All Henry IV Part 1 notes

‘So shaken as we are, and so wan with care’

There has been a lot of political turmoil during Henry’s reign

‘Find we a time for frighted peace to pant/And breathe short-winded accents of new broils’

Henry is insecure as a monarch

‘No more the thirsty entrance of this soil/Shall daub her lips with her own children’s blood’

British soil is personified and the civil war has concluded

‘Like the meteors of a troubled heaven’

war disrupts peace and causes chaos

‘Shall now in mutual and well-beseeming ranks/March all one way’

Henry is optimistic in stopping violence and uniting the nation

‘March all one way’

Henry wants one unified nation and a crusade against a common enemy

‘But this purpose is now twelve month old’

Henry has failed to achieve his goal

‘Loaden with heavy news/Whose worst was that the noble Mortimer…..was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken’

Oncoming conflict - many issues are facing Henry

‘A thousand of his people butchered’

significant casualties show destruction of civil war

‘It seems then that the tidings of this broil/Brake off our business for the Holy Land’

Henry makes a pragmatic choice not to crusade

‘For more uneven and unwelcome news/Came from the north’

increasing instability under Henry’s reign

‘Sir Walter Blount’

urgency of political emergency

‘Honourable spoil’

Hotspur shown as noble knight

‘In envy that my lord Northumberland/Should be the father to so blest a son/A son who is the theme of honour’s tongue’

Henry is disappointed in Hal, who is not honourable, and wishes Hotspur was his son

‘See riot and disdain stain the brow/Of my young Harry’

Hal threatens legitimacy through tavern behaviour

‘That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged/In cradle clothes our children where they lay’

Henry wishes Hal and Hotspur had been swapped

‘Thou art so fat-witted’

informal teasing shows closeness between Hal and Falstaff

‘Thieves of the day’s beauty. Let us be Diana’s foresters/gentlemen of the shade’

Romanticising theft

‘By and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows’

thieves inevitably meet bad ends

‘Do not, when thou art king, hang a thief’

Falstaff asking Hal to remember his allegiances

‘Thou shalt/have the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman’

Hal gives Falstaff role of executioner

‘I know you all’

explicit foreshadowing of ‘I know thee not’

‘Unyoked humour of your idleness’

tavern world contrasts royal world

‘Will I imitate the sun’

Hal symbolically imitates rightful kingship

‘Breaking through the foul and ugly mists’

Hal plans redemption through contrast

‘So when this loose behaviour I throw off/And pay the debt I never promised’

Hal always intended reform

‘My reformation, glittering o’er my fault’

Saying that his redemption and reformation will overshadow his failings - calculating

‘Redeeming time when men think least I will’

Hal plans strategic transformation

‘And therefore lost that title of respect/Which the proud soul ne’er pays but to the proud’

Henry has lost authority

‘Worcester get thee gone for I do see danger and disobedience in thine eye’

Henry has banished Worcester from the court, as there is starting to be an inkling of rebellion

‘Servant’

Henry reminds Worcester of hierarchy

‘Not with such strength denied/As is delivered to your majesty’

Northumberland softens Hotspur’s actions

‘I did deny no prisoners’

Hotspur values honour

‘And, as the soldiers bore dead bodies by, he called them ‘knaves’ and ‘unmannerly’

Hotspur expressing his annoyance of how Blount talked of the dead soldiers, showing how he values honour

‘Pestered with a popinjay’

Hotspur insults messenger as vain

‘Yet he doth deny his prisoners’

insult escalates conflict

‘Foolish Mortimer’

Henry condemns Mortimer

‘Revolted Mortimer’

Hotspur challenges Henry’s narrative

‘Rotten policy’

Hotspur accuses Henry of lies

‘Thou dost belie him’

direct accusation against king

‘As this ingrate and cankered Bolingbroke’

disrespectful insult

‘You may redeem/Your banished honours and restore yourselves’

Percys seek restoration

‘To answer all the debt he owes to you/Even with the bloody payment of your deaths’

rebellion framed as repayment

‘Methinks it were an easy leap/To plush bright honour from the pale-faced moon’

Hotspur obsessed with honour

‘Pluck up drowned honour’

political world lacks honour

‘Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own!’

