Play of the Month: Henry IV, Part 2
The play picks up where Henry IV, Part 1 left off. Its focus is on Prince Hal's journey toward kingship, and his ultimate rejection of Falstaff.
After suffering a loss at the Battle of Shrewsbury, the rebellion against King Henry IV's reign finds new figureheads in the Archbishop of York, Lord Mowbray, and Lord Hastings. With the King’s health in decline, it’s up to Prince John to quash the rebellion, and Prince Hal to prepare to assume the throne as England’s new monarch. Comic interludes involving Falstaff and his friends preparing to fight, and moments of contention between Falstaff and Mistress Quickly, make the plot funny and intriguing.
Therefore, it wasn't totally new and I felt more relaxed while reading this history play with more than 3,700 lines—about 500 lines longer than its two predecessors Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1. I enjoyed imagining visits to various scenes of the play, including Warkworth Castle in Northumberland, the Archbishop's Palace in York, Justice Shallow's orchard in Gloucestershire, as well as Boar's Head Tavern, Turnbull Street, and Fleet Prison in London.
Here are some of the passages and soliloquies that impressed me most, presented in modern English translation.
ACT I, Scene 1
MORTON
It is the right time for that. Also, my noble lord, I have heard for certain—and this is the truth—that the Archbishop of York has raised a strong army. He keeps his followers by using both his earthly and his spiritual powers. My lord, your son was only able to have authority over their bodies—they were just like the shadows of men, forced to fight. It was because that word, "rebellion," separated their actions from their hearts. They fought like they were sick and weak, almost like they were ill enough to be taking medicine. It was only their weapons which made them seem like they were on our side. The word "rebellion" had frozen their spirits and their souls, like fish trapped in an icy pond. But now the Archbishop makes the rebellion about religion. Because everyone thinks he is a good and holy man, they follow him with both their bodies and their minds. He enhances his case by preaching about the blood of good King Richard, spilled on the stones of Pomfret Castle. He says that this argument and this rebellion comes from heaven; he tells them that they are in a bleeding region, one that is gasping for breath under the rule of the great Bolingbroke, and men from everywhere come to join him.
EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND
I already knew this. But, if I'm being honest, right now my grief had made me forget about it. Come inside with me and we can discuss the best way to stay safe and get our revenge. Send out messengers with letters—we must make new allies quickly. Our numbers have never been this small, and yet, our need for men has never been greater.
ACT I, Scene 3
HASTINGS
The King has assigned no more men to fight us than we currently have—and maybe even less, Lord Bardolph. These are violent times, and the King is currently fighting three battles. One army is fighting against the French, and one against Glendower. Therefore a third army must fight against us. The weak King is now split into three, and his bank account is drained to point of poverty.
ARCHBISHOP OF YORK
Let's continue with our plan then. We will announce the reasons why we are fighting. People in this country are sick of the monarch that they themselves chose. They were eager in their love for him, but now they have had too much of it. He built his kingdom on the love of the people, and this made it wobbly and uncertain. Oh, you foolish people! Your applause for Bolingbroke shook the sky, before you even knew if he'd be the type of leader you hoped he would be. Now you are all decked out in what you wanted, you horrible gluttons—you've ingested so much of the King that you wish you could throw him up. You disgusting dogs, this was just how you gorged yourselves on the last king, Richard, and then got rid of him by puking him all up. And now you would howl for that vomit and eat it up out of nostalgia for those days. In these times who can be trusted? Nowadays, the people who wanted Richard dead in the first place, are now in love with his dead body. The people who threw dust and rubbish at his good head when he walked through London in disgrace—people who supported the beloved Bolingbroke—now cry, "Oh, earth, give us back King Richard again, and you can have King Henry back!" Oh, men's thoughts are damned! They only think good about things of the past and the future; anything that happens now is hated.
