ok... so, what pairs of characters seem to get compared throughout this play?and how?
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ok... so, what pairs of characters seem to get compared throughout this play?and how?
The most obvious antithesis characters are:
Hal - Hotspur:
King Henry IV remarks that Hotspur is more his son than Hal, since Hotspur has many of the characteristics that Henry himself possessed as a younger man. Hal and Hotspur are both youths born to noble families, and are thus natural rivals (like Hamlet/Laertes). While Hotspur is active, outrageous (comically so), and only inhabits the play's "main" plot, Hal is ambivalent, complex, and sits betwixt two different places (both within the play and the play's structure). Hal, of course, overcomes Hotspur when the plots come together, and kills him.
and there is King Henry IV - Falstaff:
Personally this is the more interesting relationship. Henry IV is the king of the royal court while Falstaff is essentially the king of the taverns, with Hal assuming the prince role in each. While Henry speaks only verse, Falstaff speaks only prose. Henry's language is grand, his problems are national, and his solutions practical. Falstaff is hysterical, imaginative, witty, and ultimately charming and full of life.
Reading a play entitled "Henry IV", one would assume that the national issues between Henry IV and Hotspur/Northumberland would be the main plot, with the tavern and Falstaff as secondary, but Shakespeare complicates this (as he does everything he touches) by making the secondary plot more interesting and vibrant. The main conflict of the play is the relationship between these two settings and the characters within them.
EDIT: yes, this response came months late.