still in doubt, the king harried by the wild Scot Douglas, when Prince Hal and Hotspur, the two Harrys that cannot share one land, meet. Finally they will fight -- for glory, for their lives, and for the kingdom. The future king, no longer a tavern brawler but a warrior, prevails.

On the way to this climax, we are treated to Falstaff, who has "misused the King's press damnably", not only by taking money from able-bodied men who wished to evade service but by keeping the wages of the poor souls he brought instead who were killed in battle ("food for powder, food for powder"). He has the effrontery, too, to claim he killed Hotspur, having merely stabbed the dead body. Yet Hal (who, not an hour before, actually had killed him), perhaps shaking his head in wonder, allows Sir John his disreputable tricks.

The play ends at Shrewsbury, after the battle. The death of Hotspur has taken the heart out of the rebels,[8], and the king's forces prevail. Henry is pleased with the outcome, not least because it gives him a chance to execute Thomas Percy, the Earl of Worcester, one of his chief enemies (though previ ously one of his chief friends). But all is not settled: now he must deal with the Archbishop of York, who has joined with Northumberland, and with the forces of Mortimer and Glendower. This ending in the middle sets the stage for Part 2.

Dramatis personae

• King Henry IV of England
• Prince Harry, also called Hal
• Lord John of Lancaster
• Earl of Westmorland (Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland)
• Sir Walter Blunt
• Earl of Worcester (Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester)
• Earl of Northumberland (Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland)
• Henry Percy, known as Hotspur, Northumberland's son
• Kate, Lady Percy, Hotspur's wife
• Edmund Mortimer, called Earl of March
• Lady Mortimer
• Owen Glendower, leader of the Welsh, and Lady Mortimer's father
• Earl of Douglas
• Sir Richard Vernon
• Richard Scroop, Archbishop of York
• Sir Michael, a member of the Archbishop's household
• Sir John Falstaff
• Edward (Ned) Poins
• Bardolph
• Peto
• Mistress Quickly
• Francis, a drawer
• Vintner
• Gadshill
• Carriers, Chamberlain, Ostler, Travellers, Sheriff, Messengers, Servant, Lords, Soldiers

Themes and interpretations

Template:Unreferenced At its first publication in 1597 or 1598 the play was titled The History of Henrie the Fourth and its title page advertised only the presence of Harry Hotspur and the comic Sir John Falstaff; Prince Hal was not mentioned. Indeed, throughout most of the play's performance history, Hal was seen as a relatively uninteresting figure, and the stars of the stage typically preferred to play Hotspur. It was only in the twentieth century that readers and performers began to see the central interest as the coming-of-age of Hal, who is now seen as the starring role.

In the "coming-of-age" interpretation, Hal's acquaintance with Falstaff and the tavern lowlife humanizes him and rounds out the view of Elizabethan life. At the outset, Prince Hal seems to pale in comparison with the fiery Henry "Hotspur" Percy, the young noble lord of the North (whom Shakespeare portrays about 23 years younger than he was in history in order to provide a foil for Hal). Many readers interpret the history as a tale of Prince Hal growing up, evolving into King Henry V, perhaps the most heroic of all of Shakespeare's characters, in what is a tale of the prodigal son writ large against the backdrop of medieval England.

Other readers have, however, looked at Hal more critically; the play can be read as nostalgic for the old-fashioned honour and chivalry of Hotspur, and Hal can appear as a budding Machiavel. In this reading, there is no "ideal king": the gradual rejection of Falstaff is a rejection of Hal's humanity in favour of cold realpolitik.

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