Henry Iv, Part Ii: A History

By William Shakespeare

After thwarting a rebellion that threatened his throne, King Henry IV’s attention is now more directly focused on his son and heir, Prince Hal. Hal is still distanced from the court, spending his time in frivolous ways, while his former companion, Falstaff, finds nothing but trouble in the London underworld. But as Hal witnesses his father’s declining health, he must begin to take his responsibility to the throne more seriously. Henry IV, Part II is one of four connected plays about successive British monarchs, including Richard II, Henry IV, Part I and Henry V.

Known as “The Bard of Avon,” William Shakespeare is arguably the greatest English-language writer known. Enormously popular during his life, Shakespeare’s works continue to resonate more than three centuries after his death, as has his influence on theatre and literature. Shakespeare’s innovative use of character, language, and experimentation with romance as tragedy served as a foundation for later playwrights and dramatists, and some of his most famous lines of dialogue have become part of everyday speech.

HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Dec 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781443443319

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is arguably the most famous playwright to ever live. Born in England, he attended grammar school but did not study at a university. In the 1590s, Shakespeare worked as partner and performer at the London-based acting company, the King’s Men. His earliest plays were Henry VI and Richard III, both based on the historical figures. During his career, Shakespeare produced nearly 40 plays that reached multiple countries and cultures. Some of his most notable titles include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. His acclaimed catalog earned him the title of the world’s greatest dramatist.

Book preview

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

RUMOUR

the Presenter

KING HENRY THE FOURTH

HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES, afterwards Henry V,

PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER, PRINCE HUMPHREY OF GLOUCESTER, THOMAS, DUKE OF CLARENCE

sons of Henry IV

EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND, SCROOP, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, LORD MOWBRAY, LORD HASTINGS, LORD BARDOLPH, SIR JOHN COLVILLE, TRAVERS, MORTON

retainers of Northumberland opposites against King Henry IV

EARL OF WARWICK, EARL OF WESTMORELAND, EARL OF SURREY, EARL OF KENT, GOWER, HARCOURT, BLUNT

of the King’s party

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

Servant, to Lord Chief Justice

SIR JOHN FALSTAFF, EDWARD POINS, BARDOLPH, PISTOL, PETO

irregular humorists

Page, to Falstaff

ROBERT SHALLOW, SILENCE

country Justices

DAVY

servant to Shallow

FANG, SNARE

Sheriff’s officers

RALPH MOULDY, SIMON SHADOW, THOMAS WART, FRANCIS FEEBLE, PETER BULLCALF

country soldiers

FRANCIS

a drawer

LADY NORTHUMBERLAND

LADY PERCY

Percy’s widow

HOSTESS QUICKLY

of the Boar’s Head, Eastcheap

DOLL TEARSHEET

Lords, Attendants, a Porter, a Messenger, Drawers, Beadles, Grooms and Servants.

THE SCENE: ENGLAND.

INDUCTION

Warkworth. Before Northumberland’s castle.

Enter RUMOUR, painted full of tongues.

RUMOUR Open your ears; for which of you will stop

The vent of hearing when loud Rumour speaks?

I, from the orient to the drooping west,

Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold

[5]

The acts commenced on this ball of earth.

Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,

The which in every language I pronounce,

Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.

I speak of peace while covert enmity,

[10]

Under the smile of safety, wounds the world;

And who but Rumour, who but only I,

Make fearful musters and prepar’d defence,

Whiles the big year, swoln with some other grief,

Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war,

[15]

And no such matter? Rumour is a pipe

Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures,

And of so easy and so plain a stop

That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,

The still-discordant wav’ring multitude,

[20]

Can play upon it. But what need I thus

My well-known body to anatomize

Among my household? Why is Rumour here?

I run before King Harry’s victory,

Who, in a bloody field by Shrewsbury,

[25]

Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops,

Quenching the flame of bold rebellion

Even with the rebels’ blood. But what mean I

To speak so true at first? My office is

To noise abroad that Harry Monmouth fell

[30]

Under the wrath of noble Hotspur’s sword,

And that the King before the Douglas’ rage

Stoop’d his anointed head as low as death.

This have I rumour’d through the peasant towns

Between that royal field of Shrewsbury

[35]

And this worm-eaten hold of ragged stone,

Where Hotspur’s father, old Northumberland,

Lies crafty-sick. The posts come tiring on,

And not a man of them brings other news

Than they have learnt of me. From Rumour’s tongues

[40]

They bring smooth comforts false, worse than true wrongs. [Exit.

ACT ONE

SCENE I. Warkworth. Before Northumberland’s castle.

Enter LORD BARDOLPH.

LORD BARDOLPH Who keeps the gate here, ho?

The Porter opens the gate.

Where is the Earl?

PORTER What shall I say you are?

LORD BARDOLPH Tell thou the Earl

That the Lord Bardolph doth attend him here.

PORTER His lordship is walk’d forth into the orchard.

[5]

Please it your honour knock but at the gate,

And he himself will answer.

Enter NORTHUMBERLAND.

LORD BARDOLPH Here comes the Earl.

[Exit Porter.

