The Reformation of Prince Hal

Abstract

F one sets out to stage first part of Shakespeare's Henry IV, he finds it necessary to divorce text from its related historical plays and regard it in strict isolation as the book of basis for a dramatic, rather than a literary, experience. Such an approach must assume at outset that r9 play is unified and complete in itself; that it will yield a coherent action, a core about which playwright has organized its varied events. It must assume also that, despite enormously diverse views of play, its characters, structure, focus and theme, text will provide answers that will hold in theatre, or hold not at all. This is a reading of play derived from text in rehearsal and performance. It proposes theatrical approach as a critical discipline having a valid claim to consideration, and presents a judgment of play arrived at through medium of stage-for which, after all, it was expressly created. In this reading, most of answers will be found to lie in actions of character against whom critics have levelled some of their worst charges: namely, Henry, Prince of Wales. In performance, it is Hal who provides clue to total action, which is: to redeem time; it is Hal whose reformation forms core of action, and who unifies and completes play; it is Hal who is its protagonist and its unassuming hero, as well; it is Hal whose deeds most explicitly dramatize theme of play, which is: education of a prince; and, finally, it is Hal who demonstrates supreme attribute of kingship to be, not honor, but self-sacrifice.