Honor in Prince Hal Essay -- Shakespeare Prince Hal Essays

Honor in Prince HalPrince Hals destiny is shaped for him by many forces his association with the neer-do-well Falstaff, the expectations of his richher, major power Henry IV, and the constant resemblance between himself and Hotspur. All three of these forces create in Hal a scent out of remark that is an integral part of his education as the ideal king, and end-to-end the action of Henry IV, Part I, Hal is gaining a knowledge of honor that will shape him into the index that he will become. However, it seems that Hal ultimately chooses one regulate on honor over the other, although he must compare the honor of Falstaff and the conceptual honor of a chivalric hero before he comes to a final conclusion. The first influence that Shakespeare illustrates over Prince Hal is that of Falstaff, a fat old man who seems to spend his life in seedy taverns accruing capacious amounts of debt. From his devious scheme to rob unknowing travelers at the beginning of the theme to his dia tribe on what honor is not, it is clear that Falstaff has a very distinguishable notion of his own personal honor, and he seems to be trying to exteriorise that same notion onto Hal however, as Hal becomes closer to his father, Falstaffs honor becomes less appealing. Falstaff treats Hal and tabby Henry IV to his own personal code of honor-or lack so Well, tis no matter honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me tally when I come on? How then? Can honour bewilder to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. awarding 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 oWednesday. Doth he savor it? No. Doth he hear it? No. Tis ins... ...cing his role as the Prince and defeating Hotspur when no one in the kingdom believed he had the gumption or the fearlessness to do so. Hals plea to the King to salve the long-grown wounds of my intem perance and subsequent contract to die a hundred thousand deaths ere break the smallest parcel of this adjuration are the final turning points in the story that lead to Prince Hal macrocosm educated as to what it means to be an ideal and true King (3.2.155-159). However, there is still time for Hals perspectives and values to be shaped and re-shaped by his father, the ghost of Hotspur, and the excesses of Falstaff, as well as by characters who have not yet been introduced, and in order to fully understand the transformation of Prince Hal, the lector must continue to King Henry IV, Part II and King Henry V to learn if Hal truly becomes an effective and charismatic prescript of England.