English 304: Shakespeare: Major Plays
Prof. Boyer

The best beginning procedure is always to familiarize yourself with the cast of characters and then to read the play (or at least an act or a scene) all the way through so that you know what's happening. The notes can help if you're stuck, but try to get the big picture of a scene before getting bogged down in details. Read through, then go back and clear up details. Then you're ready to think about the questions.

1. Consider the Induction (an introductory scene). What is the effect of beginning the play with Rumor this way? How does the Induction anticipate the themes of the play? How does it mark a change (in mood? in action? in attitudes?) from Part 1?

1.1
1. We see the practical effect of Rumor in 1.1. Why does Northumberland accept the false reports initially? Does he have trouble accepting the true reports when they come? What kind of image of Northumberland does Shakespeare want us to have at this point? Notice how the scene provides a transition from the rebellion of Part 1 to the new rebellion. How does the involvement of the Archbishop of York change the tone of rebellion? Does this changed tone also affect the play as a whole?

1.2
1. What important kind of imagery is introduced at the beginning of 1.2? How does this imagery relate to 1.1? To the play as a whole? (What is the present state of England?) Watch throughout the play for imagery of disease and for nostalgia for the past. Everybody is waiting for something (ultimately Hal's becoming king.)

2. Falstaff didn't have a boy servant in Part 1. How did he get this one? (See 1.2.10-12) Why do you think this has happened? Has Falstaff's financial position changed? How and why?

3. Be sure you note the incident mentioned at the entrance of the Lord Chief Justice (1.2.47-48). And note throughout the scene the heavy use of imagery of old age and of disease, as well as Falstaff's need of money (1.2.203-204, 214-218-even his purse is diseased!). What disease is Falstaff suffering from? (See 1.2.223-224) How does Falstaff's last sentence combine at least two themes (1.2.227)?

4. Why does Falstaff treat the Lord Chief Justice the way he does in 1.2?

1.3
1. How is Lord Bardolph's talk in 1.3 (especially lines 36-62) different in tone and attitude from other preparations for rebellion we have heard (in Part 1 especially)? (Note that Lord Bardolph is not the Bardolph who is one of Falstaff's companions.)

2. What is the Archbishop's attitude toward the common people? (See 1.3.85-108) How does it compare with other attitudes in both parts? Is he echoing the tone or ideas of Rumor in the Induction?

2.1
1. What is happening at the beginning of 2.1 between Fang and Snare on the one hand and Falstaff on the other? What is Mistress Quickly's role in this? Does any of it sound like Dickens? How is the dispute between Quickly and Falstaff settled?

2. We know (e.g., from 1.3.72, 83) that King Henry and Hal are leading the forces against Glendower. What seems to have happened, based on the news in 2.1.123-124 and 153-162?

2.2
1. What do you make of the opening of 2.2 with its emphasis on weariness? Notice the parallels between the plans at the end of 2.2 (carried out in 2.4) and the Gads Hill robbery and its aftermath in Part 1, noting that Poins is Hal's partner both times? Do you find any importance in the repetition?

2.3
1. And notice the similarity between 2.3 and the scene in Part 1 between Hotspur and his wife (and also between Northumberland's backing out of battle then and now). Do these repetitions have a thematic importance for Part 2, or is Shakespeare merely using the same material again with only minor variations?

2.4
1. Notice the similarity between the beginning of 2.4 and the beginning of Part 1's scene 2.5 (2.4 in most editions), especially the use both scenes make of Hal's friendship with drawers. The parallels between the two parts thus continue.

2. 2.4 introduces an important new comic character, Pistol. What type of person is he? What is the relationship in the scene between Falstaff, Mistress Quickly, and Doll Tearsheet? Why the last few lines as Falstaff and Bardolph leave for the war (2.4.353-356)? And note a new awareness in 2.4.244 (compare 1.2.159-180). Compared to the tavern scenes in Part 1, these in Part 2 have been called sentimental and given to nostalgia. Do you agree?

3.1
1. We have heard already about Henry IV's sickness (2.2.21-39, and remember Falstaff disease at 1.2.1-4)

2. Read the king's soliloquy on sleep carefully (3.1.4-31). Melville used the shipboy idea (lines 18-30) in Moby-Dick. Being unable to sleep is never a good thing in Shakespeare.

3. Notice Henry IV's use of the disease metaphor in 3.1.37-43. And note the return of rumor in line 92.

3. What has happened during the king's illness (3.1.93-101)?

3.2
1. In 3.2 we meet two more wonderful characters, old Justices Shallow and Silence. (They are prosperous rural gentlemen serving as Justices of the Peace.) What is their relation to Falstaff? (See 3.2.11-30). And so we get another form of nostalgia for the past.

