The Second Part of Henry the Fourth

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1. ACT I.

   False rumour of a rebel victory gives way to the truth of Hotspur's death, and a new rebellion gathers in the north as Falstaff trades on his fame.

   1. Scene 1 — The same.

      Rumour, a figure 'painted full of tongues,' opens the play boasting how he spreads false report. At Warkworth, the Earl of Northumberland hears first a garbled tale of victory, then the bitter truth from Morton: his son Hotspur is dead and the King triumphant at Shrewsbury. His grief hardens into resolve to join the Archbishop's revolt.

   2. Scene 2 — London. A street.

      In a London street the fat knight Falstaff, basking in his Shrewsbury reputation, spars with the Lord Chief Justice, who warns him not to presume on the Prince's favour and rebukes his dissolute life. Falstaff turns every charge into a joke.

   3. Scene 3 — York. The Archbishop's palace.

      At York the Archbishop Scroop, Mowbray, Hastings, and Lord Bardolph weigh their chances, counting on Northumberland's aid and debating whether to rise before their strength is certain.

2. ACT II.

   Comic disorder in Eastcheap — an arrest for debt, a tavern feast spied upon — set against the persuading of Northumberland to flee.

   1. Scene 1 — London. A street.

      The Hostess has Falstaff arrested for debt by the officers Fang and Snare; the Chief Justice intervenes, and Falstaff wheedles her not only into dropping the suit but into lending him still more and pawning her plate.

   2. Scene 2 — London. Another street.

      Prince Hal, weary and half-ashamed of his low company, jokes with Poins and reads aloud a presumptuous letter from Falstaff. The two resolve to disguise themselves as tavern drawers to catch the old knight at his slanders.

   3. Scene 3 — Warkworth. Before the castle.

      At Warkworth, Lady Percy — Hotspur's widow — shames Northumberland for failing her husband at Shrewsbury, and she and Lady Northumberland persuade the earl to abandon the rebels and flee to Scotland.

   4. Scene 4 — London. The Boar's-head Tavern in Eastcheap.

      At the Boar's Head, Falstaff feasts with Doll Tearsheet, quarrels with the swaggering ensign Pistol (thrown out for brawling), and is overheard by the disguised Hal and Poins disparaging them — until the drum of war summons him away to court.

3. ACT III.

   The sleepless King broods on history and mortality while Falstaff musters ragged recruits in Gloucestershire.

   1. Scene 1 — Westminster. The palace.

      Sleepless at midnight, King Henry envies the rest of his humblest subjects — 'uneasy lies the head that wears a crown' — and with Warwick reflects on the strange turns of history and the rebellion's reported strength.

   2. Scene 2 — Gloucestershire. Before Justice Shallow's house.

      In Gloucestershire the doddering Justices Shallow and Silence reminisce about a wild youth mostly invented, as Falstaff arrives to levy soldiers. He lets the able men buy their release and keeps the feeblest, pocketing the bribes and marvelling at how old his friends have grown.

4. ACT IV.

   The northern revolt is ended by a cold trick at Gaultree, and the dying King is reconciled with his heir.

   1. Scene 1 — Yorkshire. Gaultree Forest.

      In Gaultree Forest the Archbishop and the rebel lords lay out their grievances to the Earl of Westmoreland and Prince John of Lancaster, who hears them and seems to offer redress.

   2. Scene 2 — Another part of the forest.

      Prince John swears the rebels' wrongs will be amended and persuades them to disband their army; the instant it scatters he arrests the leaders for high treason — a lawful, conscienceless trick that crushes the revolt without a battle.

   3. Scene 3 — Another part of the forest.

      Falstaff takes the surrender of the rebel knight Sir John Colevile, who yields without a blow, and claims the bloodless capture as proof of his valour while mocking the humourless Prince John in a soliloquy in praise of sack.

   4. Scene 4 — Westminster. The Jerusalem Chamber.

      In the Jerusalem Chamber the gravely ill King, gathered with his younger sons, grieves over the wildness of his heir and the divided realm he must leave, and is overcome by sickness.

   5. Scene 5 — Another chamber.

      Believing his father dead, Hal takes up the crown and withdraws; the King wakes, bitterly rebukes him, then is movingly reconciled, counselling him to 'busy giddy minds with foreign quarrels.' Told he lies in the chamber named Jerusalem, where it was prophesied he would die, the King is carried there to his end.

5. ACT V.

   Country comedy and the news of the King's death carry Falstaff to London — and to his public rejection by the new King.

   1. Scene 1 — Gloucestershire. Shallow's house.

      At Shallow's house Falstaff watches the old justice and his factotum Davy bustle over country business, storing up the absurdities he will retail to make Prince Hal laugh.

   2. Scene 2 — Westminster. The palace.

      At court the new King Henry V calms his fearful brothers and the Lord Chief Justice — whom, as Prince, he had once struck — confirming the judge in his office and pledging to rule by law rather than by appetite.

   3. Scene 3 — Gloucestershire. Shallow's orchard.

      In Shallow's orchard, amid the drunken Silence's snatches of song, Pistol bursts in with news that the old King is dead and Hal crowned. Falstaff, exultant, vows the laws of England are at his command and rides at once for London.

