“Henry IV Part I – Shakespeare”;
Speaking specifically of Henry IV Part I Marjorie Garber claims that, "The play is full of complex correspondences between its characters as well as telling juxtapositions between several dramatic worlds" (317). King Henry and Falstaff are two characters in the play, in which Shakespeare has them working with and against one another. Their similarities include that fact that they are both leaders of their own "dramatic world." They are also father figures for Hal, with King Henry being his real father and Falstaff being a surrogate father. The major difference between them is that King Henry represents order, and Falstaff represents disorder. Their ideas and relationship with Hal show how Shakespeare has them working with and against one another in the play.
King Henry, being the king of England, is the leader of the court world. He stands for law and order, and many of his ideas are based on leadership and honor. In the very first scene of the play King Henry says, "So shaken as we are, so wan with care, find we a time for frighted peace to pant and breathe short-winded accents of new broils to be commenced in strands afar remote" (1.1.1-4). King Henry is concerned about peace, and how the turmoil within the country is threatening his honor and leadership. He hopes that the fighting will move to foreign lands instead of their own and between their own people. King Henry keeps all of his worries to himself, however, and instead focuses his attention on his son, Hal. The King is deeply disappointed in Hal because he associates with low-class people, and allows them to call themselves equal, when he is a person of royal blood. Henry believes that the actions of his son reflect poorly on himself as king. How can he rule all of England, if he can't even control his own son? After a serious talk with his father about these matters, Hal starts to change into the honorable person his father wants him to be.
Falstaff, on the other hand, is the leader of the tavern world. He is the embodiment of disorder, and his world is full of drunkenness, thievery, and gluttony. Although Falstaff is witty, deceitful, boastful, and cowardly, he is a popular man among the common people. He even has a sort of control over the tavern crowd. Unlike King Henry, he is without honor or dignity, in fact, Falstaff's view of honor is this, "Yea, but how if honor prick me off when I come on? How then? Can honor set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No….But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it…Honor is a mere scutcheon (5.1.130-9). Falstaff rejects the idea of honor because it is worthless in battle, and he cannot seem to understand its appeal to others. Falstaff, like King Henry, is a father to Hal. Despite what seems to be a special friendship between them, Falstaff has a feeling that Hal will soon get rid of him. Because self preservation comes first for Falstaff, during a scene in the tavern Falstaff asks Hal not to banish him when he becomes king. Hal replies with, "I will" (2.4.463).
King Henry and Falstaff are both father figures for Hal. Throughout the play, the audience can see how both of these characters influence Hal's decisions and actions. King Henry, being Hal's real father, has more of an influence on Hal than Falstaff does. However, Falstaff is an important part of Hal's young life. In the beginning of the play, Hal spends a lot of his time hanging out with Falstaff and the common people at the tavern. Because he spends so much time there, the commoners do not treat Hal as a person of royal blood but treat him like he is an equal. Hal seems to enjoy this kind of life with Falstaff where he can joke around and cause mischief, until he briefly expresses his true opinion of Falstaff and the other people he surrounds himself with. Hal calls them "base contagious clouds" and "foul and ugly mists," and he makes a vow to himself which says, "I’ll so offend to make offense a skill, redeeming time when men think least I will" (1.2.204-5). In this scene, the audience sees for the first time something different in Hal. They are not sure if Hal will follow through with his claim that he will eventually rid himself of these people and especially Falstaff.
King Henry, being Hal's real father, has the most influence on Hal. In act three scene two, Henry and Hal talk for the first time about the major issue between them. The King expresses his disappointment in Hal, and asks him why he associates with low-class people and allows them to call themselves equal. Hal asks for his father's forgiveness and intends to fix all of his faults. He promises his father that when the time comes he will fight the gallant Hotspur, and when he beats him it will make up for all of his failures. This is the first time that Hal has expressed these thoughts to someone other than himself, and the audience can tell he is being completely truthful based on the emotion in his words and the actions that follow. Later on, during a battle between King Henry and Northumberland, Hal engages in a sword fight with Hotspur. He eventually kills him, and fulfills his promise to his father proving that he has really changed. King Henry influences Hal by his own words and actions to be a man of law and order, like himself, and leave behind the disorder and misrule that is Falstaff.
According to Marjorie Garber, Henry IV Part I "is full of complex correspondences between its characters as well as telling juxtapositions between several dramatic worlds." King Henry and Falstaff are just two characters in the play whose similarities and differences between each other are seen through their ideas about honor and order, and their relationship and influence on Hal. While King Henry is the leader of an orderly court world, Falstaff is the unspoken leader of a disorderly tavern world. King Henry revolves his ideas around honor and leadership, while Falstaff's ideas reject honor and focus on deceit. Both of these characters, despite the major differences in how they rule their "worlds," have a fatherly influence on Hal. In the end, the order of King Henry prevails over the disorder of Falstaff. Under the influence of his real father, Hal achieves the honor that King Henry wishes he had. The honor that he wanted so badly for his son. While Falstaff, on the other hand, is left in the dust.