I. Preparations for battle
go forward by Henry IV, Falstaff and Hotspur.
II. Who wins?
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I. Preparations for battle go forward by Henry IV, Falstaff and
Hotspur.
A. Hotspur and his fellow conspirators prepare in the face of bad news.
1. Although the forces of Douglas, Hotspur and Worcester are ready for battle, news arrives (in 4.1) that Northumberland (Hotspur's father) is sick and does not trust anyone else to lead his forces. Hotspur tries to see the bright side: this will hold some of their forces in reserve. But Worcester fears that Northumberland's absence will look like division in their ranks.
2. Vernon also announces that Glendower cannot bring his men for two weeks. Worcester fears "that bears a frosty sound"(4.1.128), and the co-conspirator Archbishop of York later confirms that Glendower stays away, "overruled by prophecies"(4.4.18).
3. The archbishop also reports that Mortimer and his forces are not at Shrewsbury.
4. In the face of these absences, the rebels face a force of 30,000 troops of the king (41).
B. The chance for peace is thwarted.
1. It has become clear that the forces of the Percies and Douglas are badly outnumbered by the forces of the king. Still, Hotspur and Douglas are ready to fight, though Hotspur says, "Doomsday is near. Die all, die merrily"(4.1.134).
2. The night before the battle, Sir Walter Blunt comes with an offer from the king of redress of grievances and pardon:
If that the king
Have any way your good deserts forgot,
Which he confesseth to be manifold,
He bids you name your griefs; and with all speed
You shall have your desires with interest,
And pardon absolute for yourself and these
Herein misled by your suggestion.(4.3.45-51) 192K
Hotspur recites again the Percy story of Henry IV's ingratitude, but decides to wait until the morning to send a message. But it is clear that Blunt and Hotspur respect each other. Hotspur greets Blunt, voicing the wish that he were on the side of the Percies. And at the end of the scene, Blunt seems to step outside his formal role as he urges Hotspur, "I would you would accept of grace and love"(4.3.112).
3. In 5.1, we see Worcester parley with the king for peace. Worcester again rehearses the Percy claim that Henry IV's ingratitude has caused them to raise troops for their own safety. Despite Worcester's ability to rile the king (seen earlier in 1.3), Henry IV repeats his offer of pardon
We love our people well; even those we love
That are misled upon your cousin's part;
And, will they take the offer of our grace,
Both he and they and you, yea, every man
Shall be my friend again, and I'll be his.
So tell your cousin, and bring me word
What he will do; but if he will not yield,
Rebuke and dread correction wait on us . . . .
We offer fair
4. Worcester decides not to tell Hotspur of the King's apparent generosity, assuming that the king will never trust him (Worcester), though he might excuse the young Hotspur.
It is not possible, it cannot be,
The king should keep his word in loving us;
He will suspect us still, and find a time
To punish this offence in other faults:
Suspicion all our lives shall be stuck full of eyes;
For treason is but trusted like the fox . . . .
My nephew's trespass may be well forgot,
It hath the excuse of youth and heat of blood;
And an adopted name of privilege,
A hare-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen.
All his offences live upon my head
And on his father's: we did train him on;
And, his corruption being ta'en from us,
We, as the spring of all, shall pay for all.
5. Hotspur has learned from Blunt that the King is offering pardon, but when Worcester does not mention the offer again after his parley with the King, Hotspur does not question his uncle, but leads his men to battle with a simple, brave exhortation:
O gentlemen! the time of life is short;
To spend that shortness basely were too long,
If life did ride upon a dial's point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.
An if we live, we live to tread on kings;
If die, brave death, when princes die with us!
Hotspur has been criticized by his father, his uncle, by Mortimer and by Hal, but his bravery at the end, especially in light of Worcester's self-serving silence about the king's offer, makes him admirable and heroic.
B. Falstaff speaks for the anti-heroic.
1. He has received a commission to lead infantry, and he abuses his position. He uses his power to "press" or draft soldiers (4.2) by calling up those who have the most to lose and the means to bribe their way out of impressment: householders and men engaged to be married.
2. As the King offers an honorable pardon to Worcester in 5.1, everyone is talking in diplomatic language about honor, but we hear the view of the non-heroic Falstaff in soliloquy:
Honour pricks [urges] me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? how then? Can honour set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? No. What is honour? A word. What is that word honour? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. Is it insensible then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I'll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon [coat of arms on a shield]; and so ends my catechism.
Click below to see an excerpt from Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight.
Is Falstaff the voice of reason or the voice of the cynic? Welles suggests that the answer is not simple. He has Falstaff receite his "catechism" TO Prince Hal, as he looks back and forth between the fat knight and the preparations for battle. What is Hal thinking? Then we see the knights being cranked down on their war horses. Does this support Falstaff's claim that war is ridiculous? But then we realize that one of these cranked-down knights is Hotspur, eager (as usual) for battle, and hoping to meet Prince Hal.