2. Falstaff has come to impress men for his company (3.2.85-86). (Remember what sort of men he impressed for his company in Part 1. This time we get to see the process.) How fair is the process?

3. How does Falstaff respond to Shallow and Silence (3.2.275-297)?

4.1
1. What does Westmorland tell the rebels at Gaultres Forest (normally Gaultree Forest) when he receives their conditions (4.1.139-180)? Do the rebels expect a settlement (4.1.181-221)?

2. (Most editions begin 4.2 at our 4.1.227.) How does Prince John win his notable victory at Gaultres Forest?

4.2 (4.3 in most editions)

1. Why does Coleville of the Dale surrender to Falstaff? (Remember that Falstaff's prestige in Part 2 is csued by the report that he killed Hotspur.) How does Falstaff report his capture (4.2.33-38)?

2. Was it a good idea for Coleville to surrender (4.2.65-66)?

3. How does Falstaff respond to Prince John (4.2.78-111)?

4.3 (4.4 and 4.5 in most editions)
1. What is the king planning to do when he recovers? (See 4.3. 1-10 and compare Part 1 1.1.1-27.) In this scene, does he sound like someone who expects to recover? What are the King's expectations of Hal, and what other interpretation is presented? (See 4.3.54-78.) It almost sounds as if Warwick overheard Hal's "Redeeming time" speech (Part 1 1.2.173-195).

2. What happens to the King? (4.3.102-135.)

3. (Most editions begin scene 4.5 at our 4.3.133.) What happens when Hal visits his father? What does Hal think has happened? Read 4.3.151-177 carefully. How does Hal respond when he thinks his father is dead? What does Hal do with the crown?

4. Why does the King think Hal took the crown (4.3.220-237)? What does he expect will happen when Hal becomes king (4.3.237-265)? Who will Hal's courtiers be?.

5. How does Hal respond? Read his speech carefully (4.3.266-304).

6. What is the King's response (4.3.305-311)? Read his speech of advice carefully (4.3.305-347). How does he feel about the way he got the crown? What specific advice does he have for Hal in 4.3.341-342.

7. What is ironic about the last part of the scene (4.3.360-368)?

5.1
1. Why has Falstaff returned to visit Justices Shallow and Silence in Gloucestershire? (Remember 4.2.114-117 and see 5.1.66-73. Knowing Falstaff, is this his only reason?)

5.2
1. What has happened (5.2.1-5)? Why is the Lord Chief Justice worried (5.2.6-13)? What does he think might happen (5.2.29-41)?

2. How does Hal respond to being king, and how does he respond to the fears others have about him (5.2.44-61)?

3. How does Hal initially treat the Lord Chief Justice (5.2.64-71)? How does the Lord Chief Justice justify what he did to Hal (5.2.72-100)? How does Hal respond (5.3.101-120)?

4. Look closely at 5.2.121-128. Notice that Hal seems to become his father, letting his father become what Hal was and carrying to his grave all the bad opinions of Hal that people had. Then read the rest of the speech (5.2.128-144). With Hal's real father dead, Hal replaces him with the Lord Chief Justice. What then seems to be the future for his other "father," Falstaff? The promise Hal made in the "Redeeming time" speech and the end of 1 Henry IV 1.2 has begun to be fulfilled.

5.3
1. What happens when Pistol brings Falstaff word that Hal is king (5.3.78-130)? Note that Pistol tends to quote or imitate bombastic speeches from plays. How seriously should we take his implied threat to the Lord Chief Justice (5.3.126-127)? What is the effect of having this scene come after scene 5.2 instead of before it?

5.4
1. We see in 5.4 what is perhaps the first result of Hal's reformation. What is happening? Do we approve?

5.5
1. How has Falstaff gotten money (5.5.10-11)? What does Falstaff expect will happen when Hal appears as king?

2. Read the confrontation scene carefully (5.5.39-69). What does Hal do? Do you approve of what Hal does? Do you approve of the way he does it?

3. What is Falstaff's first response (5.5.70)? Will Shallow get his money back (5.5.71-73)? What does Falstaff expect will happen (5.5.73-84)? What actually happens (5.5.85-90)?

4. What's going to happen next (5.5.91-103)?

1. Most plays probably had epilogues, but this is one of the few to survive for a Shakespeare play. What does the Epilogue promise for the future (Epi.22-26). Why does the Epilogue say "For Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man" (Epi.27)?

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