What are the social and personal issues in King Henry IV (part 1) [Archive]

Dipen Guha

09-14-2010, 01:17 PM

Though the contrast between the truant prince and the glorious king before us in this play, it it is a contrast of appearences rather than their realities. To Shakespeare the prince is the same man potentially as the king. The discrepancy is not between a bad prince and a good king, but between the prince's true nature and his reputation, between what he will be when called upon to assert himself and what he seems to be while, idly, even basely, biding his time. The prince always knows what is right and prefers it, only appearences are against him.