Character Summary

Rumor: a prefatory chorus that tells a lie with regards the events at Shrewsbury

Lord Bardolph: bearer of false news with regards the fortunes of Northumberland’s son Hotspur

Porter: Northumberland’s doorman

Travers: Northumberland’s servant who bears news contrary to Lord Bardolph’s

Morton: Northumberland’s messenger who has witnessed and therefore can personally attest to what really occurred at Shrewsbury with regards Hotspur

Northumberland: Hotspur's father

Falstaff: a fat, witty rascal whose companionship with Prince Harry is a concern for the king

Page: Falstaff’s assistant

Lord Chief Justice: king’s messenger sent to inform Falstaff to cease associating with Prince Harry forthwith

Servant: assistant to Lord Chief Justice

Archbishop of York: with Hotspur dead, one of the leading rebel figures

Mowbray: a rebel who is also known as the Earl Marshall

Hastings: a rebel who is confident that the rebel forces as it’s constituted, i.e. without Northumberland’s reinforcements, is enough to oppose the king’s forces

Mistress Quickly: a tavern hostess who regularly mangles the English language

Fang: a sergeant who’s come to the Boar’s Head to arrest Falstaff at Mistress Quickly’s behest

Snare: Fang’s assistant

Gower: a messenger who delivers news to the Lord Chief Justice

Prince Henry: also Harry Monmouth and Prince Harry, the heir apparent to King Henry IV

Poins: a commoner and Prince Henry’s good friend

Bardolph: a red-nosed associate of Falstaff

Lady Northumberland: Northumberland’s wife who has resigned to let her husband do as he sees fit with regards engaging the king's forces

Lady Percy: Hotspur’s widowed wife who persuades her father-in-law to honor husband’s memory by staying neutral in the conflict now as he had then

Francis: a bartender in the Boar’s Head

Second drawer: another bartender in the Boar’s Head

William: yet another bartender in the Boar’s Head

Doll Tearsheet: a prostitute in Mistress Quickly’s employment

Pistol: an abrasive associate of Falstaff

King Henry IV: formerly Bolingbroke, father to Prince Harry who is eager to end the civil wars

Warwick: an earl and one of the king’s most trusted men and counselors

Shallow: a country Justice who recommends a pool of commoners from which Falstaff is to select his soldiers

Silence: a country Justice who is Shallow’s silent assistant

Mouldy: a commoner who is considered for military recruitment but who is ultimately excused from serving

Shadow: a commoner who is considered for military recruitment and who is ultimately recruited

Wart: a commoner who is considered for military recruitment and who is ultimately recruited though at first his services were unwanted

Feeble: a commoner, his name notwithstanding, who is gung-ho and full of spirit and is therefore recruited without much ado

Bullcalf: a commoner who is considered for recruitment but who manages to get himself excused

Westmorland: an earl, he brokers the peace between the rebels and Prince John only to arrest the rebels for high treason

Prince John: a son to King Henry IV and a brother to Prince Harry

Coleville: a knight in the rebels’ sevice who upon confronting Sir John Falstaff capitulates

Gloucester: a son of King Henry IV and a prince who is called Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester

Clarence: another son of King Henry IV and a prince who is called Thomas, Duke of Clarence

Harcourt: one of the king’s men

Davy: Shallow’s servant

First Beadle: one of the officials who takes Mistress Quickly and Doll Tearsheet into custody for being partly responsible for a man’s death

Epilogue: a figure who delivers the play’s final words to the audience