NORTHUMBERLAND What news, Lord Bardolph? Every minute now

Should be the father of some stratagem.

The times are wild; contention, like a horse

[10]

Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose

And bears down all before him.

LORD BARDOLPH Noble Earl,

I bring you certain news from Shrewsbury.

NORTHUMBERLAND Good, an God will!

LORD BARDOLPH As good as heart can wish.

The King is almost wounded to the death;

[15]

And, in the fortune of my lord your son,

Prince Harry slain outright; and both the Blunts

Kill’d by the hand of Douglas; young Prince John,

And Westmoreland, and Stafford, fled the held;

And Harry Monmouth’s brawn, the hulk Sir John,

[20]

Is prisoner to your son. O, such a day,

So fought, so followed, and so fairly won,

Came not till now to dignify the times,

Since Caesar’s fortunes!

NORTHUMBERLAND How is this deriv’d?

Saw you the field? Came you from Shrewsbury?

[25]

LORD BARDOLPH I spake with one, my lord, that came from thence;

A gentleman well bred and of good name,

That freely rend’red me these news for true.

Enter TRAVERS.

NORTHUMBERLAND Here comes my servant Travers, whom I sent

On Tuesday last to listen after news.

[30]

LORD BARDOLPH My lord, I over-rode him on the way;

And he is furnish’d with no certainties

More than he haply may retail from me.

NORTHUMBERLAND Now, Travers, what good tidings comes with you?

TRAVERS My lord, Sir John Umfrevile turn’d me back

[35]

With joyful tidings; and, being better hors’d,

Out-rode me. After him came spurring hard

A gentleman, almost forspent with speed,

That stopp’d by me to breathe his bloodied horse.

He ask’d the way to Chester; and of him

[40]

I did demand what news from Shrewsbury.

He told me that rebellion had bad luck,

And that young Harry Percy’s spur was cold.

With that he gave his able horse the head

And, bending forward, struck his armed heels

[45]

Against the panting sides of his poor jade

Up to the rowel-head; and starting so,

He seem’d in running to devour the way,

Staying no longer question.

NORTHUMBERLAND Ha! Again:

Said he young Harry Percy’s spur was cold?

[50]

Of Hotspur, Coldspur? that rebellion

Had met ill luck?

LORD BARDOLPH My lord, I’ll tell you what:

If my young lord your son have not the day,

Upon mine honour, for a silken point I’ll give my barony. Never talk of it.

[55]

NORTHUMBERLAND Why should that gentleman that rode by Travers

Give then such instances of loss?

LORD BARDOLPH Who-he?

He was some hilding fellow that had stol’n

The horse he rode on and, upon my life,

Spoke at a venture. Look, here comes more news.

Enter MORTON.

[60]

NORTHUMBERLAND Yea, this man’s brow, like to a title-leaf,

Foretells the nature of a tragic volume.

So looks the strand whereon the imperious flood

Hath left a witness’d usurpation.

Say, Morton, didst thou come from Shrewsbury?

[65]

MORTON I ran from Shrewsbury, my noble lord;

Where hateful death put on his ugliest mask

To fright our party.

NORTHUMBERLAND How doth my son and brother?

Thou tremblest; and the whiteness in thy cheek

Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand.

[70]

Even such a man, so faint, so spiridess,

So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone,

Drew Priam’s curtain in the dead of night

And would have told him half his Troy was burnt;

But Priam found the fire ere he his tongue,

[75]

And I my Percy’s death ere thou report’st it.

This thou wouldst say: ‘Your son did thus and thus;

Your brother thus; so fought the noble Douglas’ –

Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds;

But in the end, to stop my ear indeed,

[80]

Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise,

Ending with ‘Brother, son, and all, are dead’.

MORTON Douglas is living, and your brother, yet;

But for my lord your son –

NORTHUMBERLAND Why, he is dead.

See what a ready tongue suspicion hath!

[85]

He that but fears the thing he would not know

Hath by instinct knowledge from others’ eyes

That what he fear’d is chanced. Yet speak, Morton;

Tell thou an earl his divination lies,

And I will take it as a sweet disgrace

[90]

And make thee rich for doing me such wrong.

MORTON You are too great to be by me gainsaid;

Your spirit is too true, your fears too certain.

NORTHUMBERLAND Yet, for all this, say not that Percy’s dead.

I see a strange confession in thine eye;

[95]

Thou shak’st thy head, and hold’st it fear or sin

To speak a truth. If he be slain, say so:

The tongue offends not that reports his death;

And he doth sin that doth belie the dead,

Not he which says the dead is not alive.

[100]

Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news

Hath but a losing office, and his tongue

Sounds ever after as a sullen bell,

Rememb’red tolling a departing friend.

LORD BARDOLPH I cannot think, my lord, your son is dead.

