Henry IV Part 1 Act 5 - “For my part, I may speak it to my shame, I have a truant been to chivalry…”

Henry IV Part 1 Act 5 - “For my part, I may speak it to my shame,

I have a truant been to chivalry…”

Father and son, King and Prince, Henry and Hal watch the sunrise.

“How bloodily the sun begins to peer

Above yon busky hill! the day looks pale

At his distemperature.”

Enter Worcester and Vernon and King Henry IV quickly asks whether Worchester whether the conflict will be avoided. Worcester points out how the conflict could have been avoided in the first place by Henry if he had kep his promises to the Percy family. 

Henry casts off the concerns of the Percy’s as “fickle changelings and poor discontents”. War seems inevitable. Then Prince Harry (Hal) suggests a solution instead of countless men loosing their lives that he and Hotspur meet on the battlefield in hand-to-hand combat – mono on mono.

“I am content that he shall take the odds

Of his great name and estimation,

And will, to save the blood on either side,

Try fortune with him in a single fight.”

Worchester leaves to pitch this proposition to Hotspur while King Henry IV and Prince Harry express the opinion that this offer will not be accepted by Hotspur and the rebels. The audience knows that Hotspur already expressed this desire earlier so they hope the deal will be accepted. While Henry and harry depart, Falstaff muses at the value of honor when dead men seem to be the only ones who keep it.

“Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I

come on? how then? Can honour set to a leg? no: or

an arm? no: or take away the grief of a wound? no.

Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? no. What is

honour? a word. What is in that word honour? what

is that honour? air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it?

he that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? no.

Doth he hear it? no. 'Tis insensible, then. Yea,

to the dead. But will it not live with the living?

no. Why? detraction will not suffer it. Therefore

I'll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon: and so

ends my catechism.”

Over in the opposition’s camp, the news of Prince Harry’s offer meets with mixed reactions. Worcester urges that no-one tell Hotspur of the offer since he does not trust King Henry IV’s promises and thinks that persecution of the Percy’s would follow. Hotspur enters and is told that Henry mocked the Percy family concerns and Hotspur sends an immediate challenge to Henry. After this, Worcester relents and tells Hotspur of prince Harry’s offer. It is too late, Hotspur is ready for battle and even will not read important letters when they arrive for him.

Chaos reigns on the battlefield of Shrewsbury. The Scot Douglas thinks he has killed the king when he fights and kills Sir Walter Blunt. Falstaff in wandering off to avoid the main battle comes across Prince Harry who asks him for his sword. He refuses while Hotspur is still on the loose. Through either jest or drunkenness, Falstaff throws what he claims is his pistol to Prince Harry. It turns out to be an empty skin of sack (sweet alcohol).

Pandemonium and Prince Harry enters wounded. Henry tells his son to retire from the field but Harry wants to continue and he heads off with John and Westmoreland to re-engage in the battle. King Henry IV is alone when Douglas comes before him. The aging Henry challenges Douglas to a fight. Suddenly Prince Harry returns and fights Douglas and is so determined that Douglas retreats. Prince harry heads back into the field and soon meets Hotspur face to face. They eye each other off. Then Falstaff wanders back in and encourages young Prince Harry but he is soon set upon by Douglas. Falstaff decides to play dead and when he is lying still on the ground, Douglas thinks that Falstaff is dead.  Harry strikes a fatal blow to Hotspur. He speaks a eulogy for both Hotspur and Falstaff who he thinks are dead.

“For worms, brave Percy: fare thee well, great heart!

Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk…

Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven!

Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,

But not remember'd in thy epitaph…

What, old acquaintance! could not all this flesh…

Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day,

Though many dearer, in this bloody fray.

Embowell'd will I see thee by and by:

Till then in blood by noble Percy lie.”

When Prince Harry leaves, Falstaff leaps up and then stabs the corpse of Hotspur to claim that he has killed Hotspur. Harry returns and although he knows that he really killed Hotspur, he allows Falstaff to claim his little victory.

Henry IV’s victory has been decisive. The rebels are captured and news arrives of the capture of Douglas. Prince Harry deals with Douglas by setting him free for his bravery on the battlefield (albeit for the losing side). King Henry IV agrees to make deals with the remaining rebels, asking his father for permission to handle the case, commands that the Douglas be set free in recognition of his valor and integrity.

In the end, a king has learnt to be merciful and keep his word, a drunkard has learnt new deceptive methods d pay off and a rogue son has learnt to be a man and earned his father’s respect in the process. King Henry IV ends this play dividing his forces for the conflict ahead to be played out in the second part of this two-parter:

“Then this remains, that we divide our power.

You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland

Towards York shall bend you with your dearest speed,

To meet Northumberland and the prelate Scroop,

Who, as we hear, are busily in arms:

Myself and you, son Harry, will towards Wales,

To fight with Glendower and the Earl of March.

Rebellion in this land shall lose his sway,

Meeting the cheque of such another day:

And since this business so fair is done,

Let us not leave till all our own be won.”

Henry IV and Prince Harry return later in ‘Henry IV Part 2'. But next Shakespeare turns to the bawdy world of Falstaff in the comedy of ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’.