Henry IV Part 1

A detailed Summary of Henry IV Part 1

If there is one quality that distinguishes Shakespeare from all other playwrights it is his uncanny ability to breathe life into his characters. Most playwrights write plots before they write characters. The characters are then selected based on whether or not they suit the framework of the plot. They are confined by their narrow functions within the play. Shakespeare writes differently. He creates characters with a life of their own. Consequently, the plots of Shakespeare's plays unfold naturally, as the result of the set of characters created being placed in situation dictated at the beginning of the play (plot twists notwithstanding).

Henry IV Part 1 has two distinct storylines that unfold in parallel until the final act, in which they converge. They are more-or-less dominated by the figures of Hotspur and Falstaff, respectively. Furious at the King's refusal to pay for his brother-in-law Mortimer's ransom, Hotspur raises a rebel army aimed at overthrowing the King whose sovereignty he has just helped establish. His scheming, and the King's mounting of a counter-force drive the plot of the first storyline. Falstaff's shenanigans at the Boar's Head Tavern and various criminal activities form the substance of the second storyli

First of all, he values his honor above his own life. In the final scene of the play, as he lies mortally wounded by Prince, he tells him that he "better brook[s] the loss of brittle life than those proud titles [he] hast won of [him]. They wound [his] thoughts worse than [the Prince's] sword [his] flesh (l. 77-79).

Hotspur is also crude, forthright and of simple tastes. He detests all things ostentatious and ornate, and never hesitates to express his disgust for them or mock them outright. In Act I scene 3, he explains to the King the reasons for which he didn't transfer his prisoners to the Crown's envoy. He describes the delegate as: "a certain lord, neat and trimly dressed, fresh as a bridegroom, [...] perfumed like a milliner [who] called [his soldiers] untaught knaves, unmannerly, to bring a slovenly unhandsome corse betwixt the wind and his nobility" (l. 32-45). His disgust for the man's coquettish and pretentious manners fuels his decision not to transfer his prisoners. In Act III scene 1, His lady urges him to listen to Lady Mortimer sing. Hotspur responds that he'd "rather hear [his] brach howl in Irish" (l. 237-238).

The term "vocation", evoking a calling to duty by G-d, maintain

Hal judges Falstaff based on his moral value based on religion.

Falstaff's "instinctive evasions of everything that threatens to interrupt the career of his triumphant jollity and self-complacency" (Quote from 19th century critic William Hazlitt's essay on Falstaff) invigorates his aliveness. Falstaff does not allow pangs of conscience, at-the-time fashionable enslavement to the concept of honour, or even the secular sense of dignity interfere with his merriment. For example, he has no qualms about collecting the pay of the men killed under his command at Shrewsbury. Also, he thinks nothing of "honor". This is reveal

Some common words found in the essay are:
Act II, William Hazlitt's, Head Tavern, Earl Northumberland, , Lady Mortimer, Act IV, Furious King's, IOU Falstaff, Northumberland's Glendower's, scene 1, ii scene, act scene, scene 4, act ii scene, act ii, ii scene 4, transfer prisoners, act iv, scene 3, iv scene, act iv scene, iv scene 1, hal 'tis,

Approximate Word count = 1230
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English