Henry IV, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Plot
Overview
When
the play opens, military news interrupts the aging King Henry’s plans to lead a
crusade. The Welsh rebel Glyndwr has defeated King Henry’s army in the South,
and the young Harry Percy (nicknamed Hotspur), who is supposedly loyal to King
Henry, is refusing to send to the king the soldiers whom he has captured in the
North. King Henry summons Hotspur back to the royal court so that he can
explain his actions. Meanwhile, King Henry’s son, Prince Harry, sits drinking in a bar with
criminals and highwaymen. King Henry is very disappointed in his son; it is
common knowledge that Harry, the heir to the throne, conducts himself in a
manner unbefitting royalty. He spends most of his time in taverns on the seedy
side of London, hanging around with vagrants and other shady characters.
Harry’s closest friend among the crew of rascals is Falstaff, a sort of
substitute father figure. Falstaff is a worldly and fat old man who steals and
lies for a living. Falstaff is also an extraordinarily witty person who lives
with great gusto. Harry claims that his spending time with these men is
actually part of a scheme on his part to impress the public when he eventually
changes his ways and adopts a more noble personality.
Falstaff’s
friend Poins arrives at the inn and announces that he has plotted the robbery
of a group of wealthy travelers. Although Harry initially refuses to
participate, Poins explains to him in private that he is actually playing a
practical joke on Falstaff. Poins’s plan is to hide before the robbery occurs,
pretending to ditch Falstaff. After the robbery, Poins and Harry will rob
Falstaff and then make fun of him when he tells the story of being robbed,
which he will almost certainly fabricate.
Hotspur
arrives at King Henry’s court and details the reasons that his family is
frustrated with the king: the Percys were instrumental in helping Henry
overthrow his predecessor, but Henry has failed to repay the favor. After King
Henry leaves, Hotspur’s family members explain to Hotspur their plan to build
an alliance to overthrow the king.
Harry
and Poins, meanwhile, successfully carry out their plan to dupe Falstaff and
have a great deal of fun at his expense. As they are all drinking back at the
tavern, however, a messenger arrives for Harry. Harry’s father has received
news of the civil war that is brewing and has sent for his son; Harry is to
return to the royal court the next day.
Although
the Percys have gathered a formidable group of allies around them—leaders of
large rebel armies from Scotland and Wales as well as powerful English nobles
and clergymen who have grievances against King Henry—the alliance has begun to
falter. Several key figures announce that they will not join in the effort to
overthrow the king, and the danger that these defectors might alert King Henry
of the rebellion necessitates going to war at once.
Heeding his
father’s request, Harry returns to the palace. King Henry expresses his deep
sorrow and anger at his son’s behavior and implies that Hotspur’s valor might
actually give him more right to the throne than Prince Harry’s royal birth.
Harry decides that it is time to reform, and he vows that he will abandon his
wild ways and vanquish Hotspur in battle in order to reclaim his good name.
Drafting his tavern friends to fight in King Henry’s army, Harry accompanies
his father to the battlefront.
The
civil war is decided in a great battle at Shrewsbury. Harry boldly saves his
father’s life in battle and finally wins back his father’s approval and
affection. Harry also challenges and defeats Hotspur in single combat. King
Henry’s forces win, and most of the leaders of the Percy family are put to
death. Falstaff manages to survive the battle by avoiding any actual fighting.
Powerful rebel forces remain in Britain, however, so King Henry must
send his sons and his forces to the far reaches of his kingdom to deal with
them. When the play ends, the ultimate outcome of the war has not yet been
determined; one battle has been won, but another remains to be fought
(Shakespeare’s sequel to this play, 2 Henry IV, begins where 1 Henry IVleaves off).
Act II,
scene iv [Play out of Play]
Summary
At his
family home (Warkworth Castle, in the far north of England), Hotspur reads a
letter that has just arrived from a nobleman. Hotspur has asked the nobleman
for support in the rebellion that the Percy family is planning against Henry.
But the letter relays a refusal, saying that the Percy plot is not planned out
well enough and that its allies are not strong or reliable enough to face so
great a foe as Henry. Hotspur becomes very angry at the letter writer and
disdains the writer’s cowardice. He is concerned, however, that the writer will
decide to reveal the plot to Henry, so he decides that he must set out that
night to join his allies and start the rebellion.
