King Henry IV, Part I

Day Two

ENGL 305

Dr. Fike

Looking Ahead

• The Monday after Spring Break: midterm examination. Bring a large bluebook. See review PowerPoint for details.

• The Wednesday after Spring Break: Outline due.

Outline Assignment

• http://faculty.winthrop.edu/fikem/Courses/ENGL%20305/305%20Outline%20Assignment.htm

• Have a look at this for next time. I will answer your questions about the outline once you have had a chance to look at the assignment sheet.

Bibliographies

• Bibliography work does not stop when you turn in your bibliography.

• It is particularly important to “mine” your sources for other sources.

• But some of you need to back up and do a more thorough search of the resources available at Dacus: DOC, MLA, the literature databases. In fact, you are not done until you have searched all of these.

• In particular, those of you who are applying material from other disciplines need to deepen your understanding of that background.

A Common Error

• When your source is a single-authored book (monograph), put only the book title in the entry. You do not need a chapter title and its page numbers.

• You are welcome to put the chapter title in the abstract, but you should not do the bibliographic entry—or the WC entry—as though it were for an essay in an edited anthology.

Remember for Later Assignments

• Cross-referencing: See MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed., section, 5.3.6, page 135. This is very important for your WC lists in subsequent stages: “To avoid unnecessary repetition in citing two or more works from the same collection, you may create a complete entry for the collection and cross-reference individual pieces to the entry.”

Corrected Version

Bevington, David, ed. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. 5th ed. New York: Pearson Education, 2004. Print.Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Bevington 1,005-50. ---. A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Bevington 148-79.

Review

• King’s opening speech: He says that the civil war is over and that he wants to go on a crusade. He is setting the Hotspur up for blame when disorder keeps the king from going.

• Correspondences between microcosm and macrocosm. Their nature is acausal but meaningful to the observer (like synchronicities).

• Prince’s speeches (soliloquy about the sun, later statement about being in the tavern) point to his being a chip off the old block: agile with language and able to manipulate appearances for the sake of power.

Today’s Outline

• Background on Falstaff.

• Video of the tavern scene in 2.4.

• Group activity.

• Discussion—group reports.

Falstaff: A Father Figure

• Fall staff, shake spear.• Sir John Fastolfe was a cowardly commander in the

French wars. See 1H6 1.1.130-40.• The Falstaff character in 1H4 was originally called Sir

John Oldcastle in The Famous Victories of H5 (by Samuel Rowley or Richard Tarlton in 1594), but the historical Oldcastle died a protestant martyr, and his descendants were not pleased to see him portrayed as a glutton and vice-figure.

• http://www.born-again-christian.info/foxes.book.of.martyrs/foxes.6b.htm

• http://www.reformation.org/gog-and-magog.html

From Credo Reference—The Columbia Encyclopedia

• “Oldcastle, Sir John, 1378?-1417, English leader of Lollardry [Wycliff’s followers]. He married the heiress of Lord Cobham in 1408 and was known as "the good Lord Cobham." Under the rule of Henry IV he performed valuable military service, especially in Wales, where he became a friend of the prince of Wales (later Henry V). His devotion to the teachings of John Wyclif [Protestant reformer] brought upon him in 1413 condemnation for heresy. Oldcastle escaped from the Tower of London and was active in Lollard conspiracies until 1417, when he was captured and condemned. He was executed by hanging over a slow fire.”

Falstaff, continued

• Shakespeare allows Hal to call Falstaff “my old lad of the castle” at 1.2.41.

• But in 2H4 he adds a disclaimer in the epilogue: “for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man” (Epilogue 29-30).

• Therefore, Falstaff in our play is more like the cowardly commander Fastolfe. Bevington, introduction to 1H6: “Sir John Falstaff (historically ‘Fastolfe,’ but called ‘Falstaff’ in the Folio text of this play), [is] the cowardly soldier who foreshadows the fat knight of 1 Henry IV.”

Negatives about Falstaff

• He is like a Vice figure from the morality play: “dagger of lath” (2.4.135); “that reverend Vice, that gray Iniquity” (2.4.448); “this Vice’s dagger” (2H4 3.2.318).

• John D. Cox, Shakespeare and the Dramaturgy of Power: medieval drama inspired Shakespeare; he is not as forward-looking a thinker as we ordinarily assume.

• Childish impulses or the early forms of instinctual life—eating, drinking, fornicating.

• He is passive, narcissistic, irresponsible, criminal, and self-indulgent.

• If H4 is the superego, and Falstaff is the id, then Hal (ego) must mediate between the competing possibilities that each father (figure) represents.

Freud Chart

• Superego (morality)

• Ego (reality)

• Id (pleasure)

• Henry IV

• Hal

• Falstaff

Positives about Falstaff

• Falstaff represents the child that remains in all of us.

