Key Passages to reflect on in Henry IV, Part One

Key Passages to reflect on in Henry IV, Part One

1. This is a small list of passages, scenes, and speeches that I consider very useful, especially when considering the essay question. Keep in mind that this list is by no means exhaustive, and there are many other passages that will be excellent resources for you as you write the essay.
2. As with Midsummer, I will be reading selected portions of these key passages and I will contextualize these suggestions by indicating which characters either speak the lines or interact with each other in the dialogue.
3. Act I/Scene 1/Lines 1-34 and Lines 77-94. These two passages are spoken by King Henry and they help establish both the “backstory” of the play and its current tensions.  The second passage is important because it allows us to see the King’s grief and anger over Prince Henry’s wayward life, even to the point where he wishes Hotspur, “the theme of honour’s tongue,” was his real son.
4. Act I/Scene 2/Lines 1-111. This is our introduction to both Prince Henry and Sir John Falstaff and consists of extended, witty banter (with many veiled and not so veiled insults) between them.  In addition to its comedic value, it established the essential imbalance of their relationship.  Falstaff clearly likes and values the Prince more than the Prince does him.

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5. Act I/Scene 2/Lines 202 – 224. This is Prince Henry’s (in)famous soliloquy, discussed already in a Discussion Board Question.
6. Act I/Scene 3/Lines 1-126. This extended confrontation between the King and the Percy’s, especially Hotspur, establishes the King’s insecurities and wounded dignity and it establishes the pride, willfulness, and temper of Hotspur. (see also Lines 127 through the rest of the scene for more of Hotspur’s, well, “hotheadedness.”
7. Act II/Scene 3. The entire encounter between Hotspur and his wife, Lady Percy is a fascinating insight into his martial/knightly/stoic personality.  Lady Percy allows Shakespeare to briefly explore the rare female perspective in a play that is generally dominated by male voices (and aggressive ones at that).
8. Act II/Scene 4. This is a very long scene and perhaps the key Falstaff/Prince Henry set-piece in the whole play. Concentrate especially on Lines 116-295 for the comic masterpiece of Falstaff being caught in his outrageous lie about the robbery.  We see here his absolute wit and command of language, which is a key lesson that the Prince learns from him.  However, the real key here is in…
9. Lines 384-500: where we get the “play-within-a-play” where the Prince and Falstaff act out the parts of the Prince meeting with his father, the king. Almost everything in this passage is vital for understanding both Falstaff’s perspective and philosophy and for understanding the trajectory of the Prince’s movement away from Falstaff and back toward his father (eventually, in Henry IV, Part Two, he will utterly reject Falstaff).
10. Act III/Scene 1/Lines 1-150: The Tripartite division of the kingdom scene gives us an amusing confrontation between Hotspur and Glendower. Shakespeare uses it to signal the utter foolishness of Hotspur as a potential ruler of the land (and Glendower seems quite crazy too).  Part of the perspective here is that Hotspur may well be the greatest fighter and knight in England, but that definitely does not qualify him to rule the kingdom.  There is an implicit critique of the medieval idea that the strongest and best warrior is the best leader.  Shakespeare is acknowledging the way that medieval kingship was morphing into modern government.
11. Act III/Scene 2/Lines 1-146. This entire scene is crucial to understanding King Henry’s interior character AND for understanding how Prince Henry more or less completes his inner evolution from the wild and careless libertine he has been into a man who is worthy to take over his father’s throne.  The scene completes two earlier threads, the Prince’s soliloquy and the play-within-a-play.  Here we get the actual conversation between the King and the Prince.  Shakespeare presents the King’s perspective on what true power and leadership requires and the Prince makes his final decision to join his father and prepares to eliminate his rival “brother” Hotspur.
12. Act V/Scene 1/Lines 122-142. A great little passage where the Prince and Falstaff exchange views about the impending battle, both comic and tragic in scope.  Shakespeare perhaps tips his hand in Falstaff’s favor by having the Prince exit and then allowing Falstaff to present his “catechism” about honour.  This is one of his most important speeches, presenting his case for LIFE over HONOUR, and thus favoring the epicurean, carpe diem, philosophy over the stoic philosophy espoused by the Prince earlier in the passage when he says, “Why, thou ow’st heaven a death.”
13. Act V/Scene 2/Lines 78-105. As his rebellion collapses around him, Hotspur throws all caution, military strategy, and common sense to the wind and embraces a gallant but insane death wish of death in glorious battle.  Shakespeare SEEMS here to reject the Hotspur perspective…
14. Act V/Scene 3/Lines 32-41. Falstaff extends his philosophy of the uselessness of honour as he meditates on the corpse of Sir Walter Blunt.  He is then interrupted by Prince Henry, in a comic scene with a bottle of sack in his pistol holster (which enrages the Prince, who, in the heat of battle, has morphed into a kind of Hotspur).
15. Act V/Scene 4/Lines 58-112. We must focus in on the final confrontation between the Prince and Hotspur.  Of course, Hotspur is defeated, but to me the scene is interesting precisely because it appears that the Prince, in a way, becomes Hotspur!  He embraces Hotspur’s martial and knightly values and in doing so becomes the son his father can be proud of.  Notice especially, though, the brilliance of how Shakespeare undercuts the high seriousness of the scene by including the comical plot where Falstaff has faked his own death (even the Prince thinks he is dead).  In Lines 112-127 Falstaff gets a third and final speech about honour, where he plays on the several interpretations of the word “counterfeit.”