Hotspur’s wife,
Lady Percy (also called Kate), comes in to speak to her husband. When Hotspur
tells her that he will be leaving the castle within two hours, she becomes
upset. She points out that for the past two weeks Hotspur has not eaten
properly, slept well, or made love to her. Furthermore, he keeps on breaking
out into a sweat in the middle of the night and crying out, babbling in his
sleep about guns, cannons, prisoners, and soldiers. Lady Percy thinks that it
is time Hotspur explained exactly what he’s been planning.
Hotspur, however, ignores Lady Percy, instead instructing his servant to
get his horse ready. Enraged, Lady Percy stops pleading and starts demanding
answers. She suspects that Hotspur’s machinations all have something to do with
her brother, Lord Mortimer, and his claim to the throne. She threatens to break
Hotspur’s “little finger” (a euphemism for his penis) if he does not tell her
what is going on (II.iv.79).
Hotspur
abruptly turns on Lady Percy and angrily insults her, saying that he does not
love her and that this is no world for womanly thoughts or for love. Instead,
he declares, there must be war and fighting. He will not tell her what he is
doing because he believes that women cannot be trusted, and she won’t be able
to reveal what she does not know. He concedes only that he will send for her,
and that she may follow him on horseback the next day. Though -dissatisfied,
Lady Percy cannot get any more information from her belligerent husband.
As You Like It
William Shakespeare
Plot
Overview
Sir
Rowland de Bois has recently died, and, according to the custom of
primogeniture, the vast majority of his estate has passed into the possession
of his eldest son, Oliver. Although Sir Rowland has instructed Oliver to take
good care of his brother, Orlando, Oliver refuses to do so. Out of pure spite,
he denies Orlando the education, training, and property befitting a gentleman.
Charles, a wrestler from the court of Duke Frederick, arrives to warn Oliver of
a rumor that Orlando will challenge Charles to a fight on the following day.
Fearing censure if he should beat a nobleman, Charles begs Oliver to intervene,
but Oliver convinces the wrestler that Orlando is a dishonorable sportsman who
will take whatever dastardly means necessary to win. Charles vows to pummel
Orlando, which delights Oliver.
Duke Senior has
been usurped of his throne by his brother, Duke Frederick, and has fled to the
Forest of Ardenne, where he lives like Robin Hood with a band of loyal
followers. Duke Frederick allows Senior’s daughter, Rosalind, to remain at
court because of her inseparable friendship with his own daughter, Celia. The
day arrives when Orlando is scheduled to fight Charles, and the women witness
Orlando’s defeat of the court wrestler. Orlando and Rosalind instantly fall in
love with one another, though Rosalind keeps this fact a secret from everyone
but Celia. Orlando returns home from the wrestling match, only to have his
faithful servant Adam warn him about Oliver’s plot against Orlando’s life.
Orlando decides to leave for the safety of Ardenne. Without warning, Duke
Frederick has a change of heart regarding Rosalind and banishes her from court.
She, too, decides to flee to the Forest of Ardenne and leaves with Celia, who
cannot bear to be without Rosalind, and Touchstone, the court jester. To ensure
the safety of their journey, Rosalind assumes the dress of a young man and
takes the name Ganymede, while Celia dresses as a common shepherdess and calls
herself Aliena.
Duke
Frederick is furious at his daughter’s disappearance. When he learns that the
flight of his daughter and niece coincides with the disappearance of Orlando,
the duke orders Oliver to lead the manhunt, threatening to confiscate Oliver’s
lands and property should he fail. Frederick also decides it is time to destroy
his brother once and for all and begins to raise an army.
Duke
Senior lives in the Forest of Ardenne with a band of lords who have gone into
voluntary exile. He praises the simple life among the trees, happy to be absent
from the machinations of court life. Orlando, exhausted by travel and desperate
to find food for his starving companion, Adam, barges in on the duke’s camp and
rudely demands that they not eat until he is given food. Duke Senior calms
Orlando and, when he learns that the young man is the son of his dear former
friend, accepts him into his company. Meanwhile, Rosalind and Celia, disguised
as Ganymede and Aliena, arrive in the forest and meet a lovesick young shepherd
named Silvius who pines away for the disdainful Phoebe. The two women purchase
a modest cottage, and soon enough Rosalind runs into the equally lovesick
Orlando. Taking her to be a young man, Orlando confides in Rosalind that his
affections are overpowering him. Rosalind, as Ganymede, claims to be an expert
in exorcising such emotions and promises to cure Orlando of lovesickness if he
agrees to pretend that Ganymede is Rosalind and promises to come woo her every
day. Orlando agrees, and the love lessons begin.
