Delusions of Valor and the Repercussions on Conduct

The popular view of Hal as a dishonorable scoundrel is what brings King Henry IV, his father, to compare him to the high-strung and vibrant young rebel, Hotspur. King Henry's constant tirades stating that he wished Hotspur was his son

Raising a child is always a challenging and time-consuming task, and raising a prince is even more difficult. Henry puts his leadership aside to focus his efforts upon preventing Prince Hal from absolute corruption or even betrayal. Hal enjoys the company of an unruly thief, the drunkard John Falstaff, as well as several other less respectable persons. Henry is more realistic and rational than Richard, and he is able to see that his position is not a good one. He may fear that he is a bad example for his son, for he too was a robber when he stole the throne. He fears that his son will ruin his image as king or even assist in overthrowing him;

n Shakespeare's King Henry V, King Henry prepares his troops for battle with a passionate speech about fighting, honor, and kinship. Henry uses strong ethos and pathos to persuade his men to fight the French, though they are outnumbered in the battle. Henry notes that his troops feel unprepared and overwhelmed for battle. This speech marks the moment where the boy Hal transforms into King Henry. For the first time, Henry takes on the role of a valiant king and takes control of the situation. He seizes the moment to prepare them and inspire them. Henry hopes by making an effective speech his men will understand why they need to fight.

Act one, scene one, stresses the motif of honor in war, in characters, and, most importantly, in offspring. However, while Henry sees “riot and dishonor” in his son, Hal sees a father who has stolen his title by disgracing a king (1.1.84). Shakespeare wouldn’t dream of imposing his personal beliefs of who is honorable or who is dishonorable for the simple fact that it is obvious honor is perceived differently by each individual, as in each character’s perception and the imagery that surrounds that character. As Hal tries to discover the true meaning of honor, readers take the journey along with him. Hal realizes that honor is ambiguous when utilized to plead for emotional retort, yet leaves no margin for error when used as personal description,

Although King Henry and Falstaff are extremely different characters, both do act as father figures in Hal’s life with Falstaff as a surrogate father and King Henry as Hal’s birth father. With King Henry, this fatherly relationship emerges as one of blindly scolding and ordering around his son, an example being when the King criticizes Hal’s friends, “rude society” (3.2.14). The relationship with Hal and his surrogate father, Falstaff, though is much more relaxed with Falstaff teasing Hal, by touching on Hal’s slight insecurity of taking care of his princely duties, calling Hal “true prince” (2.4.106). Although both these relationships are very different in how relaxed they are, there is a similarity of King Henry and Falstaff acting as fatherly figures in Hal’s life.

Being a King is no easy task, it is full of responsibility, action, and a strong-willed spirit. His interactions will teach him how to rule. having to look at all fronts in the courts, in the tavern with Falstaff, rich, poor, or the face of war and death, all of this will compile to a person who will be just and wise. He is not looking for a format to follow, or simply fill in the shoes his father left, but is creating his own way of ruling, and each influence will add to his own individuality and to his country, as he even says himself “I shall hereafter, my thrice-gracious lord,/ Be more myself.” (S.3. A.3. Versus 92-93) Hal is now going into his final transformation from prince, to

The first impressions of Hotspur is portrayed when he is recognized by Henry IV as a model son that he envies. When Hotspur’s outstanding courage is combined with the numerous wars he has won, he becomes the princely figure that Henry IV hopes his son, Hal, will aspire to be. Later it is noted that with all this praise as a bold, courageous warrior who laughs at the face of danger, comes a quick tempered man who can get unnecessarily angry at the frivolous things in life. While respiting after a battle, Hotspur gets word from a inappropriately extravagant messenger that the king demands he hand over the prisoners he had captured. Hotspur refuses the messenger and pathetically defends himself by saying “He should or he should not; for he made me mad /

Prince Hal shows a great deal of insight in this revelation; his words show that he realizes he has a twofold boundary to overcome: first, he is seen as overly juvenile and flighty by most of his father’s men; second, and more importantly, Hal knows that he has no claim to the divine right to rule, as he is not of Richard II’s bloodline. It seems, then, that Hal knows full well “the way that men respond to the image of royalty, and [is] no less instinctive a politician than his father,” and is in fact “the creator as well as the creature of political mythology, the author as well as the hero of his legend” (Ornstein, 137). By rising phoenix-like out of the ashes, Hal knows that he will make a more compelling impression on England than if he had been conventionally “princely” all his life, and plays this dramatic advantage to

