Henry IV, Part 2

Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third installment in a tetralogy, coming after Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1, and before Henry V. Rather than a direct continuation of the historical story, the play is often seen as an expansion of elements from Henry IV, Part 1, giving more attention to the popular character Falstaff and adding new comic figures to his circle, such as Ancient Pistol, Doll Tearsheet, and Justice Robert Shallow. Several scenes mirror those in Part 1.

The plot picks up where Henry IV, Part 1 ends, centering on Prince Hal’s path to becoming king and his eventual rejection of Falstaff. Unlike the first part, Hal and Falstaff’s stories run almost entirely separately—they meet only twice, and briefly. Much of the play has an elegiac mood, focusing on Falstaff’s aging and his nearness to death, which mirrors the declining health of the king.

Synopsis

Falstaff continues drinking and committing petty crimes in London’s underworld. He first appears with a young page, assigned to him as a joke by Prince Hal. Falstaff asks about a doctor’s analysis of his urine, and the page cryptically says the urine is healthier than the patient.

Falstaff delivers one of his most famous lines: “I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men.” He plans to dress the page in ragged clothes, complains about being broke (“consumption of the purse”), and vows to find a wife in the local brothels. The Lord Chief Justice seeks him out; Falstaff feigns deafness, then pretends to mistake him for someone else. When questioned about a robbery, Falstaff shifts the topic to the king’s illness, claims to be much younger than the Chief Justice, and asks for a loan of one thousand pounds for a military expedition, which is refused.

Falstaff has a relationship with the prostitute Doll Tearsheet, who fights with his ensign, Ancient Pistol. After Falstaff throws Pistol out, Doll asks about the Prince. Falstaff makes derogatory remarks about Hal, not realizing Hal is nearby disguised as a musician. Hal overhears, and Falstaff tries to talk his way out of it, but Hal is unconvinced.

When news of a second rebellion arrives, Falstaff rejoins the army and goes to the countryside to recruit soldiers. There he meets an old school friend, Justice Shallow, and they reminisce about their youth. Shallow presents potential recruits—Mouldy, Bullcalf, Feeble, Shadow, and Wart, a motley group of rustics. Falstaff and his cronies take bribes from Mouldy and Bullcalf to exempt them from service.

In the other storyline, Hal still associates with London lowlife and seems unfit for kingship. King Henry IV is again disappointed in him, despite court reassurances. Another rebellion rises against the king, but it is defeated not by battle but through the deceitful political maneuvers of Hal’s brother, Prince John. The king then falls ill and appears to die.

Hal, seeing this, believes he is king and leaves with the crown. When King Henry awakens, he is devastated, thinking Hal only cares about becoming king. Hal convinces him otherwise, and the old king dies contentedly after advising his son to neutralize internal threats by waging war abroad: “Be it thy course to busy giddy minds / With foreign quarrels.”

The two storylines converge in the final scene. Falstaff learns from Pistol that Hal is now king and travels to London expecting great rewards. But Hal rejects him, saying he has changed and can no longer associate with such people. The London lowlifes, who anticipated a thieves’ paradise under Hal, are instead purged and imprisoned by the authorities.

Epilogue

The play ends with an epilogue thanking the audience and promising a continuation in a forthcoming play “with Sir John in it, and make you merry with fair Katharine of France; where, for all I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat.” Although Falstaff does die “of a sweat” in Henry V, it happens offstage in London at the start of that play, described by another character; he never appears on stage. The Merry Wives of Windsor includes Sir John, but cannot be the play referred to, since the epilogue clearly describes Henry V’s story and his wooing of Katherine of France.

In Henry V, Falstaff’s role as a cowardly soldier is taken by Ancient Pistol, his braggart sidekick from Henry IV, Part 2 and Merry Wives. The epilogue also assures the audience that Falstaff is not based on the anti-Catholic rebel Sir John Oldcastle, because “Oldcastle died martyr, and this is not the man.” Falstaff was originally named Oldcastle, following Shakespeare’s main model, an earlier play called The Famous Victories of Henry V. Shakespeare changed the name after complaints from Oldcastle’s descendants. While modern critics agree the name was originally Oldcastle in Part 1, it is disputed whether Part 2 initially kept that name or always used “Falstaff.” According to René Weis, metrical analyses of the verse passages containing Falstaff’s name have been inconclusive.