Henry IV, Part I is the richest of Shakespeare's chronicle plays, partly for the fire and dash of its impetuous Hotspur, pre-eminently for the titanic verve of its waddling Falstaff. Between the two of them the one filled with chivalric ideals of honor, the other cynically dismissing honor as mere "air" stand all manner of men, and of human ambitions and failings and faiths. About equally between them, at the center of the play, stands a youthful Prince Hal, who must grow from being a thoughtless playboy and Falstaff's roistering playfellow into Hotspur's slayer and the eventual victor of...
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