   4. Scene 4 — London. A street.

      Beadles drag the Hostess and Doll Tearsheet off to prison, a man having been beaten to death in their company.

   5. Scene 5 — A public place near Westminster Abbey.

      As the coronation procession passes, Falstaff hails the new King — who rejects him utterly: 'I know thee not, old man.' Banished ten miles from his person and left a pension, the stunned knight is committed to the Fleet by the Chief Justice. An Epilogue, spoken by a dancer, begs the audience's pardon, promises the story will continue 'with Sir John in it,' and is careful to part the comic Falstaff from the martyr Oldcastle.

Characters

• Rumour chorus

  The Presenter who speaks the Induction, a figure 'painted full of tongues' who personifies false report. He boasts of spreading the lie that Hotspur beat the King at Shrewsbury, setting the play in motion on a current of misinformation.

• King Henry IV major

  Henry Bolingbroke, now aging, sleepless, and sick at heart, haunted by how he won the crown and by his son's wildness. He longs for rest and for the Holy Land he will never reach, and dies in the Jerusalem Chamber, reconciled at last with Prince Hal.

• Prince Hal protagonist

  Henry, Prince of Wales, still drifting between the court and the Eastcheap tavern as his father lies dying. Mistaking the sleeping King for dead, he takes the crown; reconciled, he inherits it as Henry V, casts off Falstaff at his coronation, and embraces the rule of law under the Chief Justice.

• Sir John Falstaff deuteragonist

  The fat old knight at the height of his fame after Shrewsbury, trading on his reputation, dodging his debts to the Hostess, and recruiting ragged soldiers for bribes. Witty, self-loving, and increasingly aware of his age, he dreams of the favours Hal will shower on him as king, only to be publicly cast off: 'I know thee not, old man.'

• Lord Chief Justice major

  The Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, the embodiment of law, order, and sober public duty, who once committed Prince Hal to prison. Falstaff's great foil, he stands for everything the tavern is not — and the new King Henry V confirms him in office as 'a father to my youth.'

• Prince John of Lancaster supporting

  The King's cold, capable younger son, who ends the northern rebellion at Gaultree Forest not by battle but by a calculated trick — promising the rebel lords redress, then arresting them for treason once their armies disperse. Falstaff judges him sober and humourless, a man who never laughs.

• Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester minor

  Prince Humphrey of Gloucester, a younger son of King Henry IV, who attends his dying father and his brothers as the crown passes to Hal.

• Thomas, Duke of Clarence minor

  Thomas, Duke of Clarence, another younger son of the King, urged by his dying father to cherish his brother Hal and so keep the royal family united.

• Earl of Warwick supporting

  A wise and loyal counsellor to King Henry IV, who comforts the sleepless King and reads in Prince Hal's wildness a discipline that will one day turn to wisdom.

• Earl of Westmoreland supporting

  A loyal earl of the royal party who confronts the rebels at Gaultree, carrying Prince John's terms and helping to spring the trap that ends the revolt without a battle.

• Earl of Northumberland supporting

  Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, Hotspur's father, who again pleads sickness and fails his allies — this time fleeing to Scotland and leaving the Archbishop's rebellion to collapse, just as he abandoned his son at Shrewsbury.

• Lady Northumberland minor

  Northumberland's wife, who joins her daughter-in-law Lady Percy in urging the earl to flee to Scotland rather than risk himself in a second doomed rebellion.

• Lady Percy supporting

  Kate, Hotspur's widow, who in a searing speech shames Northumberland for abandoning her husband at Shrewsbury and begs him not to march now for lesser men than the son he failed.

• Archbishop of York supporting

  Richard Scroop, Archbishop of York, who lends the rebellion the sanctity of the Church and leads the northern lords at Gaultree. Persuaded to disband his army on Prince John's promise of redress, he is immediately arrested and sent to execution.

• Lord Mowbray supporting

  Thomas Mowbray, the Earl Marshal and son of the Duke of Norfolk banished in Richard II, who joins the Archbishop's rising still nursing his family's old grievance and is condemned with the other rebel leaders at Gaultree.

• Lord Hastings supporting

  A rebel lord who tallies the Archbishop's forces and trusts Prince John's word at Gaultree, only to be arrested for high treason the moment the rebel army melts away.

• Lord Bardolph supporting

  A rebel nobleman (entirely distinct from Falstaff's follower Bardolph) who brings Northumberland the false report of victory at Shrewsbury and later counsels caution, warning the rebels not to build their hopes on forces they do not yet command.

• Travers minor

  Northumberland's retainer, who brings the earl an early, garbled report of the battle at Shrewsbury before Morton arrives with the bitter truth.

• Morton minor

  A retainer who carries the true news of Shrewsbury to Northumberland — that Hotspur is dead and the King victorious — and urges the grieving earl toward the Archbishop's new rebellion.

• Gower minor

  A messenger and officer of the royal party, who brings the Chief Justice news of the King and the northern campaign while Falstaff tries in vain to draw him into dinner.

