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Hal tells his father that:
Percy is but my factor, good lord,
To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf.
And I will call him to so strict account
That he shall render every glory up
(III. ii. 147-50).
The language of commerce here suggests "a world in which practical cunning is the key to every triumph," but even this attitude of Hal's is seen to be a front when he allows the credit for his victory to be taken (Rubinstein 294). Through all of Hal's prticipation in robbery and symbolic language implying te same in others, both sides of a true rebellion seem to have honor on their side.
Perhaps this is why Hal must eventually turn his back on Falstaff completely. For all of his friends lightheartedness and lack of a truly evil spirit, there is simply no honor in the way the knight conducts himself. It is not merely the fact that he robs, but that he is even unprincipled...
Ultimately, Henry IV Part 1 uses both robbery and rebellion as a way of showing the contrasting positive notions of retribution and redemption. Falstaff has no real interest in these, and so is eventually left behind as others progress.
Works Cited
Mabillard, Amanda. "1 Henry IV: Analysis." Shakespeare Online, 2006. Accessed 31 August 2009. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/1henryIVcommentary.html
Over, William. "Review: Henry IV Parts I II." Theatre Journal 31(4), pp. 545-6.
Rubinstein, E. "1 Henry IV: The Metaphor of Liability." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 10(2), pp. 287-95.
Shakespeare, William. The First part of King Henry IV. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Wentersdorf, Karl P. "Shakespeare and Carding: Notes on Cruxes in 1 Henry IV and in Twelfth Night." Shakespeare Quarterly 36(2), pp. 215-9.
Works Cited
Mabillard, Amanda. "1 Henry IV: Analysis." Shakespeare Online, 2006. Accessed 31 August 2009. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/1henryIVcommentary.html
Over, William. "Review: Henry IV Parts I II." Theatre Journal 31(4), pp. 545-6.
Rubinstein, E. "1 Henry IV: The Metaphor of Liability." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 10(2), pp. 287-95.
Shakespeare, William. The First part of King Henry IV. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Henry IV is a fifteenth century play set in England. The political condition in England is edgy: King Henry IV is dead, his son, the youthful King Henry the V, assumes throne. More than a few harsh civil conflicts leave people of England agitated and disgruntled. In addition, gaining the English peoples respect, Henry has to live his wild adolescent past. The peak of war finds the English less prepared
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Henry IV is one of history's great plays on war and the way in which war can inflict its torment on a nation and a family. For aside being a play about war, it is also play about human relationships. Henry IV, part one in many respects is a play which demonstrates the bonds and difficulty between fathers and sons and fellow soldiers. Within this meditation of these complex characters,
William Shakespeare's 1597 history play Henry IV, Part 1 involves Henry Bolingbroke (King Henry the fourth) and his struggle to maintain his throne, like the rebellions throughout the land. Although the rebellion initially appears to show the progress and conditions change of the king's son, Hal, and his peculiar friend, Sir John Falstaff, who gets actively involved in assisting Henry. Falstaff's character is especially intriguing when he prefers to use
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"(Weis 9) It is doubtful that the model for Falstaff was an actual highwayman, but it is possible he was not as well behaved as would have been expected by his family, perhaps a black sheep. Falstaff appears in several of Shakespeare's plays, but there is contention whether he is the same in all. Goddard finds a rather schizophrenic portrait of both Falstaff and Henry IV. A colossus of sack, sensuality, and sweat