ACT II, Scene 1
MISTRESS QUICKLY
Indeed, if you were an honest man, you would give me both the money and yourself along with it. You swore to me over a gold-plated wine glass, when we were sitting in the Dolphin chamber in my inn, at the round table by the fire, on the Wednesday seven weeks after Easter, when the Prince had hit you on the head for saying that his father was just a singer from Windsor, a pretender to the throne—do you remember? You swore to me, as I was cleaning your wounds, that you would marry me and make me a real lady and your wife. Can you deny that? Didn't Mrs. Lard, the butcher's wife, come in right at that moment—calling me her friend and neighbor and asking to borrow a little bit of vinegar? Didn't she tell us that she had some good shrimp, which you of course wanted to try, and I told you that it was not good to eat them with an unhealed wound? And when she had gone back downstairs, didn't you tell me to stop being so friendly with people of such a low class—telling me that before long they would be calling me madam, because we would be married and I would be a lady? And didn't you kiss me and ask me to lend you thirty shillings? Now put your hand on the Bible and deny it, if you can.
FALSTAFF
My lord, this is a poor insane woman. She's been telling people all over town that her eldest son looks just like you. She used to have money, and the truth is, poverty has made her lose her mind. But as for these stupid officers, I would like to make my own case against them.
CHIEF JUSTICE
Sir John, Sir John, I know only too well how you can manipulate the truth and twist it into lies. But don't worry, I'm not going to be swayed by your confident manner, or the stream of words that always comes with your rude and disrespectful behavior—I will consider this fairly. From what I can tell, you have abused the kindness of this woman, and made her take care of you with her money—and in other ways.
ACT II, Scene 3
EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND
Oh, curse your feelings, my beautiful daughter-in-law. You drag me out of myself again and make me look back at the mistakes that I made. But I have to go and face danger there, or danger will just find me somewhere else and I won't be ready for it.
LADY NORTHUMBERLAND
Oh, go to Scotland then, until these noblemen and their armies have made some progress in their rebellion.
LADY PERCY
If they manage to make any progress against the King, and gain any ground, then you can join them. And just like a steel pole, you will make their armies even stronger. But, if you love us, let them try on their own first. That's how your son fought in the battle. You allowed him to do so, and that's how I became a widow. My life will never be long enough to water the plant of memory with my tears. This plant will never grow tall enough to truly honor the memory of my noble husband.
EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND
Come on now, go inside with me. My mind is currently filled with thoughts that are like a high tide at a standstill, not coming or going. I want to go and join the Archbishop—but there are thousands of reasons holding me back. I will go to Scotland. There, I can wait and see if there comes a point when my help is truly needed.
Act III, Scene 1
KING HENRY IV
How many thousands of even my poorest subjects are asleep right now! Oh, sleep, oh, lovely sleep, nature's kind nurse: what have I done to frighten you away? You refuse to make my eyelids heavy anymore, and you refuse to make me giddy and forgetful. But instead, sleep, you now lie in murky slums, stretched out on some unstable bed, listening only to the buzzing of flies as you drift off. You choose that space instead of lying in the sweet-smelling bedrooms of royalty, under luxurious canopies, being lulled to sleep by the sweetest music there is? Oh, you tiresome god, why do you lie with the vile masses in their horrible beds and leave the King's bed all alone, like a sentry post or any bell tower? Will you even close up the eyes of some sailor boy, as he stands high up on the wobbly mast, and rock him to sleep in a cradle of rough, powerful seas and violent winds—winds which grab hold of the waves, and, curling them over, make them crash back down with such a deafening racket that they would wake up death itself? Oh, biased sleep, are you going to let a wet sailor boy sleep through all of that noise, but still refuse to let a king sleep—even in the calmest and most peaceful night, when he has everything he needs to go to bed? Well then, happy people, go to bed. The man who wears the crown is not sleeping very well right now.
ACT III, Scene 2
BARDOLPH
[To FALSTAFF so that only he can hear] I've been given three pounds to free Mouldy and Bullcalf.
FALSTAFF
Mouldy and Bullcalf! You stay at home until you are too old to fight, Mouldy. And as for you, Bullcalf, you should stay at home and wait until you are old enough to fight. I don't want either of you.
JUSTICE SHALLOW
Sir John, Sir John, don't make a bad choice. They're the best men of the whole group, and I want to make sure you have the best!
