Henry IV, Part 2
Henry IV, Part 2, chronicle play in five acts by William Shakespeare, written in 1597–99 and published in a corrupt text based in part on memorial reconstruction in a quarto edition in 1600. A better text, printed in the main from an authorial manuscript, appeared in the First Folio of 1623 and is generally the more reliable version. Henry IV, Part 2 is the third in a sequence of four history plays (the others being Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, and Henry V). Known collectively as the “second tetralogy,” the plays depict major events of English history in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. The group of plays is often referred to as “the Henriad.”
As in Henry IV, Part 1 it is Prince Hal rather than his father, the titular king, who is the focus of the narrative in the sequel. At the end of Henry IV, Part 2 Hal ascends the English throne and becomes the titular protagonist of the final play in the sequence, Henry V. The historical facts of Henry IV, Part 2 were taken primarily from Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles (1577), but Sir John Falstaff and the other comic secondary characters are original. In Henry IV, Part 2 these figures in Eastcheap (an area in London) dominate the action even more than they do in Part 1.
Plot
An “induction,” or prologue, establishes context for the continuation of the events of Part 1, which ended with the Battle of Shrewsbury. Although Hal killed the rebel Hotspur in battle (and agreed to let Falstaff take the credit), rumors have spread that Hotspur was victorious in battle and that Hal and King Henry IV were killed. The stage direction for this scene is, famously: “Enter Rumor, painted full of tongues.”
Falstaff’s overreach (Acts I–III)
Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, who had claimed illness in Henry IV, Part 1, learns of the death of his son, Hotspur, and prepares to join the battle. Henry IV’s son John of Lancaster is leading the ongoing war against the Welsh chieftain Owen Glendower and Northumberland. Later, Northumberland is persuaded by his daughter-in-law Kate, Hotspur’s widow, to abandon the rebellion. The swaggering Falstaff, emboldened by Hal’s support of the false claim that he killed Hotspur, has become even more corpulent and outrageous. He sponges off his hostess, Mistress Quickly, abuses the Lord Chief Justice, preens for the admiring Doll Tearsheet, and takes advantage of everyone, especially his ensign, Pistol, and his old friends Justice Shallow and Justice Silence.
Foul-mouthed sex worker Doll Tearsheet insults Falstaff but is also affectionate toward him. She is later arrested for prostitution, claims to be pregnant, and is accused of helping Pistol beat a man to death.
Hal, worried about his father’s ill health but still curious about Falstaff’s activities, goes to Eastcheap in disguise to spy on his old friends. There, he and his companion Poins overhear Falstaff’s disparaging remarks about them. Hal and Falstaff are called to the war. The ailing king frets about the rebel forces, reported to be 50,000-strong, and is assured by the earl of Warwick that rumor has exaggerated the number.
Long live the king (Acts IV–V)
When the king learns of Hal’s whereabouts, he despairs for the future. News comes that Prince John has settled the war (through a perfidious betrayal of promises made to the enemy leaders as a condition of their disbanding their forces). Henry talks, yet again, about a pilgrimage so that he can die in the Holy Land. After a misunderstanding in which Hal—thinking his father has died—removes the crown from the king’s pillow and leaves the sickroom, father and son are reconciled on the king’s deathbed. The wily Henry advises Hal to avoid internal strife during his own reign by seeking foreign quarrels.
Hal prepares to become king, setting aside his previous frivolous image and reassuring his brothers of his loyalty to them and his genuine grief at their mutual loss. Falstaff arrives with his entourage, expecting a lively and generous welcome from his old friend. Instead, Hal, now King Henry V, denounces Falstaff, orders him and his cronies to repent their profligate ways, and has the Lord Chief Justice take them to the Fleet prison until they have reformed. As they are led away, Prince John prophesies war with France.
Epilogue
A speaker, representing the playwright, delivers an epilogue (a common stage convention of the time) in which he apologizes for the play and sets the scene for Henry V, in which Falstaff dies (although offstage) and the French princess Katherine (based on Catherine of Valois) agrees to marry the king. The speaker also refers to John Oldcastle, leader of the Lollards, a religious sect that challenged Roman Catholic doctrine. Oldcastle is commonly held to have been the inspiration for Falstaff’s character, and some scholars believe that Falstaff was originally named Oldcastle but later renamed because of pressure from one of his descendants. The epilogue serves to distance Shakespeare from the notion that Falstaff was based on Oldcastle:
One word more, I beseech you: if you be not too
much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will
continue the story, with Sir John in it, and make
you merry with fair Katherine of France, where, for
anything I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless
already he be killed with your hard opinions; for
Oldcastle died [a] martyr, and this is not the man.
My tongue is weary; when my legs are too, I will bid
you good night.
For a discussion of this play within the context of Shakespeare’s entire corpus, see William Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s plays and poems.