Henry IV, Part 1

Henry IV, Part 1 contrasts the troubled King Henry IV, facing rebellion, with his son Prince Hal, who spends his time in Eastcheap taverns with the fat, witty knight Sir John Falstaff before proving himself at the Battle of Shrewsbury.

Main characters

• King Henry IV
• Prince Hal (Henry, Prince of Wales), later Henry V
• Sir John Falstaff
• Henry Percy, known as Hotspur
• The Earl of Northumberland and the Earl of Worcester
• Owen Glendower
• Poins, Bardolph, Peto and Mistress Quickly of the tavern

Plot summary

This summary gives away the ending.

Henry IV, still uneasy about how he won the crown, wishes his son were more like the fiery young Hotspur. Hal, meanwhile, is robbing travellers for fun with Falstaff and his friends, then robbing Falstaff in turn to hear the outrageous lies he tells afterwards. In a soliloquy, Hal reveals he is only playing the wastrel so that his reformation will look all the more impressive.

The Percy family, who helped Henry to the throne, feel slighted and rebel, allied with the Welsh leader Glendower. In a famous tavern scene Falstaff and Hal take turns playing the King, rehearsing the confrontation to come. Hal is reconciled with his father and promises to redeem himself. At the Battle of Shrewsbury he kills Hotspur in single combat, while Falstaff plays dead to survive and then claims the kill.

Themes

• Fathers and sons
• Honour and its costs
• Rebellion and legitimacy
• Role-playing and identity

Famous lines

The better part of valour is discretion.

Falstaff, Act 5 Scene 4

Can honour set to a leg? no: or an arm? no: or take away the grief of a wound? no.

Falstaff, Act 5 Scene 1

I know you all, and will awhile uphold The unyoked humour of your idleness.

Prince Hal, Act 1 Scene 2

More in our collection of famous Shakespeare quotes.

Sources

Holinshed's Chronicles, Samuel Daniel's The Civil Wars, and the anonymous play The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth. Falstaff was originally called Sir John Oldcastle, but the name was changed after objections from Oldcastle's descendants.

On stage and screen

Falstaff became one of the most popular characters of the age; the play was reprinted more often than almost any other in Shakespeare's lifetime. Orson Welles combined both parts in his film Chimes at Midnight (1965).

See where Henry IV, Part 1 sits in Shakespeare's career on the timeline, or read about the playhouses it was written for.