Prince Hal
Henry Plantagenet | |
---|---|
Ronald Gower's sculpture in Stratford-upon-Avon depicting Prince Hal trying on the crown | |
First appearance | Henry IV, Part 1 |
Last appearance | Henry V |
Created by | William Shakespeare |
In-universe information | |
Gender | Male |
Occupation | heir to the throne of England |
Religion | Christian |
Nationality | English |
Prince Hal is the standard term used in literary criticism to refer to Shakespeare's portrayal of the young
Hal is portrayed as a wayward youth who enjoys the society of petty criminals and wastrels, a depiction which draws on exaggerations of the historical Prince Henry's supposed youthful behaviour. The question of whether Hal's character is cynical or sincere has been widely discussed by critics.
Name
In the two plays, the diminutive "Hal" is only ever used of the prince, not of any of the other characters named "Henry". It is only one of the several versions of "Henry" used. In fact the prince is variously referred to in the plays as "Hal", "Harry" and "Harry Monmouth", but never as "Henry".
In Part 1, the name "Harry" is most commonly used to refer to
Character
There has been longstanding debate about the character of Hal in the two Henry IV plays, particularly concerning the extent to which Hal's riotous and rebellious behaviour is authentic and to what extent it is wholly staged by the prince for effect.[7] The portrayal of Hal as a son in conflict with his father derives from stories that circulated in English popular culture before Shakespeare. These had previously been portrayed in the anonymous play The Famous Victories of Henry V, in which Hal's criminal and riotous behaviour is depicted as entirely unfeigned. In Shakespeare's plays Hal has soliloques in which he says that he is self-consciously adopting a wayward lifestyle to surprise and impress people by his later apparent character transformation:
I know you all, and will awhile uphold
The unyoked humour of your idleness:
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at.
In Henry IV, Part 2, the
Sources
The stories probably derive from the conflicts between supporters of the young Henry and his father when he was acting as
Stories about Henry's supposedly riotous early life emerge after his death in chronicles commissioned by his brother
References
- ^ "Prince Hal", Encyclopædia Britannica'
- ^ J. Madison Davis, The Shakespeare Name and Place Dictionary, Routledge, 2012, p. 399.
- ^ Shakespeare, William, Henry IV, Part 2, Act 5, Scene 5.
- ^ Michael W. Shurgot, Stages of Play: Shakespeare's Theatrical Energies in Elizabethan Performance. University of Delaware Press, 1998. p. 117.
- ^ Shakespeare, William, Henry IV, Part 2, Act V, scene 2.
- ^ Shakespeare, William, Henry V, Act V, scene 2.
- ^ Paris, Bernard J., Character as a Subversive Force in Shakespeare: The History and Roman Plays, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1991, p. 72.
- ^ Shakespeare, William, Henry IV, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 3.
- ^ J. Madison Davis, The Shakespeare Name and Place Dictionary, Routledge, 2012, p. 399.
- ^ Shakespeare, W., Henry IV, Part 1, Act III, scene 2.
- ^ D. Rundle, "The Unoriginality of Tito Livio Frulovisi's Vita Henrici Quinti", English Historical Review, cxxiii (2008), pp. 1109–1131.