Shakespeare\'s Portrayal of Prince Hal

¶ … Shakespeare's portrayal of Prince Hal and Hotspur.

Hal vs. Hotspur

William Shakespeare's play King Henry IV is not only intriguing because of the storyline or rich language, as it is also interesting because of the strategies the playwright uses with the purpose of emphasizing character comparisons. Even with the fact that the play is titled after the king, it revolves around Prince Hal's character. The Prince is a hectic young man who expresses little to no interest in putting across noble-like behavior and spends most of his time with dubious people in taverns. In contrast to him, Hotspur, the Earl of Northumberland's son, is focused on his people's cause and puts across impressive strength of will.

From the very first moments that the play opens, the audience is provided with Hal's personality by comparing him to Hotspur. Even with the fact that they have the same age, the two characters differ greatly both when considering the attitudes they employ with regard to the importance of their role. King Henry is impressed with Hotspur's achievements and is disappointed with his son's behavior at the same time.

Hal and Hotspur are initially shown as having different understandings of the concept of trust. Audiences are likely to consider that Hal's character put across great ignorance and is doomed to fail as a consequence of his failure to understand the complex nature of things happening around him. However, it becomes obvious that he is not happy with his lifestyle when he is hesitant about going through with committing a robbery. This demonstrates that he is, in fact, aware of his position and feels that it would be wrong for him to perform acts that are not characteristic for a prince.

Hotspur considers that being a victor is one of the important things that someone can possibly think about and constantly thinks about winning battles. One can observe how his passion for combat is an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time, as this means that he takes decisions primarily based on his honor. Prince Hal puts more thought in the actions he performs and this yet again proves that he is especially concerned about the consequences of his actions.