Henry IV, Part 2

Henry IV, Part 2 follows the ailing King Henry IV through the last of the rebellions against him, while Falstaff grows older and Prince Hal prepares to become king and leave his old companions behind.

Main characters

• King Henry IV
• Prince Hal, later Henry V
• Sir John Falstaff
• Prince John of Lancaster
• The Lord Chief Justice
• Justice Shallow and Justice Silence
• Mistress Quickly, Doll Tearsheet and Pistol
• Rumour, the Prologue

Plot summary

This summary gives away the ending.

Rumour, 'painted full of tongues', opens the play by spreading false news of Hotspur's victory. The surviving rebels regroup, but at Gaultree Forest Prince John tricks them into disbanding their army with promises and then arrests and executes their leaders. Falstaff, sick and short of money, recruits soldiers in Gloucestershire, taking bribes to let the fit men go, and reminisces with his old friend Justice Shallow.

The king, sleepless and dying, collapses in the Jerusalem Chamber. Finding his son has taken the crown from his pillow, he reproaches him, and the two are finally reconciled. Hal becomes Henry V and publicly accepts the authority of the Lord Chief Justice. When Falstaff rushes to greet the new king expecting favour, Henry rejects him coldly and banishes him from his presence.

Themes

• Age, sickness and mortality
• Succession and responsibility
• Rumour and deception
• Friendship and duty

Famous lines

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

King Henry IV, Act 3 Scene 1

We have heard the chimes at midnight, Master Shallow.

Falstaff, Act 3 Scene 2

I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers.

King Henry V, Act 5 Scene 5

More in our collection of famous Shakespeare quotes.

Sources

Holinshed's Chronicles and The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth.

On stage and screen

The Epilogue promises the audience that Falstaff will appear in the next play. In the event, his death is only reported, movingly, by Mistress Quickly in Henry V.

See where Henry IV, Part 2 sits in Shakespeare's career on the timeline, or read about the playhouses it was written for.