• Harcourt minor

  A messenger who brings the King the welcome news that the Sheriff of Yorkshire has defeated Northumberland and his Scottish allies, ending the last of the rebellion.

• Sir John Colevile minor

  Sir John Colevile of the Dale, a rebel knight who surrenders to Falstaff in Gaultree Forest without a blow — letting the fat knight claim a captive's glory — and is sent off to execution.

• Justice Shallow supporting

  A doddering old country justice of Gloucestershire who endlessly recalls his wild student days at Clement's Inn — most of them invented — and the friends now 'all dead.' He lends Falstaff a thousand pounds and welcomes the favour he expects when Hal is king.

• Justice Silence supporting

  Shallow's quiet cousin and fellow justice, normally tongue-tied but, once drunk at Shallow's table, suddenly bursting into snatches of old drinking songs.

• Davy minor

  Justice Shallow's all-purpose servant — cook, bailiff, and steward in one — who runs the household, angles a favour for a friend in a lawsuit, and bustles about the welcome for Falstaff.

• Mistress Quickly supporting

  The warm, garbling hostess of the Boar's Head in Eastcheap, perpetually owed money by Falstaff, who sweet-talks her out of her plate and her purse with a promise of marriage. She has him arrested for debt, then forgives him over supper.

• Doll Tearsheet supporting

  A sharp-tongued tavern companion of Falstaff's, by turns abusive and tender, who quarrels with the bully Pistol and shares the knight's last carefree evening before he is summoned to court and she to the lock-up.

• Pistol supporting

  Falstaff's swaggering, bombastic ensign, who talks in scraps of mangled stage-play bombast, is thrown out of the tavern for brawling, and carries to Gloucestershire the news of the old King's death — Falstaff's cue to ride for London and his ruin.

• Bardolph supporting

  Falstaff's red-nosed, fiery-faced follower (not to be confused with the rebel Lord Bardolph), who helps recruit and fleece soldiers in Gloucestershire and rides with his master to the coronation that ends in disgrace.

• Poins supporting

  Prince Hal's tavern friend, who joins him in spying on Falstaff disguised as drawers to catch the old knight slandering them, even as Hal half-confesses he is weary of the low company.

• Peto minor

  A companion of Hal and Falstaff who brings the Prince word of the King's illness and the gathering troubles in the north.

• Page minor

  The diminutive page given by Prince Hal to wait on Falstaff, a small boy whose quick wit makes a comic contrast with his enormous master.

• Fang minor

  A sheriff's sergeant engaged by the Hostess to arrest Falstaff for debt, who scuffles with the knight and his men in the Eastcheap street.

• Snare minor

  Fang's nervous fellow officer, wary of Falstaff's reputation for violence as they try to serve the writ for the Hostess's debt.

• Ralph Mouldy minor

  One of the country recruits mustered before Falstaff at Shallow's; he protests that his old mother has no one else to do her work, then buys his way out of service.

• Simon Shadow minor

  A thin recruit chosen by Falstaff for his very insubstantiality — a 'shadow' to fill a name on the muster-roll and draw a dead man's pay.

• Thomas Wart minor

  A ragged, tattered recruit whom Falstaff keeps on the roll precisely because his clothes hang in pins and patches, mocking him as he handles his weapon.

• Francis Feeble minor

  A woman's tailor pressed as a recruit, who alone among the conscripts faces service with quiet courage: 'we owe God a death,' and no man dies but once.

• Peter Bullcalf minor

  A strapping recruit who feigns a cold to dodge the wars and, like Mouldy, pays Bardolph three pounds to be let off, leaving only the feeblest men to march.

• First Drawer minor

  A tapster at the Boar's Head, busy fetching wine and arranging the room for Falstaff's supper with Doll.

• Second Drawer minor

  A second tavern drawer, who proposes smuggling in the disguised Prince and Poins to overhear Falstaff.

• Porter minor

  Northumberland's gatekeeper at Warkworth Castle, who admits Lord Bardolph with his news.

• Beadle minor

  A parish officer who hauls the Hostess and Doll Tearsheet off to prison after a man is beaten to death in their company.

• First Groom minor

  One of the grooms strewing rushes in the street to prepare the way for the new King's coronation procession.

• Second Groom minor

  A second groom readying the coronation route as the trumpets sound for King Henry V's return from the Abbey.

• Servant minor

  A servant of the Chief Justice (and other masters) who carries messages and attends on the nobles.

• Messenger minor

  A bearer of news among the rebel and royal camps as the campaign in the north unfolds.

• The Princes ensemble

  The new King's brothers — Clarence, Gloucester, and the rest — answering together as one when Henry V reassures them, fearful at first, that he will be 'your father and your brother too.'

• Epilogue (a Dancer) chorus

  A dancer who speaks the Epilogue, begging the audience's pardon, promising that the story will continue 'with Sir John in it,' and pointedly distinguishing the comic Falstaff from the historical Lollard martyr Sir John Oldcastle.

Cross-references

• Folger Shakespeare
• MIT plain text
• Wikipedia