Synopsis:
Learning that Falstaff will be dining that night in Eastcheap, Prince Hal and Poins decide to disguise themselves as waiters and observe him.
Henry IV, Part 2Henry IV, Part 2
Contents
Characters in the Play
Entire Play
Henry IV, Part 2, continues the story of Henry IV, Part I. Northumberland learns that his son Hotspur is dead, and…
Induction
Following the battle of Shrewsbury (where King Henry and Prince Hal were victorious and Hotspur killed), Rumor spreads the false…
Act 1, scene 1
Northumberland, who had pleaded illness as an excuse for not appearing at the battle of Shrewsbury, learns that his son,…
Act 1, scene 2
Sir John Falstaff is confronted by the Lord Chief Justice. Since Falstaff has come away from Shrewsbury with the reputation…
Act 1, scene 3
At York, the Archbishop discusses with Mowbray, Hastings, and Lord Bardolph whether they can defeat the king’s forces if their…
Act 2, scene 1
Sir John is arrested for the debt he owes Mistress Quickly. He persuades her to drop the charges and to…
Act 2, scene 2
Learning that Falstaff will be dining that night in Eastcheap, Prince Hal and Poins decide to disguise themselves as waiters…
Act 2, scene 3
Northumberland is persuaded by his daughter-in-law, Hotspur’s widow, to abandon the other rebels.
Act 2, scene 4
At Mistress Quickly’s inn in Eastcheap, a fight erupts after Falstaff ’s ensign, Pistol, insults Doll Tearsheet. The disguised Prince Hal…
Act 3, scene 1
An ill and anxious King Henry IV consults with Warwick.
Act 3, scene 2
On his journey through Gloucestershire, Falstaff selects recruits for the army and decides that, on his return, he will fleece…
Act 4, scene 1
The leaders of the rebellion reach Gaultree Forest, where they present their grievances to Westmoreland. After Prince John promises redress…
Act 4, scene 2
Falstaff meets a rebel knight, who surrenders to him. When Prince John reproaches Falstaff for his late arrival, Falstaff turns…
Act 4, scene 3
Just after receiving the good news about the defeat of all the rebel forces, Henry IV falls into a swoon….
Act 5, scene 1
Falstaff observes Shallow and his servants in order to be ready to entertain Prince Hal with amusing stories.
Act 5, scene 2
Prince Hal reassures an anxious Lord Chief Justice.
Act 5, scene 3
On the news of Henry IV’s death, Falstaff and Shallow set off joyfully for London.
Act 5, scene 4
Doll Tearsheet is arrested.
Act 5, scene 5
The newly crowned King Henry V keeps his word to the Lord Chief Justice.
Epilogue
The speaker apologizes for the play and promises another play with Falstaff in it.
⟨Scene 2⟩
Enter the Prince ⌜and⌝ Poins.PRINCE Before God, I am exceeding weary.
POINS Is ’t come to that? I had thought weariness durst
not have attached one of so high blood.
PRINCE Faith, it does me, though it discolors the complexion
5 of my greatness to acknowledge it. Doth it
not show vilely in me to desire small beer?
POINS Why, a prince should not be so loosely studied
as to remember so weak a composition.
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ACT 2. SC. 2
10 for, by my troth, I do now remember the poor
creature small beer. But indeed these humble considerations
make me out of love with my greatness.
What a disgrace is it to me to remember thy name,
or to know thy face tomorrow, or to take note how
15 many pair of silk stockings thou hast—with these,
and those that were thy peach-colored ⟨ones⟩—or to
bear the inventory of thy shirts, as, one for superfluity
and another for use. But that the tennis-court
keeper knows better than I, for it is a low ebb of
20 linen with thee when thou keepest not racket there,
as thou hast not done a great while, because the rest
of the low countries have ⟨made a shift to⟩ eat up thy
holland; [and God knows whether those that bawl
out the ruins of thy linen shall inherit His kingdom;
25 but the midwives say the children are not in the
fault, whereupon the world increases and kindreds
are mightily strengthened.]
POINS How ill it follows, after you have labored so
hard, you should talk so idly! Tell me, how many
30 good young princes would do so, their fathers being
so sick as yours at this time is?
PRINCE Shall I tell thee one thing, Poins?
POINS Yes, faith, and let it be an excellent good thing.
PRINCE It shall serve among wits of no higher breeding
35 than thine.
POINS Go to. I stand the push of your one thing that
you will tell.
PRINCE Marry, I tell thee it is not meet that I should be
sad, now my father is sick—albeit I could tell to
40 thee, as to one it pleases me, for fault of a better, to
call my friend, I could be sad, and sad indeed too.
POINS Very hardly, upon such a subject.
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ACT 2. SC. 2
devil’s book as thou and Falstaff for obduracy and
45 persistency. Let the end try the man. But I tell thee,
my heart bleeds inwardly that my father is so sick;
and keeping such vile company as thou art hath in
reason taken from me all ostentation of sorrow.
POINS The reason?
PRINCE 50What wouldst thou think of me if I should
weep?
POINS I would think thee a most princely hypocrite.
PRINCE It would be every man’s thought, and thou art
a blessed fellow to think as every man thinks. Never
55 a man’s thought in the world keeps the roadway
better than thine. Every man would think me an
hypocrite indeed. And what accites your most worshipful
thought to think so?
POINS Why, because you have been so lewd and so
60 much engraffed to Falstaff.
PRINCE And to thee.
