The First Part of Henry the Fourth
Synopsis
Henry IV, who took the crown from Richard II, now rules an England torn by rebellion: the powerful Percy family, once his allies, turn against him, led by the fiery young warrior Hotspur. Meanwhile the King despairs of his own son, Prince Hal, who wastes his days drinking and joking in the Eastcheap taverns with the fat, witty rogue Sir John Falstaff. The play braids these worlds together — court, rebel camp, and tavern — and drives toward the Battle of Shrewsbury, where Hal at last casts off his loose reputation, saves his father, and kills Hotspur. It is a study of honor, kingship, and growing up, anchored by one of the greatest comic characters ever written.
Read
-
ACT I.
The kingdom is unsettled by rebellion and by the King's worry over his wayward heir; the Percys begin to plot.
- Scene 1 — London. A Room in the Palace.
The careworn King Henry, longing to lead a crusade, instead hears of war on his borders: Mortimer captured by the Welsh rebel Glendower, and young Hotspur victorious over the Scots but refusing to surrender his prisoners. He envies Northumberland so gallant a son and grieves over his own.
- Scene 2 — The same. An Apartment of Prince Henry's.
Prince Hal trades jokes with Falstaff, and Poins plots the Gad's Hill robbery and a prank to expose Falstaff's lies. Left alone, Hal reveals in soliloquy ('I know you all') that his idleness is a deliberate act he will one day cast off to dazzle the world.
- Scene 3 — The Same. A Room in the Palace.
The King confronts Hotspur and the Percys over the prisoners; Hotspur rages about the perfumed courtier who demanded them. After the King leaves, Worcester unfolds the plan of rebellion, allying the Percys with Mortimer, Glendower, Douglas, and the Archbishop of York.
- Scene 1 — London. A Room in the Palace.
-
ACT II.
The Gad's Hill robbery and its comic unmasking unfold against the gathering of the rebellion.
- Scene 1 — Rochester. An Inn-Yard.
Before dawn in a Rochester inn-yard, two carriers grumble about the lodging while Gadshill and the corrupt Chamberlain arrange the robbery of wealthy travellers.
- Scene 2 — The Road by Gads-hill.
On the highway at Gad's Hill, Falstaff and his gang rob the travellers; the disguised Hal and Poins then rob the robbers, sending Falstaff running and roaring.
- Scene 3 — Warkworth. A Room in the Castle.
At Warkworth, Hotspur reads a lukewarm letter from a lord who declines to join the revolt; his wife, Lady Percy, presses him about the secret cares that rob him of sleep and of her.
- Scene 4 — Eastcheap. A Room in the Boar's-Head Tavern.
At the Boar's Head tavern, Hal torments the drawer Francis, then traps Falstaff in ever-growing lies about the robbery. The two stage a mock interview between King and Prince, and a sheriff arrives hunting the thieves.
- Scene 1 — Rochester. An Inn-Yard.
-
ACT III.
The rebels divide the kingdom in advance, while at court father and son are reconciled.
- Scene 1 — Bangor. A Room in the Archdeacon's House.
In Wales the rebels carve up a map of England; Hotspur needles Glendower over his boasts of magic and haggles over his share, then teases his wife as Lady Mortimer sings in Welsh to her English husband.
- Scene 2 — London. A Room in the Palace.
The King bitterly rebukes Hal for his low company, comparing him to Richard II and Hotspur to himself. Hal vows to redeem every shame on Hotspur's head, and the King gives him a command.
- Scene 3 — Eastcheap. A Room in the Boar's-Head Tavern.
At the tavern Falstaff quarrels with the Hostess over his debts and a supposedly picked pocket. Hal returns, reveals he has repaid the robbery money, and gives Falstaff a charge of foot soldiers for the coming war.
- Scene 1 — Bangor. A Room in the Archdeacon's House.
-
ACT IV.
The rebel cause weakens as the armies converge on Shrewsbury.
- Scene 1 — The Rebel Camp near Shrewsbury.
In the rebel camp Hotspur learns that his father's army will not come and that the Archbishop's strength is doubtful, yet greets each blow with reckless cheer as the King's forces approach. Vernon's glowing account of Prince Hal stings him.
- Scene 2 — A public Road near Coventry.