Hotspur ignores reason

‘Vile politician Bolingbroke’

treasonous language

‘Gentle Harry Percy’

Henry patronising

‘To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms’

rebels currently too weak

‘Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog’

poor harvests under Henry’s reign

‘This house has been turned upside down since Robin Ostler died’

metaphor for unstable court

‘Justice hath liquored her’

justice ineffective and corrupt

‘Good Prince Hal’

relationship between Hal and Falstaff emphasised

‘Leaving the booty behind them’

Hal shown morally better than thieves

‘Our plot is as good plot as ever was laid…a good plot, good friends…an excellent plot’

Hotspur is spiralling here and is angry that someone has rejected his proposal for rebellion - shows impulsive nature but also that the plot is doomed

‘Let him tell the King. We are prepared’

overconfidence

‘Tell me

sweet lord’

‘And thus hath so bestirred thee in thy sleep

/That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow’

‘We must have bloody noses and cracked crowns

/And pass them current

‘And when I am a-horseback

I will swear/I love thee infinitely’

‘Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know./And so far will I trust thee’

mistrust foreshadows rebel division

‘How many hast thou killed today?…some fourteen’

Hotspur mocked as hotheaded

‘Was it for me to kill the heir apparent? Should I turn on the true prince?’

Falstaff regains humour

‘He says he comes from your father’

intrusion of court

‘Thy father’s beard is turned white with the news’

urgency of rebellion

‘Do thou stand for my father and examine me upon the particulars of my life’

Hal roleplays consequences

‘Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries’

kingship and legitimacy questioned

‘Depose me?’

echoes Richard’s usurpation

‘Banish plump Jack and banish all the world’

Falstaff values loyalty

‘Go hide thee behind the arras’

Hal becomes pragmatic leader

‘The man

I do assure you

‘These promises are fair

the parties sure’

‘A plague upon it

I have forgot the map!’

‘At my birth/The frame and huge foundations of the Earth/Shaked like a coward’

Glendower arrogant

‘I think there’s no man that speaks better Welsh’

Hotspur mocks him

‘Shall we divide our right/According to our threefold order ta’en’

kingdom division demonstrates poor planning

‘My father Glendower is not ready yet’

foreshadows failure

‘Well I am schooled’

sarcasm and mistrust

‘My wife can speak no English

and I no Welsh’

‘God will have it so/For some displeasing service I have done’

Henry feels punished by God for usurpation

‘Accompany the greatness of thy blood/And hold their level with thy princely heart?’

Hal not living up to status

‘Find pardon on my true submission’

Hal asks forgiveness

‘Which do hold a wing/Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors’

Hal isolated in misconduct

‘Alien to the hearts’

Hal disconnected from court

‘The hope and expectation of thy time/Is ruined’

dynasty at risk

‘Opinion

that did help me to the crown’

‘Stole all courtesy from heaven’

Henry acknowledges manipulation

‘My presence like a robe pontifical’

religious imagery

‘Shadow of succession’

Hal disappointing heir

‘Shake the peace and safety of our throne’

rebels threaten monarchy

‘Which washed away shall scour my shame with it’

spiritual cleansing

‘Thou shalt have charge and sovereign trust herein’

Hal gains redemption and authority

‘If promises be kept on every hand’

foreshadows rebel betrayal

‘You are a woman. Go’

dismissive misogyny

‘Sir John

I know you

Sir John’

‘Playing upon his truncheon like a fife’

Falstaff mocks Hal’s status

‘I fear thee as I fear the roaring of the lion’s whelp’

Hal not yet frightening

‘You will not pocket up wrong. Art thou not ashamed?’

Falstaff avoids accountability

‘The money is paid back again’

Hal restores justice