• He represents human individuality.

• He is an emblem of imaginative freedom.

• He is an icon of friendship.

Doubling

• Hal has two fathers. Falstaff complicates Hal’s relationship with his father.

• H4 has two sons—see “some night-tripping fairy” (1.1.86).

• Each son commits a symbolic form of patricide:– Hal rebels by being in the tavern.– Hotspur rebels by holding onto prisoners whom

he should turn over to the king.– Fun examples.

Patricide?

• H4 is responsible for the death of R2, and it could be that this comes too close to fulfilling the Oedipal wish from Hal’s point of view (cf. Hamlet’s hesitation in killing Claudius).

• He cannot focus his Oedipal hatred directly, so he instead takes his revenge on a shoddy old man, a substitute father.

• In this reading, Falstaff substitutes for H4, the king guilty of regicide, and is eventually sacrificed, though not killed, to pave the way for H5.

• Thus, he is a scapegoat for H4’s wrongs. This happens at the end of 2H4.

2H4 Ending

• Falstaff thinks that he will benefit now that Henry V (Hal) is king.

• He calls out to the new king, and H5 denounces him.

• 2H4 5.5.47-71: “I know thee not, old man. . . . Know that the grave doth gape / For thee thrice wider than for other men.” What’s the key word?

• The Chief Justice has Falstaff and his men taken to prison.

Similarities between Falstaff and H4 strengthen this reading:

• Both are mistaken for dead by Hal.

• Both are robbed by Hal (cf. the Gadshill robbery in 1H4 and the crown in 2H4).

• Both die in folkloric terms:– Falstaff dies with the tide and is in Arthur’s

bosom (H5 2.3.9-10).– H4 dies in a room in his castle named

“Jerusalem” (2H4 4.5.240)– Analogy to Baba Vanga.

The Tavern Scene: 2.4

• Watch video.

• The scene breaks down as follows:– Hal’s opening speech (previous PowerPoint)– Teasing Francis– Falstaff’s take on the robbery and cowardice– The exchange between Hal and Falstaff,

including the H4 impersonations– Various, including Falstaff’s bar bill

Questions for Small Group Discussion (10-15 minutes)

1. Why do we get the stuff on Francis? How does it contribute? Do you see any connections to the previous scene?

2. What points can you make about Falstaff’s statements about the robbery and cowardice? See also 5.1.127ff. and 5.4.111ff. (1 slide forward)

3. Consider Falstaff’s jokes at lines 271-72 and 399-400. What is their significance? Think about the former in light of what you know about kingship.

4. Using Falstaff’s own criterion at lines 423-24 (knowing the tree by its fruit [cf. Matthew 12.33]), how do you evaluate him? See also 4.2.22ff. and 5.3.35ff.

5. EVERYONE: What is the significance of the playacting that Hal and Falstaff do? (2 slides forward)

Bedford Companion 219

• Re. 2.1 but also relevant to the Gadshill robery: “the episode explores in a socially specific context the problems of loyalty and betrayal that are central to the play’s political concerns: King Henry is accused of having stolen the crown.”– Line 11-12: “the price of oats rose”; cf. 2.4.356-57:

“You may buy land now as cheap as stinking mackerel.” POINT: The economy has suffered under H4.

– Contrast: Lines 55-56: “the picking of purses” vs. line 67: “hangman.” POINT: Tension between license and law in H4’s kingdom.

Active Imagination

• http://www.breakoutofthebox.com/activeimagination.htm

• In Jungian terms, the playacting is active imagination. Playing the father activates the father archetype within Hal. It is thus good preparation for the role that he must affirm. It is a sure sign that things are on the move in Hal’s unconscious.

• Active imagination individuation (achieving greater wholeness, knowing the truth about oneself, making the unconscious conscious).

Final Points

• The tavern scene reveals the friendship between Falstaff and Hal.

• It shows their ability to play with language (cf. Hal’s learning the language of the common people in the opening speech).

• Homology: In terms of verbal facility, they are to their roles as Shakespeare is to this play: masterful.

• The scene not only illustrates Hal’s loyalty to Falstaff but also forecasts his eventual abandonment of the fat knight (2H4 5.5.47ff.): “I know thee not, old man,” etc.

• Ultimately, the scene affirms the importance of returning to the father: circular return like the prodigal son: “I’ll to the court in the morning” (2.4.538).

For Next Time

• Have a look at the passages on Hotspur in preparation for Day Three. See next slide.

Hotspur Passages for Day Three

• 1.1.76ff.

• 1.3.201ff.

• 1.3.158-86

• 2.3.36ff. and 77-83

• 3.1.243-64

• 3.2• 4.1.111ff. END