Henry IV, Part 2
56 pages • 1-hour read
William ShakespeareHenry IV, Part 2
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, illness, substance use, and sexual content.
Confronting Aging and Mortality
King Henry IV is the title character of Henry IV, Part 2, yet he spends most of the narrative in a state of decline. The bold, decisive figure of the previous play is rendered passive and exhausted by rapid aging. Another central figure, Falstaff, is more outwardly vital yet also facing the prospect of illness and old age. Meanwhile, the death of Hotspur, with which the play begins, underscores what is at stake for both men; death is inextricably linked to questions of legacy, which Prince Hal’s ambiguous allegiances complicate.
The problem of inheritance is particularly pressing for King Henry, as it is not only his own legacy but that of the country that is at stake. Indeed, the chaos in his kingdom is locked in a symbiotic relationship with his health; the metaphorical disease of the body politic is reflected in the literal disease of the king’s body as he struggles to assert his authority. Rather than deal with the rebels himself, the king must send his sons to put the world back in order. Both the unrest and the impossibility of addressing it personally stir up old fears related to the legitimacy of his rule, which his heir’s rebelliousness exacerbates; King Henry seized the throne in dramatic fashion, but the dynasty he founded seems poised to disappear with his death due to both lingering resistance to his claim and his son’s potential mismanagement of affairs. In this context, King Henry dwells on all of his unfulfilled dreams. He wanted to join the Crusades, for instance, but he now barely has the strength to leave his bed. The resultant sense of futility leaves him more prone to issuing soliloquies on the subject of aging and mortality than royal pronouncements for his kingdom. These soliloquies dramatically emphasize his growing isolation: His words do not reach any other character, as though thoughts of his own mortality are too overbearing and too private to share.
King Henry’s attitude toward death shifts following his reconciliation with Prince Hal. Newly certain that his son both respects him and grasps the responsibilities of kingship, Henry dies confident that his successor will carry on his political project, thus attaining a kind of immortality. By contrast, Falstaff’s crisis of mortality centers on the despair of having no such legacy. He is in a constant state of poverty, forced to lie and cheat to maintain any kind of stability. As he grows older, Falstaff realizes that he does not want to live like this, nor does he want to be remembered as a pathetic figure. He begs his associates not to talk about death or mortality—such topics play on his lingering anxiety that he has wasted his life—but he also takes steps to try to craft a different legacy for himself. He carefully cultivates rumors that he defeated Harry Hotspur, indicating his desire for social acclaim, and he hopes that his close relationship with Hal will lead to an increase in his social standing. When the prince becomes king, however, he publicly disowns Falstaff. He ensures that Falstaff will receive a stipend, but he snatches away any public acclaim or status that Falstaff might have enjoyed in his old age. The scene is a blow to Falstaff’s ego and a warning about the consequences of “wasting” one’s life: As suggested in the Epilogue, Falstaff will die an ignominious and lonely death.
Shaping identity Through Moral Choice
King Henry IV, Part 2 suggests that identity and morality are inextricably, if ambiguously, intertwined. The ethical decisions characters make in some sense define who they are, particularly in a social sense, yet morality itself is far from cut and dry; “good” characters engage in “bad” actions for “good” ends, and norms are dictated as much by who is in power as by what is right.
Hal’s arc, in particular, centers on moral choice. He has deliberately shaped a public identity as a wayward youth so as to then cast this image aside in a redemption story once he became king—a scheme that in and of itself reveals the relationship between (perceived) morality and (perceived) character. By the time the play begins, the prince is trying to abandon this identity, which he senses is negatively affecting his relationship with his father, yet he struggles with the decision to leave his past behind. He purposefully spends less time with Falstaff but cannot bring himself to abandon his old friends completely. He still spends time with Poins, for example, much to his father’s displeasure. The two worlds of the tavern and the royal court are pulling him in different directions, but Hal must ultimately make a decision in which he commits to one over the other.