[105]

MORTON I am sorry I should force you to believe

That which I would to God I had not seen;

But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state,

Rend’ring

Reviews for Henry Iv, Part Ii

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not a scholarly review here, just a note for myself that I read this. The drama was pretty good, but my reading mood was off and so it took me two months to finish. Not good for continuity. Even so, I was able to pick up the main characters and plot. All the side characters became rather muddled for me though. Not sure what to think of Henry V. Seems a rather calculating and mean sort of man. Used Falstaff harshly, although I don't have much sympathy or care for Falstaff, either. Not sure why people have loved him so, I found him repulsive. Possibly the language barrier? I would like to read this in a more modern language to see if it makes a difference. Loved Henry the IV's speech about sleep, or the lack thereof. Also, one of the women who gave her father-in-law (or was he her father?) what-for because he deserted her husband when he needed him most.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Falstaff is at his best in this play. Hal's abuse of him almost inspires sympathy for the blackguard. The transformation of the irresponsible Hal into a stately King is, however, rather hard to swallow.The death scene of HIV is a wonderful scene. It's easier for me to see Hal take the crown for his own head before his father is even cold (or dead for that matter) than it is for me to see Hal become a serious young man.

[coach_of_alva · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This play is not as enjoyable as its predecessor, largely because the remaining rebels to be mopped up are foolish weasels, not the roaring lion that Hotspur was. There remains the tension between father and son, which ends in a moving deathbed reconciliation and the prince's coming-of-age as king. More interesting is the career of Sir John Falstaff in the countryside, as we are allowed to see how a man of some shrewdness and no honor survives and profits while the kingdom is in an uproar, and the introduction of Justice Shallow, who so wants to be the Elizabethan equivalent of "cool." The play ends with the new king forbidding the evil old man his presence. This is a necessity, especially considering the old fool's plans for graft and glory, but it is a sad necessity.

[medievalgirl-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This play was the third in a series of 8 which together formed Shakespeare’s masterful saga of 'History' plays chronicling the turbulent final century of the Plantagenet Dynasty from the deposition of Richard II in 1399 to the death of Richard III at Bosworth field in 1485.

Altogether, they have all the high drama of an epic saga with their vivid accounts of treachery, ambition, power, betrayal, feuding and war in an age of bloody upheaval.
If all this sounds gloomy and depressing, there are also colourful well-developed and memorable characters including the 'man mountain' plump and usually tipsy John Falstaff and the heroic Henry V as well as plenty of courage, chivalry and deeds of daring-do with a smattering of romance and humour.

Whoever said Shakespeare was boring? It should be said, however, that I could not fully appreciate these plays by simply reading them- they had to be seen as well. They are not, after all, novels, and reading through them in the way one would a book can be a tedious experience.

An increasingly unstable and insecure King Henry faces yet more rebellion and opposition from within and without.
Beset by failing health and troubled all the more by his conscience and fear of divine judgement upon him and his line for his crime of the deposition and murder of the rightful King.
The Earl of Northumberland and other nobles gather together their forces to make war against the King once again, but their readiness to negotiate proves fatal.
Meanwhile, Prince Hal still frequents the taverns of London, but his old friend Falstaff has come up with a new scheme to make gain money, prestige and hopefully the favour of the King and is the source of as much humour as before.
As King Henry's troubled reign comes to an end, however, Price Hal has some must mature to accept the great responsibility which is soon to be thrust upon him, even though it comes at the price of disowning his former companions of friends.

[trilliams · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Falstaff has an entire speech about drinking. Of course. Not as entertaining as the first part, but acts IV and V make it worth it.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This play ends with the death of Henry IV of England, and the crowning of Henry V and his dramatic rejection of Falstaff. I prefer it to the first part, and find the play has more pacing and tighter characterization. I guest I'm not that fond of Falstaff, having had to deal with the fallout from some "Lovable Rogues" in my own life. The Henry IV camp deals with the rebellion in the north, and Hotspur Percy gets killed.Read it 9 times, apparently.

[amerynth · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Shakespeare's "Henry IV: Part Two" really doesn't live up to the marvelous story told in part one. I read somewhere that both parts were originally a single play and Shakespeare broke it into two... I don't know whether that's true but I find it fairly easy to believe.There isn't much of a story here-- the battle is over and everyone is just waiting for Henry III to expire so his son can take over. It's pretty slow moving and not terribly interesting.

[stillatim · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Overall, I thought this was less interesting than Henry V, but that might just be because I paid more attention to HV (I have to teach it; I read this for kicks). There's not a whole lot of beautiful Shakespeare moments, the humor didn't hit me (possibly my fault, of course), and the best bit was probably the Induction, in which Rumour discourses on herself. On the upside, I learned the word 'fustilarian' and the phrase 'I'll tickle your catastrophe!', and I'm pretty sure I now understand the title of Javier Marias' 'Your Face Tomorrow': "What a disgrace it is to me to remember thy name! or to know thy face tomorrow!", says the prince in II.2. Here he's mocking/despairing over those who abandon their friends when they become famous; by the end of the play (V.5) he's the person who's abandoning his friends. This adds a fair bit to Marias' repeated question, "Can I know your face tomorrow?", which for most of the novel seems more epistemic and existential. If he got it from Henry IV, 'YFT' takes on a whole new moral overtone. I guess I should re-read it even sooner than I'd planned.

This now has nothing to do with Henry IV, which I doubt I'll re-read anytime soon.

[katieloucks · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I'm not big into the histories