Marching toward Shrewsbury, Falstaff confesses in soliloquy how he has abused the King's press, filling his ranks with ragged, doomed conscripts — 'food for powder.'
- Scene 3 — The Rebel Camp near Shrewsbury.
The rebels debate whether to fight at once; Sir Walter Blunt brings the King's offer of pardon and a hearing of grievances, and Hotspur recites the Percys' long list of wrongs.
- Scene 4 — York. A Room in the Archbishop's Palace.
At York the Archbishop, fearing the rebels are too weak, sends urgent letters to ready a second line of resistance should Shrewsbury be lost.
- Scene 1 — The Rebel Camp near Shrewsbury.
-
ACT V.
At Shrewsbury, Hal comes of age, Hotspur falls, and Falstaff survives by playing dead.
- Scene 1 — The King's Camp near Shrewsbury.
In the King's camp Worcester comes to parley; the King offers pardon and Hal offers to settle the war in single combat with Hotspur. Left alone, Falstaff delivers his catechism on honor — a mere 'word,' 'air,' that does the dead no good.
- Scene 2 — The Rebel Camp.
Worcester hides the King's offer of pardon from Hotspur, certain the Percys will never again be trusted, and the rebels rouse themselves for battle with fierce speeches.
- Scene 3 — Plain between the Camps.
Battle is joined. The valiant Douglas kills Sir Walter Blunt, one of several decoys dressed in the King's coat. Falstaff, finding the dead Blunt, muses on honor and offers Hal a bottle of sack in place of a pistol.
- Scene 4 — Another Part of the Field.
Hal saves the King from Douglas, then meets and kills Hotspur in single combat. Falstaff, feigning death to escape Douglas, rises, stabs the dead Hotspur, and claims the kill; Hal, amused, lets him keep the lie.
- Scene 5 — Another Part of the Field.
Victorious, the King condemns Worcester and Vernon to death for betraying the offered peace, frees the captured Douglas at Hal's request, and divides his forces to crush the remaining rebels in the north and in Wales.
- Scene 1 — The King's Camp near Shrewsbury.
Characters
- Prince Hal protagonist
Henry, Prince of Wales, the King's wayward eldest son, who idles in the Eastcheap taverns with Falstaff and the thieves. In a private soliloquy he reveals his idleness is a calculated performance: he means to throw off his 'loose behaviour' and shine all the brighter. At Shrewsbury he redeems himself, saving his father's life and killing Hotspur in single combat.
- King Henry IV major
Henry Bolingbroke, who seized the crown from Richard II and now reigns as Henry IV, careworn and guilt-ridden, his realm torn by the rebellion of the very nobles who helped him to power. He grieves that his dissolute son is so unlike the gallant Hotspur, until Hal proves himself at Shrewsbury.
- Sir John Falstaff major
A fat, witty, cowardly old knight, Prince Hal's drinking companion and the play's great comic engine. A liar, a glutton, and a sponge on the commonwealth, he is also gloriously alive — mocking honor as a mere 'word' on the battlefield, faking his own death, and claiming credit for killing the dead Hotspur.
- Hotspur deuteragonist
Harry Percy, called Hotspur for his fiery temper, son of Northumberland and the very model of martial honor — quick, brave, witty, and impatient to the point of folly. The King wishes Hal were more like him. He leads the rebellion and is killed by Prince Hal at Shrewsbury, his great appetite for honor undone.
- Earl of Worcester major
Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, Hotspur's calculating uncle and the cold political brain of the rebellion. Distrusting the King's offer of pardon, he conceals it from Hotspur and so sends his nephew to his death; he is executed after Shrewsbury.
- Earl of Northumberland supporting
Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, Hotspur's father and a leader of the Percy rebellion, who pleads sickness and fails to bring his army to Shrewsbury, fatally weakening his son's cause.
- Edmund Mortimer supporting
Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, taken prisoner by the Welsh rebel Glendower and then married to Glendower's daughter. Through his claim to the throne (as Richard II's designated heir) he becomes the rebels' figurehead, though he never reaches the battle.
- Owen Glendower supporting
The Welsh rebel chieftain, learned, proud, and steeped in mysticism, who claims the earth shook at his birth and that he can 'call spirits from the vasty deep.' Hotspur mocks his magic; his failure to bring his forces to Shrewsbury helps doom the rebellion.