Shakespeare’s ‘King Henry IV Part I’ centres on a core theme of the conflict between order and disorder. Such conflict is brought to light by the use of many vehicles, including Hal’s inner conflict, the country’s political and social conflict, the conflict between the court world and the tavern world, and the conflicting moral values of characters from each of these worlds. This juxtaposition of certain values exists on many levels, and so is both a strikingly present and an underlying theme throughout the play. Through characterization Shakespeare explores moral conflict, and passage three is a prime example of Falstaff’s enduring moral disorder. By this stage in the play Hal has

In an abbreviated sort of version of the rejection scene, Prince Hal (Branagh) shows his intense link to Falstaff by conveying his lines of rejection and banishment without spoken words, choosing instead to use his facial expressions (assisted by a voice over by Branagh) to illustrate his thoughts. Falstaff's reception of Hal's non-verbal meaning shows the fact that Hal and Falstaff are linked beyond friendship and family, while the words themselves show that despite this union Hal has no qualms about using Falstaff to achieve his ends. The humanization of Falstaff changes the way we look at the character of Henry V and the production as a whole, as with Falstaff so much more pure, Henry is seen as the Machiavel he must become in order to succeed his father.

Though it is the main source of his father’s disapproval, Prince Hal learns a great deal from his

Henry displayed heroic abilities beginning in his youth. In 1403, Henry fought in the Battle of Shrewsbury alongside his father, battling Henry “Hotspur” Percy. The Percy family had previously supported Henry IV while unseating Richard II from the throne but later revolted. The Percy family allied themselves with Owen Glendower, a Welsh rebel, and Edward Mortimer, Richard the II’s heir ("Henry V"). Young Henry, despite being known as a rowdy and reckless teenage, battled “Hotspur” and proved victorious. It was during this battle that an arrow found its target on his face and left him with a scar ("Henry V"). He was lucky to not face death. In 1403, the fighting continued but this time with Owen Glendower who had revolted in Wales. Owen Glendower

Lastly, the tense relationship between Hal and his father, King Henry IV is also a Shakespearean example of intergenerational conflict. Hal’s upbringing shows similarities with the tale of the prodigal son, which was popular in the medieval time period. Hal is a disappointment to his father, which we learn when King Henry tells Westmorland that he envies the Percy family for having such a noble and honorable son:

II. iv. 181), but in the film Branagh chooses to keep these poignant lines internal and use a voice over effect to deliver them. Despite Hal's apparent silence, the slight hardening of his face cause all present to understand his meaning as well as if he had said the lines aloud. This effect is given to show the slight unwillingness to admit his disloyalty to his friends, but also his inability to control the feelings he harbors. Even without an actual incantation of his intentions, Hal's emotions bubble forth on to his face and into the minds of the onlookers. Displaying them as all the more powerful. Falstaff's reply "We have heard the chimes at midnight, Master [Harry]." (2 Henry IV. III. ii. 214-215),coupled with a pained look of rejection gives the audience more of a sense of pathos for Falstaff. Another voice over delivers Henry's actual rejection line of "I know thee not, old man," (2 Henry IV. V. v. 47). The entire effect of this amalgam, for the layman or the scholar, is to show Prince Hal's need to actually banish even those close to him in order to become the proper king he is as Henry V. It is at this point that Hal begins to use what he has been taught to become the true Machiavel he will be, and to ensure that no tie could stand in his way of replacing his father, Henry IV. The audience sees Falstaff's importance, and, by Hal's silence, the difficulty of the rejection of

Throughout the play King Henry would like his son, Prince Hal, to act a certain way. The King wants Prince Hal to act royal and responsible, like Hotspur. Instead, Prince Hal decides to act out and represent immature behavior with his sidekick Falstaff. King Henry states, “See riot and dishonor stain the brow of my young Harry. O, that it could be proved that some night tripping fairy had exchanged in cradle clothes our children where they lay, and called mine Percy, his Plantagenet!” (I, I, 87-89). The King