Falstaff, Prince Henry, and their cronies at the Boar’s Head Tavern, Eastcheap, Falstaff playing being the King ‘Henry IV Part I’ Act II Scene IV Illustration of 1856-1858 by George Cruickshank 1792-1878 for ‘Henry IV Part I’ historical play by William Shakespeare.
As national poets go, Shakespeare is probably one of the most foul-mouthed. In few places is this more true than in the two parts of Henry IV, one of the plays which form Shakespeare’s vast panorama dealing with the Wars of the Roses and the 100 Years War – stretching from highest court intrigue to the taverns and brothels of London. The number or reprints indicates this was one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays – even if, after the 1606 Parliamentary Act to Restrain the Abuses of Players, the invective in this and other plays had to be toned down for a time. The context of the extract below is as follows: Henry IV had taken the throne through a rebellion against Richard II. After some time, rebellion began brewing amongs his disenchanted followers, several powerful warlords, including the Welsh Lord Glendower. Meanwhile Prince Henry is running to seed with a disreputable bunch of jolly rogues in the seedy taverns of Eastcheap in London – a collection of knaves, whores and mountebanks moving from one tavern to another. The play constantly cuts between the world of intrigue amongst nobility and this seedy shadow world, and the two get interlinked increasingly. In the extract below, Prince Henry and Falstaff are practicing a mock interview which is to take place between Prince Henry and his father, Henry IV. The king has summoned the prince to him to tell him off, attempting to make him take some responsibility as the heir to the throne, in the run-up to the clash with the rebels (the king fears he is seeing his son turning into Richard II, surrounded by flatterers and mountebanks).
Falstaff urges Prince Henry to practice what he will answer to the king, at which point the prince suggests Falstaff should play his father and examine him (the scene is pictured in the illustration above). Much to the amusement of the landlady Hostess Quickly, Falstaff immediately throws himself into the role, taking his seat on an improvised throne made from a low barstool. The invectives are explained below in the right hand column.
EXTRACT FROM: William Shakespeare 2007 The first part of Henry the fourth In J Bate & E. Rasmussen eds, William Shakespeare Complete Works, London: Macmillan, pp 926-7.
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FALSTAFF Harry, I do not only marvel where thou spendest thy time, but also how thou art accompanied: for though |
. . Proverbially, camomile grows more rapidly when trodden on. |
| That thou art my son, I have partly thy mother’s word, partly my own opinion, but chiefly a villanous trick of thine eye and a foolish-hanging of thy nether lip, that doth warrant me. If then thou be son to me, here lies the point; why, being son to me, art thou so pointed at? |
. A hanging lower lip was regarded as a sign of loose living. Also the word ‘foolish’ could also mean in this case affected or lecherous. The word ‘warrant’ here means ‘assures’. ie: why are you making a spectacle of yourself? |
| Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries? a question not to be asked. Shall the sun of England prove a thief and take purses? |
‘Micher’ means truant, loiterer or petty thief. Eating blackberries is presumably an idle pastime. |
| a question to be asked. There is a thing, Harry, which thou hast often heard of and it is known to many in our land by the name of pitch: this pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile; so doth the company thou keepest: for, Harry, now I do not speak to thee in drink but in tears, not in pleasure but in passion, not in words only, but in |
Paraphrase of Ecclesiastes, which says whosoever touches pitch (a black, tar-like substance) shall be defiled. |
| woes also: and yet there is a virtuous man whom I have often noted in thy company, but I know not his name. | Here Falstaff goes slightly off script, bringing up and praising his own ‘virtue’. |
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PRINCE HENRY What manner of man, an it like your majesty? |
‘an it like’ means ‘if it please’. |
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FALSTAFF A goodly portly man, i’ faith, and a corpulent; of a cheerful look, a pleasing eye and a most noble |
. . . . ‘Lewdly given’ here means wickedly, lasciviously inclined Falstaff is really laying it on thick here. |
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PRINCE HENRY Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand for me, and I’ll play my father. |
This is too much for Prince Henry – he insists they swap round. |
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FALSTAFF Depose me? if thou dost it half so gravely, so majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by |
Rabbit-sucker means an unweaned baby rabbit and a ‘poulter’s hare ‘means a hare hung up in a butcher’s shop. |
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PRINCE HENRY Well, here I am set. |
‘Set’ means here seated on the mock-throne barstool. |
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FALSTAFF And here I stand: judge, my masters. |
He is appealing to the onlookers in the tavern as to whether he or Prince Henry looks more kingly. |
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PRINCE HENRY Now, Harry, whence come you? FALSTAFF My noble lord, from Eastcheap. |
Eastcheap was today’s Cheapside in the City of London, at the time a street lined with butchers’ shops, on which Falstaff’s Boar’d Head Inn was located. |
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PRINCE HENRY The complaints I hear of thee are grievous. FALSTAFF ‘Sblood, my lord, they are false: nay, I’ll tickle |
. . I’ll tickle ye’ means ‘amuse you in the role of’ a king (presumably because he’s a massive fat old man). |
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PRINCE HENRY Swearest thou, ungracious boy? henceforth ne’er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace: there is a devil haunts thee in the likeness of an old fat man; a tun of man is thy companion. Why dost thou converse with that trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel |
(At this point the prince, in the character of his father, brings up the subject of Falstaff, developing a stream of invective that is quite impressive even by Shakespearean standards) A’ tun’ is a large barrel used to hold wine or beer, as well as the weight of 1 tonne. A ‘trunk ‘means container or body, and humours mean diseases or fluids that determine the disposition of a person, which were blood, bile, choler and phlegm. A bolting-hutch is a large bin used for sifting grain. Dropsies were diseases which made the body swell with an accumulation of fluid. Bombard is a leather wine jug and sack is sherry – a cheap wine fortified with brandy. A cloak bag is a large bag for carrying clothes. Manningtree was an Essex town with a well known fair and cattle market. ‘Pudding’ in this case means stuffing or sausage or both. Vice was a comic character in a medieval morality play who tempted the youthful hero. ‘Inquity’ was another morality play character representing sinfulness. Neat and cleanly means ‘refined and skillful’ (he means skilled in villainy). |
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FALSTAFF I would your grace would take me with you: whom PRINCE HENRY That villanous abominable misleader of youth, |
Falstaff affects an air of wounded innocence which he characteristically adopts on the numerous occasions when people abuse him during the play. |
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FALSTAFF My lord, the man I know. PRINCE HENRY I know thou dost. |
In this case this means ‘I recognise the man but not the description’. |
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FALSTAFF But to say I know more harm in him than in myself, PRINCE HENRY I do, I will. |
‘Saving your reverence’ means begging your pardon. ‘Whoremaster’ means a user of whores, ie a wicked man. ‘Host’ means an innkeeper or pub landlord. ‘Kine’ means cattle and this is a biblical reference to the Pharaoh’s dream of the 7 lean and 7 fat cattle in Genesis. Peto, Bardolph and Poins are Falstaff’s sidekicks. |
This is just a drop in the ocean of the glorious fount of Shakespearean banter and invective – expect further posts of choice bits!
Commentary by Oliver Weeks.