- Earl of Douglas supporting
Archibald, Earl of Douglas, the fierce Scottish warrior who joins the Percy rebellion. Brave to a fault, he kills the King's decoys at Shrewsbury, mistaking them for Henry himself, and is captured and freed by Prince Hal.
- Sir Richard Vernon supporting
A rebel knight who brings reports to Hotspur's camp and, with Worcester, hears the King's offer of pardon. He urges restraint but is overruled, and is executed after the battle.
- Sir Walter Blunt minor
A loyal nobleman in the King's service, sent as an envoy to the rebels. He dies at Shrewsbury fighting in the King's coat as one of several decoys drawing the enemy's blows from the real Henry.
- Earl of Westmoreland minor
A loyal earl and the King's kinsman, who brings the first news of the Percys' revolt and commands part of the royal army at Shrewsbury.
- Prince John of Lancaster minor
The King's younger son and Hal's brother, who fights with credit at Shrewsbury despite his youth, earning his brother's praise.
- Archbishop of York minor
Richard Scroop, Archbishop of York, a clerical ally of the rebels who, fearing the King's revenge after Shrewsbury, sets about preparing further resistance.
- Sir Michael minor
A friend or follower of the Archbishop of York, who carries his urgent letters as the rebellion falters.
- Lady Percy supporting
Kate, Hotspur's spirited wife and Mortimer's sister, who teases and worries over her distracted husband and begs to know the secret that keeps him from her bed and his rest.
- Lady Mortimer minor
Glendower's daughter and Mortimer's bride, who speaks and sings only in Welsh; she and her husband can share love but not a language, and her father must interpret between them. (Her part is given in Welsh stage directions rather than spoken English lines.)
- Mistress Quickly supporting
Mistress Quickly, the good-natured, malaprop-prone hostess of the Boar's Head tavern in Eastcheap, perpetually owed money by Falstaff and the butt and source of much bawdy joking.
- Poins supporting
Edward Poins, Prince Hal's quick-witted tavern companion, who devises the Gad's Hill prank of robbing Falstaff of his stolen loot to expose the fat knight's lies.
- Gadshill minor
The 'setter' of the gang who scouts out the wealthy travellers to be robbed at Gad's Hill and arranges the ambush, named for the very place of the robbery.
- Bardolph minor
One of Falstaff's disreputable followers, famous for his fiery red, carbuncled nose and inflamed face, the butt of Falstaff's endless jokes about drink and damnation.
- Peto minor
One of Falstaff's companions in the Gad's Hill robbery and the Eastcheap tavern, who reports on Falstaff's doctored tavern bill and rides with the troops toward Shrewsbury.
- Francis minor
A young apprentice drawer (tapster) at the Boar's Head, whom Hal and Poins torment by calling him from two directions at once so he can only stammer 'Anon, anon, sir!'
- Vintner minor
The keeper of the Boar's Head tavern, who announces visitors and keeps a wary eye on his unruly noble guests.
- Sheriff minor
The officer who comes to the tavern hunting the Gad's Hill robbers; Hal sends him away with a promise to answer for Falstaff, who has meanwhile fallen asleep behind the arras.
- First Carrier minor
One of two carriers in the inn-yard at Rochester before dawn, grumbling about the fleas, the bad oats, and the decline of the stables, whose talk Gadshill overhears.
- Second Carrier minor
The second of the two carriers loading their pack-horses in the inn-yard at Rochester, wary of strangers and reluctant to lend a lantern.
- Chamberlain minor
The inn's chamberlain, secretly in league with the thieves, who tips off Gadshill about a rich franklin carrying three hundred marks in gold.
- Ostler minor
A stable-hand at the Rochester inn, called for to saddle the horses in the small hours.
- Traveller minor
One of the well-to-do travellers set upon and robbed by Falstaff's gang on the highway at Gad's Hill.
- Servant minor
A servant who attends the nobles and carries word between them, including the messenger who brings Hotspur his horse and news.
- Messenger minor
A bearer of news to Hotspur's camp and the King's, reporting the movements of armies as Shrewsbury approaches.