Falstaffs Influence on Prince Hal in I Henry IV :: Henry IV Henry V Essays

Falstaffs Influence on Prince Hal in I Henry IV In Shakespearean histories, there is always one individual who influences the major character and considerably advances the plot. In I Henry IV by William Shakespeare, Falstaff is such a character. Sir conjuration Falstaff is perhaps the most complex comic character ever invented. He carries a dignified presence in the minds eye and in him, we recognize our interior admiration and jealousy of the rebellious dual personality that we all secretly wish for. The multi-faceted Falstaff, in comic revolt against law and order, in his role as father figure to Prince Hal, and ultimately, in his natural ability to discern and adapt to any situation, emerges as the most complex and paradoxical character in drama. Frequently, in literature, the sun represents royalty, or in this case the king, who strives to uphold law and order. Rhetorically, the stagnate, symbolizes instability, not only because it does not remain the same size to ones eyes as season passes, but because it reigns the ebb and flow of the tides. Therefore, as a knight guided by moonlight, Falstaff is a dissenter against law and order. This conclusion finds support in his humorous tautologies and epithets. Falstaff is invariably aware that Hal will one day become king, and when that happens, robbers will be honored in England by Letting us be indulgence Dianas foresters, gentlemen of the shade, monions of the moon and letting men say we be men of good government, being governed as the sea is, by our novle and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal (I, ii, 25-30). Falstaffs final exam dismissal of law and order culminates with a comic plea to the prince, urging him to have nothing to do with old father antic the law? Do not thou, when thou art King, hang a thief (I, ii, 62-63). We see a similar epithet in the next act, send him packing (II, iv, 301), in which Falstaff again denounces responsibility, law, and o rder. Despite his lack of care for order and responsibility, the rebel dormant in readers applauds Falstaffs defiance of the establishment of his defense. Falstaff seems to appeal to the average reader, for he relates to them, just as a twentieth-century American