Henry IV Part I

Henry IV, Part

Who is the hero of "Henry VI, Part 1"?

One of the most confusing aspects of Shakespeare's history play "Henry IV, Part 1" is that it seems to have no clear hero. Henry VI himself is often off-stage. When he appears, it is seldom to propel the action, but to react to what he hears, like his initial response to the behavior of his son, Prince Hal. "O that it could be proved/That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged/in cradle-clothes our children where they lay, / and call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet!" (Act I, Scene 1) Henry VI says he wishes that Hotspur, rather than Hal, were his son, because Hotspur embodies all of the values of knightly excellence. Hotspur is the most typically heroic character of the play, even though he is encouraged by Northumberland and Worcester to betray King Henry later on.

So is Hotspur the hero of "Henry VI, Part 1?" One problem with this assertion is that Hotspur seems to be utterly defeated at the end of the play. Ironically, the character described repeatedly as prizing honor before all other values says: "I better brook the loss of brittle life/Than those proud titles thou hast won of me," to Prince Henry, after Henry gives Hotspur a fatal stab wound. (Act V, Scene 4) of course it is quite possible to read the Hotspur as a tragic character, brought low by his one, fatal flaw. His hot temper makes him susceptible to being insulted and acting foolishly. But the play seems to pay homage to the importance of honor to some degree, as Prince Henry seeks to emulate the rival Hotspur for his father's affection, by going to war.

The young prince is another contender for the hero of the play. Hal embodies many contradictions within his character. He is likely to succeed his father and become king someday, but he prefers spending his time with the criminal element of England in taverns, rather than fighting wars like his father. He engages in childish pranks, like stealing from his friend Falstaff at Gad's Hill, and mocks his own father in a pretend royal pageant. Finally, on the battlefield, Prince Henry seems to win his honor back, but only to be undercut in his father's eyes when Falstaff takes credit for killing Hotspur. It is hard to read Prince Hal as a hero, given it seems as if he has not really won anything in the end, by helping his father. Furthermore, the value of the change of persona is not something that Prince Henry 'learns' over the course of the play, like Hotspur learns that he has held honor too high in his moral hierarchy of personal values. Prince Henry's fondness for low life is partly a calculated public relations move. "So, when this loose behavior I throw off/and pay the debt I never promised, / by how much better than my word I am," he says to the audience, when he is alone. (Act 1, Scene 2)

So, if the Prince is not the hero of Henry IV, Part 1, is Falstaff the hero? Falstaff expresses radical sentiments that go contrary to the military success seemingly idealized at the end of the play. "Can honor set to a leg...what is honor? A word. What is in that word honor? What is that honor? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday." (Act 5, Scene 1) Falstaff prizes his own life above honor, above anything, because he loves life and all of its pleasures. This is the sentiment expressed by Hotspur before death -- life is the most important value, rather than winning honor.