Henry IV, Part Who Is Term Paper

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Furthermore, the value of the change of persona is not something that Prince Henry 'learns' over the course of the play, like Hotspur learns that he has held honor too high in his moral hierarchy of personal values. Prince Henry's fondness for low life is partly a calculated public relations move. "So, when this loose behavior I throw off/and pay the debt I never promised, / by how much better than my word I am," he says to the audience, when he is alone. (Act 1, Scene 2)

So, if the Prince is not the hero of Henry IV, Part 1, is Falstaff the hero? Falstaff expresses radical sentiments that go contrary to the military success seemingly idealized at the end of the play. "Can honor set to a leg...what is honor? A word. What is in that word honor? What is that honor? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday." (Act 5, Scene 1) Falstaff prizes his own life above honor, above anything, because he loves life and all of its pleasures.

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This is the sentiment expressed by Hotspur before death -- life is the most important value, rather than winning honor.

The problem with seeing Falstaff as the hero, however, is that his betrayal of his friend Hal, when he lies about killing Hotspur on the battlefield, seems so cruel. He comes between Hal and his father as well as parodies the notion of knightly excellence. Falstaff acts as if he and Hal are still playing around on Gad's Hill or in the tavern, and does not understand the full seriousness Hal feels regarding improving his relationship with his real father. Thus perhaps the truest assertion to make about "Henry VI, Part 1" is that this play about war and kings demonstrates that there are no heroes in war. The man to come out of the war with the greatest prize, Falstaff, makes the least heroic exertion, and the men who wish to become a heroes are either duped and lose their lives like Hotspur, or fail to realize their personal goals like Hal, because of.....

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