FALSTAFF
Master Shallow, are you going to tell me how I should choose my soldiers? Do you think I only care about a man's body, power, strength, muscles, and overall appearance? Give me his spirit, Master Shallow! Look at Wart here. You can see what a tattered appearance he has. But he will load and fire with the steadiness that a pewterer has when using his hammer. He can advance and retreat as quickly as a man can refill a brewer's pail. And this little thin fellow, Shadow, let me have this man. He isn't even a proper target for the enemy. He's so thin the enemy might as well be aiming at the edge of a knife. And when it comes to retreating, this Feeble, the woman's tailor, will run away quicker than anyone else! Oh, give me the spare men and spare me the great ones!
Act IV, Scene 1
HASTINGS
My lord, our army has already dispersed. They've set off east, west, north and south—just like young bulls who have been untied, or like children after school, hurrying home or to play somewhere.
WESTMORELAND
What good news, Lord Hastings. Now I have heard it, I arrest you, traitor, for high treason. As for you, Lord Archbishop, and you, Lord Mowbray, I arrest you both of capital treason.
ARCHBISHOP OF YORK
Are you going to break the faithful promise you made us?
JOHN OF LANCASTER
I never promised you this. I promised you that I would make up for the complaints you had made, and satisfy your demands. And, I swear on my honor, I will do that as carefully as I can. As for you, rebels: you will have to pay the price for this rebellion, and will get what you deserve for the awful things you have done. You started these wars about trivial things; brought your army here without thinking; and foolishly dismissed them too early. Strike up the drums! Capture the soldiers who are still running away. It is God who has fought today and God who has won. Guards, take these traitors to where they will be executed. That is where treason is meant to be, and that is where this rebellion will take its last breath.
Act IV, Scene 3
PRINCE HENRY
I am sorry, my lord! If my tears hadn't stopped me from speaking earlier, I would have stopped this harsh criticism before you had said these things in your grief, and before I had to hear what you would say. Here is your crown. And I wish that God—who looks after the crown forever—would let you keep it for as long as possible. If I care about that crown as anything more than a representation of your honor and your reputation, then let me never get up from kneeling at your feet. My truest and most dutiful feelings make me bow down and kneel before you. With God as my witness, when I came in here before, and realized that you weren't breathing, it made my blood cold! If that's a lie, then let me die like the wild youth I have been, and never live to show the unbelieving world how much I was going to change. When I looked at you and thought you were dead—and indeed it made me almost feel dead to think that you were—I spoke to the crown as if it could talk back to me. I scolded it, saying, "The worry and pain that you've caused has destroyed my father's body. So even though you may look like the best piece of gold, you are actually the worst. Other gold, even if its quality is worse, is worth more to us because it can bring us good health when we drink it. But you—the finest, most honored, most renowned piece of gold—have destroyed the person who has worn you. Therefore, my royal father, as I told this crown what I thought, I put it on my head, to fight against it—like it was some enemy who had killed my father while I stood there and watched. That is the action of a loyal son. If it made me happy in any way, or made me arrogant, or if even the slightest part of me wanted to welcome it and the power it holds, let God keep it from me forever. I would rather be the poorest servant that bows before it in awe and fear.
KING HENRY IV
Oh, my son. God encouraged you to take it from me so that you would have the chance to plead your case and make me love you even more. Come here, Harry, and sit next to me on my bed, and listen to what I think will be the last advice that I will ever give anyone. God knows, my son, the strange paths and indirect ways that got me this crown. And I know only too well how much trouble wearing it has caused for me. It will come to you in a time of greater peace, where you will have better support and more approval. For all of the questions about how I got the crown end with me. On me, this crown seemed like an honor that had been snatched with a violent hand. Many people lived to tell me how they had helped me get it. This grew every day until it turned into battles and bloodshed, destroying the supposed peace of the time. You can see the impact that fighting all of these battles has had on me, since my entire reign has been like a scene of a play—and we repeat the same plot again and again. But now my death changes all of that, for you will not inherit what I bought. So you will wear the crown like you're meant to—because of the succession. But even though your claim to the throne is much stronger than mine was, it's still not strong enough. Anger and violence are still very recent, and all of my old friends—whom you now need to befriend—have only just been overpowered. These men originally got me the crown, and I was always afraid that the same people would overthrow me. To avoid this, I defeated their rebellion and was going to lead an army to the Holy Land, in case doing nothing might make them consider my crown and the possibilities it could bring them. Therefore, my Harry, make sure that you force distracted minds to focus on fighting foreign battles. Military success abroad will help people to forget about the memories of the past. I would say more to you, but my lungs are so tired that I can't speak anymore. God forgive me for how I got the crown, and please give it to my son and let him live in peace with it.
