The king places Prince Henry in charge of the royal forces. Sir Walter Blunt brings news that the rebels are going to meet in Shrewsbury, and King Henry says that he knows this: Prince John has already set out. He announces that Prince Henry will set out "on Wednesday next," that he will follow, and that all their forces shall meet "at Bridgnorth" in twelve days.
ACT 3 SCENE 3
In the Eastcheap tavern, Falstaff and Bardolph are involved in a humorous exchange. Hostess Quickly interrupts and Falstaff demands to know if she has caught whoever picked his pocket. She is indignant at the suggestion that there are thieves in her house, and reminds him that he owes her money. He claims that as well as his money, a seal ring "worth forty mark" has been stolen, but she tells everyone that the prince said that the ring was made of copper. Falstaff denounces Henry as a "sneak-cup" and threatens to "cudgel" him. As they bicker, Prince Henry arrives. They reveal their argument to him, Falstaff claiming that he has had "three or four bonds of forty pound apiece, and a seal-ring" stolen, and the Hostess telling Henry that Falstaff spoke "most vilely of" him and claimed that the prince owes him a thousand pounds. Falstaff jokes his way out of the accusations, and Henry reveals that it was he who went through Falstaff's pockets and found nothing of value. He asks Falstaff if he is "not ashamed," but Falstaff is unrepentant, calling Hostess Quickly to prepare breakfast. Prince Henry reveals that he has paid back the sum taken in the robbery so Falstaff is no longer in trouble, and turns the conversation to the impending conflict, providing a serious conclusion to the boisterous comedy of the scene. Henry tells Falstaff that he has given him command of an infantry company, much to his lazy friend's disgust, but the humor that this generates is swiftly forgotten as the prince sustains his new, more serious character.
ACT 4 SCENE 1
The swift movement between the four scenes of this act emphasizes the increased pace of events.
Lines 1-88: Hotspur and Douglas are interrupted by a Messenger bringing news that Northumberland is "grievous sick" and unable to lead his forces to join them. Northumberland's letter urges them to go into battle: in fact, they have no choice as the king is aware of their intentions and is preparing to fight. Worcester is concerned, but Hotspur remains optimistic, arguing that they will not be using all of their military strength at once, and will have "A rendezvous, a home to fly unto" if they are unsuccessful. Douglas agrees, but Worcester worries that it will seem as though there is a division in the rebel forces, suggesting weakness. Hotspur bravely, if naively, retains his optimism.
Lines 89-143: Vernon brings news that Westmorland and Prince John are marching toward them with an army of seven thousand. The king has also set out "With strong and mighty preparation." Hotspur listens calmly, then mockingly asks about Prince Henry, "The nimble-footed madcap," showing contempt for the prince's lifestyle and reputation. Vernon reports, however, that Henry's forces are "All furnished, all in arms," "Glittering in golden coats," "full of spirit," and "gorgeous as the sun," evoking Henry's own image of himself at the end of Act 1 Scene 2. Vernon recounts how the prince himself is like a "feathered Mercury," riding on "fiery Pegasus." Angry at this praise of Henry, Hotspur declares himself "on fire" to go into battle. He wants to meet the prince in single combat, "Harry to Harry," symbolically emphasizing the dramatic paralleling of the two characters. He asks after Glendower, and Vernon reveals that the Welsh leader is not ready. Worcester and Douglas are disturbed by this news, but Hotspur urges them into battle, to "die all, die merrily."
ACT 4 SCENE 2
On the march to Shrewsbury, Falstaff sends Bardolph to buy wine. Falstaff reveals how he has "misused" the power of conscription, making "in exchange of a hundred and fifty soldiers, three hundred and odd pounds," by recruiting mostly wealthy men who can buy their way back out of service. Consequently, the troops he now has assembled consist of "scarecrows" such as prisoners, "servingmen...revolted tapsters and ostlers trade-fallen." While this provides comic relief from the preparations for battle, Falstaff's sustained dishonesty contrasts with Prince Henry's newfound sense of duty and honor. Falstaff is joined by the prince and Westmorland, who criticize his troops. Falstaff comments callously that they are good enough for cannon fodder, and Henry urges him to hurry: the king and Hotspur are already encamped and ready for battle.