POINS By this light, I am well spoke on. I can hear it
with mine own ears. The worst that they can say of
me is that I am a second brother, and that I am a
65 proper fellow of my hands; and those two things, I
confess, I cannot help. By the Mass, here comes
Bardolph.
Enter Bardolph and ⌜Page.⌝
PRINCE And the boy that I gave Falstaff. He had him
from me Christian, and look if the fat villain have
70 not transformed him ape.
BARDOLPH God save your Grace.
PRINCE And yours, most noble Bardolph.
POINS, ⌜to Bardolph⌝ Come, you virtuous ass, you bashful
fool, must you be blushing? Wherefore blush
75 you now? What a maidenly man-at-arms are you
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ACT 2. SC. 2
maidenhead?
PAGE He calls me ⌜e’en now,⌝ my lord, through a red
lattice, and I could discern no part of his face from
80 the window. At last I spied his eyes, and methought
he had made two holes in the ale-wife’s ⟨new⟩
petticoat and so peeped through.
PRINCE Has not the boy profited?
BARDOLPH, ⌜to Page⌝ Away, you whoreson upright ⟨rabbit⟩,
85 away!
PAGE Away, you rascally Althea’s dream, away!
PRINCE Instruct us, boy. What dream, boy?
PAGE Marry, my lord, Althea dreamt she was delivered
of a firebrand, and therefore I call him her dream.
PRINCE 90A crown’s worth of good interpretation. There
’tis, boy.⌜He gives the Page money.⌝
POINS O, that this ⟨good⟩ blossom could be kept from
cankers! Well, there is sixpence to preserve thee.
⌜He gives the Page money.⌝
BARDOLPH An you do not make him ⟨be⟩ hanged among
95 you, the gallows shall have wrong.
PRINCE And how doth thy master, Bardolph?
BARDOLPH Well, my ⟨good⟩ lord. He heard of your
Grace’s coming to town. There’s a letter for you.
⌜He gives the Prince a paper.⌝
POINS Delivered with good respect. And how doth the
100 Martlemas your master?
BARDOLPH In bodily health, sir.
POINS Marry, the immortal part needs a physician, but
that moves not him. Though that be sick, it dies not.
PRINCE I do allow this wen to be as familiar with me as
105 my dog, and he holds his place, for look you how he
writes.⌜He shows the letter to Poins.⌝
POINS ⌜reads the superscription⌝ John Falstaff, knight.
Every man must know that as oft as he has occasion
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ACT 2. SC. 2
110 King, for they never prick their finger but they say
“There’s some of the King’s blood spilt.” “How
comes that?” says he that takes upon him not to
conceive. The answer is as ready as a ⌜borrower’s⌝
cap: “I am the King’s poor cousin, sir.”
PRINCE 115Nay, they will be kin to us, or they will fetch it
from Japheth. But ⟨to⟩ the letter: ⌜Reads.⌝ Sir John
Falstaff, knight, to the son of the King nearest his
father, Harry Prince of Wales, greeting.
POINS Why, this is a certificate.
PRINCE 120Peace!
⌜Reads.⌝ I will imitate the honorable Romans in
brevity.
POINS He sure means brevity in breath, short-winded.
⌜PRINCE reads⌝ I commend me to thee, I commend thee,
125 and I leave thee. Be not too familiar with Poins, for he
misuses thy favors so much that he swears thou art to
marry his sister Nell. Repent at idle times as thou
mayst, and so farewell.
Thine by yea and no, which is as much as
130 to say, as thou usest him,
Jack Falstaff with my ⟨familiars,⟩
John with my brothers and sisters, and
Sir John with all Europe.
POINS My lord, I’ll steep this letter in sack and make
135 him eat it.
PRINCE That’s to make him eat twenty of his words.
But do you use me thus, Ned? Must I marry your
sister?
POINS God send the wench no worse fortune! But I
140 never said so.
PRINCE Well, thus we play the fools with the time, and
the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us.
⌜To Bardolph.⌝ Is your master here in London?
BARDOLPH Yea, my lord.
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ACT 2. SC. 2
old frank?
BARDOLPH At the old place, my lord, in Eastcheap.
PRINCE What company?
PAGE Ephesians, my lord, of the old church.
PRINCE 150Sup any women with him?
PAGE None, my lord, but old Mistress Quickly and
Mistress Doll Tearsheet.
PRINCE What pagan may that be?
PAGE A proper gentlewoman, sir, and a kinswoman of
155 my master’s.
PRINCE Even such kin as the parish heifers are to the
town bull.—Shall we steal upon them, Ned, at
supper?
POINS I am your shadow, my lord. I’ll follow you.
PRINCE 160Sirrah—you, boy—and Bardolph, no word to
your master that I am yet come to town. There’s for
your silence.⌜He gives money.⌝
BARDOLPH I have no tongue, sir.
PAGE And for mine, sir, I will govern it.
PRINCE 165Fare you well. Go.⌜Bardolph and Page exit.⌝
This Doll Tearsheet should be some road.
POINS I warrant you, as common as the way between
Saint Albans and London.
PRINCE How might we see Falstaff bestow himself
170 tonight in his true colors, and not ourselves be
seen?
POINS Put on two leathern jerkins and aprons, and
wait upon him at his table as drawers.
PRINCE From a god to a bull: a heavy descension. It
175 was Jove’s case. From a ⟨prince⟩ to a ’prentice: a low
transformation that shall be mine, for in everything
the purpose must weigh with the folly. Follow me,
Ned.
They exit.
