Shakespeare's Tudor History: A Study of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 by Tom McAlindon

Author:Tom McAlindon [McAlindon, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138704367
Goodreads: 34567215
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

‘The word of the noble’: Sir John Falstaff (and friends)

‘Thou judgest false already’ (1:2.1.61–2): we may take it that Hal’s comment is an opening glance at the aptness of Falstaff s surname. Moreover, Falstaff’s epistolary flourish, ‘Sir John Falstaff, knight’ (2:2.2.111), with its portentous assurance of honour, truth, and valour, is as counterfeit as the ‘very ample virtue … intended in the General’s name’ at Gaultree (2:4.1.160–64). Falstaffian comedy dramatises in delightful form the social disease which in the political world affects names and titles as well as words in general. Prompted by Hal’s energetic description of his disreputable life, Sir John raises the question of name and title in their first encounter on stage together. He recalls that he has recently been berated in public by an old lord of the Council, wonders ‘where a commodity of good names were to be bought’ (2:4.1.79–80), and with bewitching verbal facility creates a golden future in which King Hal will countenance thieves and lechers and honour them with dignified titles:

… 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; 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. [2:4.1.22–8]

Sir John’s problem with name and fame is shown in the following scene to run parallel to the serious concerns of Henry and the men who helped him to the throne. Henry complains that he has ‘lost that title of respect’, and Hotspur accuses him of slandering ‘the noble Mortimer’ (the true inheritor) by calling him a traitor. Hotspur also laments that his father and uncle will be dishonoured by ‘chronicles in times to come’ because of their association with Henry; he longs to seize and wear without corrival all of honour’s proud titles (1:1.3.1–8, 86, 112, 201–07). Apart from diminishing their own claims to honour and respect, what Hotspur intends, and what Henry has done, mitigates the hubris in Falstaff’s desire for those ennobling names he does not deserve. Yet that desire is not tied to an innocent, fantasy future; although jestingly expressed, it is also seriously intended and is partially fulfilled at the close of Part 1. ‘If your father will do me any honour, so … I look to be either earl or duke, I can assure you’ (1:5.4.137– 9). He remains ‘Sir John’ to the end, of course; but having stabbed the dead Hotspur in the thigh and purloined his corpse, with the help of Hal’s bemused complicity he acquires the name of Hotspur’s conqueror, and that stolen title materially affects his life and the lives of others.

A corollary to Falstaff s appropriation of the titles of respect is the disrespect he has for the good name of others. There is unquestionable affection in his habitual calling the heir apparent by such names as ‘lad’, and ‘sweet wag’, but

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