ACT 4 SCENE 3
The rebels argue over when to attack. A trumpet sounds a parley and Blunt brings a message from the king. Henry asks that the rebels "name [their] griefs," promising to try to resolve matters and to pardon those who have stood against him. Hotspur launches into a long complaint, revealing the grievances of the Percy family against the king, detailing the help that they gave him in overthrowing Richard II and the king's subsequent ingratitude, such as his refusal to ransom Mortimer. When Blunt offers to relay this, however, Hotspur shows unusual restraint, saying that Worcester will be sent "in the morning early" to talk with the king. He responds graciously to Blunt's wish for a peaceful solution.
ACT 4 SCENE 4
In a scene that foreshadows events in Henry IV Part II, the Archbishop of York sends letters to the Lord Marshal and Lord Scroop. He fears the outcome of a battle without Northumberland and Glendower's forces and is strengthening his defenses in readiness against the king, who is aware of his role in the conspiracy.
ACT 5 SCENE 1
The pace of the previous act is sustained into Act 5, reinforcing the rapidity and confusion of the battle.
The king and prince discuss the worsening weather. Worcester is brought in and the king chastises him for deceiving his trust and bringing them to conflict. He gives Worcester the opportunity to "unknit / This churlish knot of all-abhorred war," and Worcester responds that he is not the one responsible for the hostilities. He reiterates the complaints made by Hotspur in Act 4 Scene 3, concerning the "unkind usage" of the Percy family by the king. The king responds that this is merely an excuse with which to "face the garment of rebellion." Prince Henry offers to meet Hotspur in single combat to settle the matter, in order to prevent lives being lost in battle. He acknowledges Hotspur's bravery and nobility, and admits his own past failings as a "truant...to chivalry." The king forbids this and again offers to pardon the rebels if they surrender now. Worcester goes to deliver this message, and the prince warns his father that the rebels will not accept his offer of peace. The king leaves to prepare. The prince and Falstaff say good-bye, and, once he is alone, Falstaff muses on the futility of honor if it leads to death, reasoning that "honour" is merely "a word."
ACT 5 SCENE 2
Lines 1-42: Worcester tells Vernon that Hotspur must not learn of the king's offer. He argues that, while the king may forgive and forget Hotspur's "trespass" as a youthful misdemeanor, he and Northumberland would be punished by Henry; thus selfishly placing his own concerns before the possibility of averting the war. Hotspur joins them and Worcester announces that the king will engage in battle, dishonestly claiming that he "gently" told Henry of their "grievances" and that the king called them traitors.
Lines 43-102: Douglas returns from sending Westmorland to the king with a message of defiance and Worcester tells Hotspur that Prince Henry offered to meet him in single combat. Hotspur is pleased with this idea, echoing Henry's honorable concern for the lives of his men. Vernon describes how Henry praised Hotspur and confessed his own "truant youth," but Hotspur is unimpressed, expressing his intention to meet Henry on the battlefield. A messenger brings in letters, but Hotspur claims that "the time of life is short" and that he cannot read them now. Another Messenger announces that the king is approaching and Hotspur leads the rebels to battle.
Lines 103-133: Douglas and Blunt enter, Blunt disguised as the king. They fight and Blunt is killed. Hotspur arrives and recognizes Blunt, revealing that Henry has many decoys on the battlefield. They head back to battle.
Lines 134-161: Falstaff enters, alone, and sees Blunt's body, remarking: "There's honour for you!" Prince Henry finds him and demands his sword, chastising him for standing idl
e. Falstaff offers him a pistol, but the prince finds a bottle of wine in the holster. Disgusted, he leaves, and Falstaff reiterates his point that he would rather live than achieve honor in death.
ACT 5 SCENE 3
Lines 1-24: The king urges an injured Prince Henry to withdraw, accompanied by Prince John, but they refuse. Prince John and Westmorland return to the fight and the king and Prince Henry comment on John's bravery before the prince also returns to battle.
