Quote:
Originally Posted by
DanielBenoit
Maybe because Shakespeare wanted to from the start create a polarization of the two worlds contained within the play. To not have the first tavern scene interupt the serious political scenes would remove the play of its important contrast.
Yes, we finally have started. I am happy, too. Been anxious to get discussing while all is fresh in my mind. I just placed two things on my desktop. The full text for Act I and the synopsis, also on this site; for easy reference.
Hey, Quark,haha... did we need 5 inch letters again? haha...do you think we are losing our eyesight? :lol: You always crack me up with your mega large type announcement! :lol:
Ok, time to get serious. First off, I agree with DanielB. If Shakespeare hadn't split the scenes up, it would not really have paced the play or added any suspense on how it would progress; also he not have engaged his audience so quickly. The scene would be longer and the introduction of Falstaff and Hal really spice up the play. I find the way Shakespeare interspersed the humor with the serious works very well, as it usually does with his plays. I also think, even though Scene II is humorous and a frolic at times, it also has some very serious and meaningful moments in it. The first, is when Henry ruminates about his being the sun obscured by the clouds. Let me quote this part which actually fall towardes the very end of that scene; this scene clearly demonstrates how Prince Hal is now considering his true place in history and how he will then appear when accepting his true calling in life, responsibilty in taking over the thrown. He compares himself to the sun being obscured by clouds, which will appear more the brighter when revealed at last. Interesting that in Hamlet the word 'sun' is used similarly, in the fact it is takes on two meanings - the 'son' and the 'sun'. In Richard III, the word sun crops up again, only this time, to mean the opposite of what Richard is revealing or expressing directly to the audience.
Here is Hal's quiet singular ruminating, asside from the others:
Quote:
PRINCE HENRY
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,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So, when this loose behavior I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes;
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
I'll so offend, to make offence a skill;
Redeeming time when men think least I will.
Later on in Act II, I find the part where Falstaff plays Henry IV and Hal plays himself, a very telling moment, as well. This scene has humor, but also much seriousness about it. If you notice when the two actors change roles, things become a little more grave by the end. We can discuss that part when we get to it. Didn't mean to jump ahead - just trying to demonstrate a point - how Shakepeare mixes up the humor with the serious.
In Scene II of Act I, you will also notice this interesting exchange between Falstaff and Prince Hal, this time using the moon in contrast to the sun, which I earlier mentioned:
Quote:
FALSTAFF
Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that take
purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not
by Phoebus, he,'that wandering knight so fair.' And,
I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God
save thy grace,--majesty I should say, for grace
thou wilt have none,--
PRINCE HENRY
What, none?
FALSTAFF
No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to
prologue to an egg and butter.
PRINCE HENRY
Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly.
FALSTAFF
Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not
us that are squires of the night's body be called
thieves of the day's beauty: let us be Diana's
foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the
moon; and let men say we be men of good government,
being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and
chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal.
PRINCE HENRY
Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for the
fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and
flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is,
by the moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of gold
most resolutely snatched on Monday night and most
dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with
swearing 'Lay by' and spent with crying 'Bring in;'
now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder
and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows.
Then a little later on in the same conversation, again the mention of the 'gallows'; throughout the play there is a number of times when the threat of the gallows is mentioned; obviously, this fortells a number of events to come in later plays:
Quote:
FALSTAFF
Yea, and so used it that were it not here apparent
that thou art heir apparent--But, I prithee, sweet
wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when
thou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is
with the rusty curb of old father antic the law? Do
not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief.
PRINCE HENRY
No; thou shalt.
FALSTAFF
Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge.
PRINCE HENRY
Thou judgest false already: I mean, thou shalt have
the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman.
I find a subtext here which forsees the coming events.
Another thing stands out to me. In each scene the last line or paragraph is very much a 'cliff-hanger'. Was this intentional in order to build suspense and keep the viewer watching the play? I believe it was. I know it works for me.
Scene I
Quote:
KING HENRY IV
But I have sent for him to answer this;
And for this cause awhile we must neglect
Our holy purpose to Jerusalem.
Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we
Will hold at Windsor; so inform the lords:
But come yourself with speed to us again;
For more is to be said and to be done
Than out of anger can be uttered.
WESTMORELAND
I will, my liege.
Scene II
Quote:
PRINCE HENRY
Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all things
necessary and meet me to-morrow night in Eastcheap;
there I'll sup. Farewell.
POINS
Farewell, my lord.
Scene III
Quote:
NORTHUMBERLAND
Farewell, good brother: we shall thrive, I trust.
HOTSPUR
Uncle, Adieu: O, let the hours be short
Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport!
Each scene is 'to be continued' in the next Act, adding that much needed break and bit of suspense.