Act V, Scene 2
CHIEF JUSTICE
I was acting on behalf of your father, with the power and responsibility that he had given me. And in terms of the law, while I was busy keeping the country safe, you ignored my rank and the authority and power of law and justice that I had, as a representative of the King. You hit me in the head—the very location of my judgement. And since this action went against your father's laws, I used my power as I was meant to and arrested you. If that was the wrong thing to do, then are you prepared, now that you wear the crown, to have a son who ignores all of your laws? A son who mocks the judges that enforce these laws? A son who disrupts the law and blunts the swords that looks after your own peace and safety? Or even worse, mocks you and the actions taken by the men you have chosen to work for you? Ask yourself these questions, and put yourself in his position. Think of yourself as a father and imagine a son who disrespects your dignity and so easily ignores your most important laws. Think about how it would feel to be scorned by such a son. Then imagine that I support you, and use your power to gently silence your son. Sentence me only after you have considered all of this. Now that you are King, tell me what I have done to overstep my role, my person, or my lord's power.
KING HENRY V (PRINCE HENRY）
You are right, Justice. And you have made your case very well. Therefore, keep your role as a judge and an enforcer of the law. I hope that your honors will increase and you will even live to see a son of mine offend you and then obey you—just as I have done. In that way, I will live to speak my father's words, "I am happy to have a man who is brave enough to even punish my own son; I am just as happy that my son is prepared to give up his greatness in the name of the law." You did arrest me, and for that I ask you to continue in your role, remembering this: you must always be as brave, just, and impartial as you have been with me. Shake my hand. You will be like a father to me in my young age, and I will say the things that you whisper in my ear. I will bow to you and will be humble in my ideas, needing your years of experience and wise ideas to help me.
[To LANCASTER, CLARENCE, and GLOUCESTER] And, princes, I am asking you to please believe me about this. My wildness is buried with my father; my passions now lie in his tomb. His sensible spirit now lies in me, and I am ready to prove the world wrong, defying their expectations of me. I am going to challenge their predictions, and will destroy the bad opinions of me held by people who judged me based on what I seemed to be like in the past. My actions, the tide of my blood—both used to flow with excess and vanity. But now it is changing its course and turning back to the sea, where it will be able to mix with the ocean's majesty. Now we must assemble parliament, and choose worthy members for this noble council who will allow our country to stand alongside even the best-governed nations. We will be acquainted and familiar with matters of war, peace, or even both at once—and you will be needed greatly for this. Once my coronation is over, we will, as I have mentioned, summon all men of rank. And, if God endorses my good intention, there will be no reason for any prince or man to say that he hopes that God will shorten Harry's happy life by even one day.
Act V, Scene 5
FALSTAFF
My King, my Jupiter, I am speaking to you, my dear one!
KING HENRY V
don't know you, old man. Fall to your knees and pray. White hair doesn't suit a fool and a clown like you. I have dreamed about a man like you for a long tim—ridiculously swollen, old, and so foul. But now that I am awake, I hate that dream. Lose some weight and find some manners instead; stop eating so much. You know that your grave is going to have to be three times wider than other men's. And don't reply to me with some kind of foolish joke, because I am not the man I was before. For God knows—and the whole world will soon realize—that I have left behind my previous life. And so I will also leave behind the people I knew in that life. If you ever hear that I have gone back to my old ways, then come and find me. You will be like you were before—my teacher and the inspiration of my rebellious ways. But until then, I banish you, on pain of death, and you must not come within ten miles of me—this is the same warning I have given to the other men who have misled me. I will give you just enough money to live on, so that you won't be tempted to do bad things. And, if we hear that you have changed your ways, we will give you the honors that your strengths and qualities deserve.
[To CHIEF JUSTICE] It is up to you to make sure that this order is carried out.
JOHN OF LANCASTER
I like how the King has handled this situation. He has made sure that his old followers will be looked after and provided for, but he has banished them until they can act with the intelligence and modesty they need to have in this world.
Chinese translation on FB
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Audio book
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