Meanwhile,
Phoebe becomes increasingly cruel in her rejection of Silvius. When Rosalind
intervenes, disguised as Ganymede, Phoebe falls hopelessly in love with
Ganymede. One day, Orlando fails to show up for his tutorial with Ganymede.
Rosalind, reacting to her infatuation with Orlando, is distraught until Oliver appears.
Oliver describes how Orlando stumbled upon him in the forest and saved him from
being devoured by a hungry lioness. Oliver and Celia, still disguised as the
shepherdess Aliena, fall instantly in love and agree to marry. As time passes,
Phoebe becomes increasingly insistent in her pursuit of Ganymede, and Orlando
grows tired of pretending that a boy is his dear Rosalind. Rosalind decides to
end the charade. She promises that Ganymede will wed Phoebe, if Ganymede will
ever marry a woman, and she makes everyone pledge to meet the next day at the
wedding. They all agree.
The
day of the wedding arrives, and Rosalind gathers the various couples: Phoebe
and Silvius; Celia and Oliver; Touchstone and Audrey, a goatherd he intends to
marry; and Orlando. The group congregates before Duke Senior and his men.
Rosalind, still disguised as Ganymede, reminds the lovers of their various
vows, then secures a promise from Phoebe that if for some reason she refuses to
marry Ganymede she will marry Silvius, and a promise from the duke that he
would allow his daughter to marry Orlando if she were available. Rosalind
leaves with the disguised Celia, and the two soon return as themselves,
accompanied by Hymen, the god of marriage. Hymen officiates at the ceremony and
marries Rosalind and Orlando, Celia and Oliver, Phoebe and Silvius, and Audrey
and Touchstone. The festive wedding celebration is interrupted by even more
festive news: while marching with his army to attack Duke Senior, Duke
Frederick came upon a holy man who convinced him to put aside his worldly
concerns and assume a monastic life. -Frederick changes his ways and returns
the throne to Duke Senior. The guests continue dancing, happy in the knowledge
that they will soon return to the royal court.
Act IV,
scenes i–ii
Summary: Act IV, scene i
Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for
love.
Jaques approaches Rosalind, who is still in her disguise as
Ganymede, wishing to become better acquainted. Rosalind criticizes Jaques for
the extremity of his melancholy. When Jaques claims that “’tis good to be sad
and say nothing,” Rosalind compares such activity to being “a post” (IV.i.8–9). Jaques defends himself, outlining for Rosalind
the unique composition of his sadness, but Rosalind gets the better of him and
he departs. Orlando
arrives an hour late for his lesson in love. As agreed, he addresses Ganymede
as if the young man were his beloved Rosalind and asks her to forgive his
tardiness. Rosalind refuses, insisting that a true lover could not bear to
squander “a part of the thousand part of a minute in the affairs of love”
(IV.i.40–41). She goes on to suggest that Orlando’s love is worse than a snail’s,
for though a snail comes slowly, he carries his house on his back. Eventually,
though, Rosalind relents and invites Orlando to woo her. The lesson begins:
when he says that he desires to kiss her before speaking, she suggests that he
save his kiss for the moment when conversation lags. What, Orlando worries,
should he do if his kiss is denied? Rosalind reassures him that a denied kiss
would only give him “new matter” to discuss with his lover (IV.i.69–70). When Rosalind
refuses his affections, Orlando claims he will die. She responds that, despite
the poet’s romantic imagination, no man in the entire history of the world has
died from a love-related cause.
Rosalind then changes her mood, assuming a “more coming-on disposition”
(IV.i.96). She accepts and
returns Orlando’s declarations of love and urges Celia to play the part of a
priest and marry them. Rosalind reminds Orlando that women often become
disagreeable after marriage, but Orlando does not believe this truism of his
love. He begs leave in order to dine with Duke Senior, promising to return
within two hours. Rosalind teasingly chastises him for parting with her but
warns him not to be a minute late in keeping his promise. After Orlando departs,
Celia berates Rosalind for so badly characterizing the female sex. Rosalind
responds by exclaiming how vast her love for Orlando has grown. Only Cupid, she
says, can fathom the depth of her affection.
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