C. Henry IV proceeds with everyone doing their duty.
1. There is no word of his allies not showing up.
2. His son Hal takes a place of trust and responsibility in the plans.
Return to Summary of Part Three
II. The Battle of Shrewsbury and its outcome: Does the Best Man Win?
In the course of the battle, some of the questions raised by the play are
finally settled and resolved. Let's look at them as they occur in the battle.
A. Douglas kills Blunt who, like others, is in the battle dress of the king. (This is standard operating procedure so that if someone who looks like the king is killed, the troops will not give up and run.)
B. Hal meets Falstaff who reveals that he has replaced his pistol with a bottle of sack. Hal seems to finally reject Falstaff and his values as he throws the bottle at him and says, disgustedly, ""What, is it a time to jest and dally now?" (5.3.53)
C. Hal refuses to leave the field, even though he is slightly wounded and even though he is urged by his father (5.4). He also praises the bravery of his younger brother John.
D. Douglas fights with another person dressed as the king but is scared off by Prince Hal.
1. Douglas' question of whether the "king" is a counterfeit hints at the question of Henry IV's legitimacy, but when the king answers that it is "the king himself"(5.4.28), Douglas replies, "In faith, thou bearest thee like a king"(5.4.35). This suggests that Henry IV does have true, intrinsic majesty. Earlier, Falstaff has made a joke of his cowardice by saying the lion will not hurt "the true prince," but here Douglas, a fighter known to be brave, acknowledges the majesty of his opponent.
2. Henry IV tells Hal he has shown he cares for his father's life, an assurance that disturbs Hal since it shows in his father a depth of distrust Hal had not suspected.
E. Hal and Hotspur fight, and Hal kills his honored opponent.
1. The dying Hotspur mourns his loss of honor and then turns to face his
death:
I better brook the loss of brittle life
Than those proud titles thou hast won of me;
They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword my flesh:
But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool;
And time, that takes survey of all the world.
Must have a stop.
2. Hal pays tribute to the fallen Hotspur:
Adieu! and take thy praise with thee to heaven,
[Let] Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,
But not [be] remember'd in thy epitaph!
F. In the same speech, he includes a tribute for the fallen Falstaff
What! old acquaintance! could not all this flesh
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell!
I could have better spared a better man.
O! I should have a heavy miss of thee
If I were much in love with vanity.
Click below to see an excerpt
from Orson Welles' film,
Chimes at Midnight, a combination of Henry IV, parts one and
two. Note that the Prince realizes that Falstaff is still alive (from the visible breath on a cold day) when he makes his final remark about disembowelling the old knight: G. Falstaff, who has counterfeited death to escape from
Douglas, now arises to continue his life, vowing to claim that he
has killed Hotspur and claim the reward. 't was time to counterfeit, or that hot termagant
Scot had paid me scot and lot too. Counterfeit? I lie, I am no counterfeit:
to die is to be a counterfeit; for he is but the counterfeit of a man,
who hath not the life of a man; but to counterfeit dying, when a man thereby
liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life
indeed. The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better
part I have saved my life. (5.4.112-20) The repeated use of "counterfeit"--by Douglas
in reference to King Henry IV, and later by Falstaff in regard to Hotspur--raises
the question again of the value of the ideal versus the value of the pragmatic.
Who is more "real"--the dead Hotspur or the live Falstaff? who
is the "real" king--Henry IV or the rebel Mortimer (who has agreed
to the division of the kingdom and is not even shown up at the battle!)
or the dead Richard II? H. King Henry IV wins 1. He orders the execution of Worcester and Vernon, and
then prepares to defeat the other rebels--Northumberland and the Archbishop
of York, Glendower and the Earl of March (Mortimer). 2. Hal has defeated Hotspur, but gives up the claim in
order to let Falstaff make this claim. Perhaps no one will believe the
fat knight, but Hal's lack of fuss about reputation makes him look good
in comparison to Hotspur. He has won his father's trust clearly, and claims
the right to dispose of the captured Douglas at the end. 3. Without prompting, Hal sets Douglas free to win his
support and gratitude, an action that Hotspur has done before, but only
at the prompting of his uncle, Worcester. At the end of the play, I still cannot make up my mind
whether Henry IV is as conniving as Worcester suspects, but he has won
my respect as a ruling king. Because of the way he won the kingship, he
will never have the authority of one who inherits the throne. But the wars that Henry IV fights will make the crown
safe for Hal, who has shown his bravery and skill in fighting as well as
his skill at diplomacy. He appears to have put his playboy days behind
him, though his tolerance of Falstaff suggests that some of the old knight's
love of good cheer still remains with Hal. An alternative and more mixed ending, however, is shown in Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight. That movie combines Henry IV, part one and Henry IV, part two, a sequel that shows King Henry IV continuing to distrust his son. Welles suggests a not entirely happy ending by showing Henry IV silently and disgustedly looking on as Falstaff claims to have killed Hotspur. It is an interesting scene because it shows a confrontation between the two "father figures" for Hal in the play. And the Prince must face up to the consequences of his tolerance for Falstaff. (Click below to see an excerpt.)
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Last updated: 20 May 1998 by Jonathan Edwards
copyright 1997 Helen J. Schwartz