Lines 25-58: Douglas finds the king alone and, although uncertain whether it is another "counterfeit," begins to fight him. The king is in danger of defeat when Prince Henry rejoins them, causing Douglas to flee. King Henry tells his son that he has "redeemed" his "lost opinion" before heading back into battle.
Lines 59-111: Hotspur arrives and the prince declares that one of the Harrys must die: "Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere." As they fight, Falstaff arrives, followed by Douglas. They also fight and Falstaff collapses as if dead. As Douglas leaves, Henry kills Hotspur and eulogizes over his body, acknowledging his bravery. He sees Falstaff, apparently dead, and delivers an ambiguous but fond eulogy, promising to return for both bodies later.
Lines 112-163: In a moment of bathos after the tensions of the scene, Falstaff sits up, revealing that he faked his death to avoid being killed. He decides to claim that Hotspur regained consciousness and that he, Falstaff, killed him. He stabs the body and is interrupted by the two princes, to whom he tells his unlikely tale. Unconvinced, Henry tells Falstaff he will back him in his claims if it will do his friend "grace." They leave as the retreat signals their victory over the rebels.
ACT 5 SCENE 4
The royal party enters, with Worcester and Vernon as prisoners. The king lays responsibility for the day's bloodshed on Worcester for not accepting his offer of peace, and condemns both rebels to death. Prince Henry reveals that he has Douglas prisoner and asks permission to release him in recognition of his bravery. The king agrees and issues his instructions: Prince John and Westmorland are to lead forces against Northumberland and Scroop, while he and Prince Henry march to Wales to fight Glendower. Despite the victory, the play ends as it began: with the country in civil conflict.
SYNOPSIS OF HENRY IV PART II
In despair at the death of his son Hotspur, the Earl of Northumberland lends his support to a second rebellion, led by the Archbishop of York. As the threat of civil war looms over the country, King Henry IV grows sick, while also fearing that his son Prince Henry (known as Harry and, by Falstaff, as Hal) has returned to his old life with Falstaff and the other disreputable denizens of the Eastcheap tavern. Falstaff is sent on a recruiting expedition and renews old acquaintances in Gloucestershire. The rebel army is met by the King's forces, led this time by Hal's younger brother, Prince John of Lancaster. On his deathbed, King Henry is reconciled with his son, who has begun to distance himself from his former companions. A new, mature Hal accepts the crown as Henry V.
HENRY IV IN PERFORMANCE: THE RSC AND BEYOND
The best way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or ideally to participate in it. By examining a range of productions, we may gain a sense of the extraordinary variety of approaches and interpretations that are possible--a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made "our contemporary" four centuries after his death.
We begin with a brief overview of the play's theatrical and cinematic life, offering historical perspectives on how it has been performed. We then analyze in more detail a series of productions staged over the last half century by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The sense of dialogue between productions that can only occur when a company is dedicated to the revival and investigation of the Shakespeare canon over a long period, together with the uniquely comprehensive archival resource of promptbooks, program notes, reviews, and interviews held on behalf of the RSC at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, allows an "RSC stage history" to become a crucible in which the chemistry of the play can be explored.
We then go to the horse's mouth. Modern theater is dominated by the figure of the director. He or she must hold together the whole play, whereas the actor must concentrate on his or her part. The director's viewpoint is therefore especially valuable. Shakespeare's plasticity is wonderfully revealed when we hear the directors of two highly successful productions answering the same questions in very different ways. And finally, we offer the actor's perspective: a view of the play through the eyes of Prince Hal.
FOUR CENTURIES OF HENRY IV: AN OVERVIEW
Henry IV Part I was probably written and performed between 1596 and 1597 with Part II following a year later. The first performances of which records survive were at court in 1612-13 when a total of twenty plays were presented to celebrate the marriage of James I's daughter Elizabeth to Frederick, the Elector of Palatine. They are listed as The Hotspurre and Sir John Falstaffe, and were only later identified as the two parts of Shakespeare's Henry IV. These alternative titles suggest that both were originally seen in terms of their star parts rather than as a political study of kingship with Prince Hal at the center. As scholars and theater historians have pointed out:
That change of emphasis required a change of format. It takes both parts of Henry IV followed by Henry V to make Prince Hal into a fully-fledged hero, or antihero, and it was not until the mid-twentieth century that an influential cycle of these plays...was staged in the English theatre.1
Until this point the plays were performed individually and, although Part II was clearly designed as a sequel to Part I--probably in order to capitalize on the enormous and immediate popularity of the first play--there is little evidence to suggest that they were performed in sequence. Numerous contemporary references and reprints of the Quarto editions all point to their popularity and success, however. The writer Nicholas Breton mentions seeing "the play of Ancient Pistol,"2 and Leonard Digges' prefatory poem to the 1640 edition of Shakespeare's poems provides further evidence of their popularity:
...let but Falstaff come, Hal, Poins, the rest, you scarce shall have a room, All is so pestered...
