Prince Hal / King Henry V

Play

Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, Henry V

Summary

Prince Hal (Henry, Prince of Wales) is the prodigal heir who deliberately spends his youth in the Eastcheap taverns among rogues and thieves, all the while planning his eventual reformation so that his transformation will shine the brighter by contrast. Having proven himself at Shrewsbury in 1 Henry IV and formally cast off Falstaff upon his accession, he emerges as King Henry V — the ideal warrior-king who unites England, leads the outnumbered English to miraculous victory at Agincourt, and wins both France and its princess Katherine.

Notable Quotations

"I know you all, and will awhile uphold / The unyoked humour of your idleness." *(1H4, 1.2 — Hal's first soliloquy revealing his plan)*

"I do, I will." *(1H4, 2.4 — Hal's chilling rehearsal of banishing Falstaff)*

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, / Or close the wall up with our English dead!" *(Henry V, 3.1)*

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; / For he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother." *(Henry V, 4.3 — St. Crispin's Day speech)*

"Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls, / Our debts, our careful wives, our children, and our sins, lay on the king!" *(Henry V, 4.1 — soliloquy on the burdens of kingship)*

"I am not covetous for gold... But if it be a sin to covet honour, / I am the most offending soul alive." *(Henry V, 4.3)*

Cross-references

• Henry IV, Part 1 — the play
• Henry IV, Part 2 — the play
• Henry V — the play
• Histories — the genre
• character_falstaff — Falstaff, his tavern companion whom he rejects
• character_king_henry_iv — his father, King Henry IV
• character_hotspur — Hotspur, his foil whom he kills at Shrewsbury
• character_fluellen — Fluellen, loyal Welsh captain in Henry V