This push and pull of identity through moral choice takes place in a kingdom in which morality is in a constant, chaotic state of flux. King Henry IV came to the throne through a rebellion against Richard II. Now, he faces his own internal rebellion, in which many of his enemies are former allies who have turned against him. King Henry once identified himself as a rising force of morality, someone who made a conscious decision to take the throne, yet now he condemns the men who once fought alongside him and who have made a similar choice. Moral identity thus becomes largely a matter of perspective and power: Someone is a dangerous rebel if they lose and a noble king if they emerge victorious. The actions of characters like Prince John underscore this point. He justifies his betrayal of the rebel leaders with reference to their own act of betrayal, yet their actions are not substantively different than King Henry’s own rebellion. Thus, identity determines morality at least as much as vice versa.
These conflicting forces reach a point of climax in the final act of the play. With the old king dead, King Henry V is crowned and, in two decisive interactions, signals the direction of his reign. One such move is to praise the Lord Chief Justice, the embodiment of law and order, thereby signaling Henry V’s newfound commitment to the public good. More significant still is his disowning of Falstaff, a public dressing down in which he insults and criticizes Falstaff as a means of distancing himself from the waywardness of his youth. Yet this signal comes at a great cost, causing intense emotional damage to his old friend Falstaff. The paradox of Henry V shaping his identity as a just and moral ruler through an act of personal betrayal underscores the play’s prior exploration of the contingent nature of morality while also suggesting the ethical compromises required of a ruler.
The Evolution of Relationships Through Life Changes
In tandem with its exploration of evolving identity and the pressures of old age, the play also considers how relationships change across time. Shakespeare suggests that aging presents new opportunities for strengthened bonds even as it reveals the fragility of relationships based on transient pleasures.
The relationship between King Henry and Prince Hal, particularly the way in which it evolves, is a fundamental part of the narrative. At the beginning of the play, King Henry believes that his son is a self-interested and self-indulgent young man with no interest in governing justly. He feels like a failure for raising such an heir, a judgment that both exacerbates and is exacerbated by his anxieties about his mortality and the legacy he will leave behind. Conversely, Hal fears that his father does not truly know or recognize him. In spite of his success at the Battle of Shrewsbury, King Henry continues to view the prince as a wayward spirit even as Hal sets out to prove to his father that he has matured. Ultimately, it is Henry’s impending death that allows this evolution to be fully realized, as the moment compels the two characters to at last speak honestly to one another. Hal’s remorse, affection, and honesty signal his maturation in such a manner that the king is able to die knowing that his son is a far better man than he knew and that he has raised a good son. The broken relationship between father and son is repaired, taking on a new dimension as they both acknowledge and accept their responsibilities as king and heir. This transformation suggests that new opportunities for understanding arise both as children mature into adulthood and as parents reckon with what matters in the face of their mortality.
Prince Hal’s relationship with Falstaff follows the opposite trajectory, showing how relationships forged in youth can cease to make sense as a person takes on adult responsibilities. To some extent, Falstaff sees the prince as a surrogate son, but his understanding of his role as a “father,” as evidenced by his speech about passing on his love for sack, is inseparable from his life of drinking, pursuing women, and committing petty crimes. These activities were politically problematic even in Hal’s adolescence and only become more so as he faces the prospect of becoming king. Prince Hal therefore knows that he must cut off his relationship with Falstaff, as he does in the play’s final scene. While the king and the prince are able to repair their relationship as a consequence of life changes, those same changes shatter Falstaff’s last lingering connections to any sort of family or friend.
Prince Hal’s evolving relationships with his father and Falstaff figuratively reflect his changing relationship with the English body politic. As he ascends to the throne, he must signal the extent to which his relationship to the state has changed. He is no longer a criminal or a wayward youth; rather, he is a mature, sensible monarch who must be trusted to govern his state lest rebels rise up against him as they did his father. King Henry V’s discussion with the Lord Chief Justice signifies the evolution in his relationship to the state. Whereas he once ignored the law and did as he pleased, he now praises the Justice for punishing his past behavior. Pleased by this, the Justice and Prince John speak affectionately of the change that they have witnessed. In particular, they look forward to war with France as the ultimate sign of the new king’s evolving relationship to his people and the state, which he will now risk himself to expand and enrich.
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