In his commendatory poem to the Folio edition of Beaumont and Fletcher (1647), Sir Thomas Palmer claims he could "tell how long / Falstaff from cracking nuts have kept the throng."
Falstaff was originally played either by company clown Will Kempe or comic actor Thomas Pope, while Prince Hal was almost certainly played by Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian with Shakespeare's acting company, the Lord Chamberlain's (later the King's) Men. John Lowin took over the role of Falstaff: "before the Wars Lowin used to act, with mighty applause Falstaff."3 During the interregnum from 1642 to 1660, the theaters were technically closed, although various means were employed to get around the prohibition on plays, such as the introduction of music and dancing into sketches from popular plays known as drolls; a collection of twenty-seven of these, The Wits, or Sport Upon Sport, by Francis Kirkman, was published in 1662 with three featuring episodes from Shakespeare's plays, including The Bouncing Knight, or the Robbers Robbed, centered on Falstaff's exploits. The frontispiece illustration places Falstaff and the Hostess in prominent positions.
Henry IV Part I continued to be popular after the Restoration and was one of the first plays performed by Thomas Killigrew's King's Company in 1660. Samuel Pepys' diary records his attendance at no fewer than four performances over the period 1660-68. The play's main attractions were still Hotspur and Falstaff. Thomas Betterton, the great Restoration actor-manager, played Hotspur in 1682, with "wild impatient starts" and "fierce and flashing fire,"4 but in the 1700 revival he took on the role of Falstaff. Thomas Davies records how "the versatility of Betterton's genius was never more conspicuous than in his resigning the choleric Hotspur, in his declining years, and assuming the humour and gaiety of Falstaff, in which he is said to have been full as acceptable to the public as in the former."5 In contrast to most Shakespearean revivals in the period, it underwent relatively few changes apart from textual cuts of long politica
l speeches, the Welsh dialogue and song, and much of the mock trial in the tavern. Betterton's continued popularity as Falstaff was largely responsible for a revival of Part II during the eighteenth century, in which the star turns were Falstaff and Justice Shallow.
In the next generation, James Quin, who had previously played Hotspur and the king, was the most notable Falstaff. David Garrick played Hotspur on five occasions, dressed "in a laced frock and a Ramilie wig,"6 but was plainly unsuited to the role, and the part was taken over by Spranger Barry. One of the theatrical highlights seems to have been Falstaff carrying Hotspur offstage:
No joke ever raised such loud and repeated mirth, in the galleries, as Sir John's labour in getting the body of Hotspur on his back...Quin had little or no difficulty in perching Garrick upon his shoulders, who looked like a dwarf on the back of a giant. But oh! how he tugged and toiled to raise Barry from the ground!7
His successor, John Henderson, reportedly had so much difficulty with his Hotspur that a small gang of "Falstaff's ragamuffins" were used instead to bear the body offstage.8 Other late eighteenth-century Falstaffs included at least one woman, Mrs. Webb, who "excelled in corpulent and grotesque characters" in Norwich in 1786.9
John Philip Kemble played Hotspur at Covent Garden in the early nineteenth century and his brother, Stephen, was one of a number of actors to play Falstaff without padding, although William Hazlitt remarked of his performance, "Every fat man cannot represent a great man."10 The American actor James Henry Hackett played the part in England and America for forty years, and his Hotspurs included John Philip and Charles Kemble, as well as Edmund Kean and William Charles Macready. He received mixed reviews; The Athenaeum reported: