1 Henry IV

1
1 Henry IV
2
Shakespeares Histories as Chronicle Plays

• What is the relationship between the two parts of
  Henry IV?
• Henry IV, Part 2 Die Harder?
• Kill Bill / Kill Henry IV?
• Star Wars / Rose Wars?

3
The Henriad, or Shakespeares Two Tetralogies

• The eight plays in historical sequence
• Richard II (1595),
• Henry IV, parts one and two (1597)
• Henry V (1598)
• Henry VI, parts one, two and three (1590)
• Richard III (1592/4)
• In compositional order
• 2 Henry VI (1590) The first part of the
  contention betwixt the two famous houses of York
  and Lancaster
• 3 Henry VI (1590) The second part of the
  contention
• 1 Henry VI (1590) Richard, Duke of York (Richard
  of Gloucesters father)
• Richard III (1592/4)
• Richard II (1595)
• 1 Henry IV (1597)
• 2 Henry IV (1597)

4
Source material Chronicle History

• The Tudor Chronicles.
• The source material used by Shakespeare for all
  the histories written principally by Raphael
  Holinshed, often revised from earlier sources.
• The Tudor Myth ideological justification for
  the Tudor monarchy.
• Most pronounced in the first tetralogy where
  Richard III is defeated by Henry VII at Bosworth.
• In 1 Henry IV, Shakespeare downplays the Tudor
  myth.

5
Source Material Dramatic Precedents

• Indebted to dramatic sources, especially the
  earlier play The famous victories of Henry the
  Fifth (Anonymous).
• Enlarged by Shakespeare into three separate
  plays.
• Derives importance of Falstaff, named Sir John
  Oldcastle.
• Censored by the Master of the Revels, Lord
  Cobham, in 1597.
• Opposition to theatre by Puritans closed
  theatres in 1642.

6
Source Material Generic Precedents

• Relationship of histories to older dramatic
  genres, especially morality play.
• Falstaff as a vice figure.
• Psychomachia or soul struggle of the protagonist.
• Who or what is virtue?

7
Henry IV as a King

• Henry Bolingbroke young and ambitious lord of
  the House of Lancaster with claim to throne.
• Deposes Richard II and allegedly has him killed.
• Legitimacy of Kingship? Divine authority versus
  conscience of rule.
• This play opens with guilt Henry feels compelled
  to mark the ending of the period of civil war by
  starting a Crusade.
• Begins idea of restlessness well see later in
  the play.
• His admiration for Hotspur whats wrong with
  this picture?

8
Prince Hal as a son

• Prince Henry, Harry, Hal take your pick.
• Hotspur as a foil to the young prince in the
  Kings own words, Hotspur is A son who is the
  theme of honours tongue, / Amongst a grove the
  very straightest plant, / Who is sweet Fortunes
  minion and her pride.
• Antithesis of courtly world to the inns and
  taverns of Eastcheap social deconstruction
  provided by language damnable iteration.
• The pub world as space of rebellion and
  adolescence.
• Moral options provided by the pattern of the
  morality play path of righteousness versus path
  of debauchery.
• How does Hal negotiate these two options?

9
The Importance of Language in the Play

• Language as a signifier of rank, status,
  occupation, culture different kinds of language
  groups include the carriers, the thieves, as well
  as, importantly, the Scottish and Welsh
  characters.
• Code shared by linguistic communities to create
  shared identity.
• But how does one overcome difference when it is
  ingrained in the act of utterance itself?
• Key scene Prince Hal at 2.4.10 brags of being
  able to adopt the language of tapsters idea of
  self-fashioning.
• What is thieves cant or cryptolect?

10
England and Britain

• Presence of the Welsh in Act 3 Glyndwr.
• Welsh were seen to be superstitious and barbaric
  remember Westmorelands description at 1.1.42
  of the Welsh women performing ritualistic
  mutilations on the battle dead.
• Great Britain followed the union of the crowns
  in 1603 prior to Elizabeths death, the unity of
  Britain was a key political issue.
• Nascent sense of British Empire in early modern
  period the need to overcome differences between
  national cultures in Britain to face formidable
  power of French and, especially, Spanish.
• Union of nations as marriage.

11
What is the meaning of honour?

• OED definition of honour.
• Concept of honour underwent significant
  metamorphosis in the renaissance most important
  transition was move from external to internalized
  sense of honour.
• Medieval, chivalric code of honour emphasis on
  lineage (blood), allegiance to ones lord
  violence (martial prowess) honour by right of
  birth specifically male form of honour.
• Renaissance code emphasized the moral and
  political individual conscience, godliness, and
  political allegiance to the collective state.
• Tension between the two Renaissance men had to
  cope with both an old, medieval code of honor and
  the tensions of a new one, tensions that were
  created, to a large degree, by the contemporary
  insistence on the importance of the individual
  conscience (Reta 1072).

12
Hotspur and Honour

• What kind of honour does Hotspur represent? Is
  there irony or distance?
• Praise from King at beginning of play A son
  who is the theme of honours tongue (1.1.80)
• Hotspur in 3.1 how does Hotspur compare (foil)
  to Prince Hal? Worcesters comments at 3.1.172.
• Hostpur in 4.1 Harry to Harry shall, hot horse
  to horse, / Meet and neer part till one drop
  down a corse (123-4).
• Chivalric principle of honour in death
  Doomsday is near die all, die merrily
  (4.1.135).

13
Falstaff and Honour

• What is significant about Falstaffs battle
  preparations in 4.2? Prose soliloquy at 4.2.10.
• Irony? How does Falstaff compare to higher
  status characters such as Hal and the King?
• Speech on honour at 5.1.128ff honour is a mere
  scutcheon (funeral tablet or cloth used for
  funeral processions and gravestones).
• 5.3, Falstaffs comment over Blunts body
  Theres honour for you. Heres no vanity!
  (32).
• 5.4, after Falstaff rises from the dead The
  better part of valour is discretion, in the which
  better part I have save my life (117-18).

14
Prince Hal and Honour
Charles Robert Leslie, Falstaff impersonating
the King (c. 1851)

• What is the purpose of the joke played on
  Falstaff and his cohorts by Hal and Ned in Act 2?
  What does it suggest about Hals character?
• Honour among thieves?
• The role-play between Hal and Falstaff in Act 2
  (2.4.362ff) anticipates the real meeting between
  Hal and his father in 3.2.
• King Cambyses vein (2.4.372) alludes to an
  earlier play from the late 1560s early 1570s by
  the lesser-known dramatist Thomas Preston.

15
Prince Hal and Honour

• Prince saves his fathers life in 5.4.
• Final confrontation with Hotspur Hal begins by
  stating, two stars keep not their motion in one
  sphere (5.4.64). Honour as fixed commodity?
• Hotspur, before his death I better brook the
  loss of brittle life / Than those proud titles
  thou has won of me (5..77-8).
• Hals eulogy over Hotspur When that this body
  did contain a spirit, / A kingdom for it was too
  small a bound, / But now two paces of the vilest
  earth / Is room enough (5.4.88-91) honour is a
  scutcheon?