Finished: Henry IV Part I (Shakespeare). Oh Hotspur, no! :-(  O Harry, thou has robb'd me of my youth. I better brook the loss of brittle life than those proud titles thou has won of me. They wound my thoughts worse than they wound my flesh. Sigh...I really liked Henry "Hotspur" Percy! He was such a vibrant character...full of passion in every conversation he had! I loved his interactions with his father, his uncle, his king, his cohorts, and particularly his last conversation with his wife. I shall miss you Hotspur!

Henry IV Part I picks up where Richard II left off. King Henry IV is about to take his pilgrimage to Jerusalem when he must fight off a rebellion instead. You see...he hasn't treated the friends who helped to make him king very well and they're not happy. The final straw is when Edmund Mortimer, the brother-in-law of Hotspur Percy is taken captive by Glendower, a Welshman who is revolting against the king, and King Henry refuses to ransom for him by trading war prisoners, including Douglas, a formidable Scot, that Hotspur has captured in action. Hotspur is the son of Henry Percy, the Earl of Northumberland, two of King Henry's biggest supporters who turned against Richard II to ensure Henry's takeover. Hotspur is furious and along with the disgruntled others, plans to align with Douglas and Glendower to usurp King Henry.

Meanwhile, King Henry's son, Henry the Prince of Wales, is everything the king wishes he wasn't. He hangs out with lowlifes, drinks, carouses, and does other unprincely things. He's never taken to being the son of the king and King Henry, at one point, even wonders if Hotspur and Hal, as the prince is called, were somehow switched at birth. Yes...everyone loves and respects Hotspur's drive and passion. Hal's main cohort is Sir John Falstaff....an obese, older knight who spends most of his time lying, embellishing stories, and robbing people to make ends meet. Hal and Falstaff have quite the bantering relationship, and the seriousness of the book is quite relieved at times by their conversations and actions. Still....neither Hal or Falstaff get ringing endorsements of character at that point in their lives. In describing Falstaff selling his soul to the devil with all his miscreant antics, Hal utters the famous line, "He will give the devil his due".

When Prince Henry (Hal) is called to battle by his father, he actually grows up a bit and apologizes to his father for his behavior and tells him he can be counted on. Falstaff also goes along to fight by Hal, but he is far more a coward than a warrior. As a matter of fact....Falstaff recites two of my favorite lines from the book due to his cowardice. In one instance, Hal and a friend have decided to disguise themselves and set upon Falstaff and his three friends right after they rob someone on the highway. Hal and his pal turn around and rob Falstaff and his friends, who don't put up much of a fight and run away into the woods. Upon relating the story later to Hal as to why he didn't come home with the huge purse of loot he expected, Falstaff embellishes his story and tells Hal that he fought off a hundred men...well, at least fifty, etc. Hal finally reveals that it was just he and another disguised that took the money from Falstaff and friends, and that Hal knows very well that Falstaff turned tail and ran. Falstaff utters the famous line, "I was now a coward on instinct". I loved it! The entire passage is:

By the Lord, I knew ye as well as he that made ye. Why, hear you, my masters. Was it for me to kill the heir-apparent? Should I turn upon the true prince? Why, thou knowest I am as valiant as Hercules: but beware instinct, the lion will not touch the true prince. Instinct is a great matter. I was now a coward on instinct. I shall think the better of myself and thee during my life; I for a valiant lion, and thou for a true prince. But by the Lord, lads, I am glad you have the money.

Then later, when Falstaff reluctantly follows Prince Henry into battle, he pretends to be dead after he battles sword to sword for a few minutes with the famous Douglas. Hal sees Falstaff laying on the ground and thinks he's dead. He has just finished a little verse lamenting his friend's death when Falstaff sits up and tells Hal he's alive. Falstaff tries to explain that it was better to "counterfeit" being dead and end up alive than to actually be dead. He utters the famous line (which I never knew in context before I read this), "The better part of valor is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life."

Anyway...back to Hotspur. Too many things rise up against him for this battle to be successful. The Welshman Glendower decides not to partake in the battle, so that reduces the rebelling forces. Then, Hotspur's own father with his huge army is stuck many days away because the father has taken ill. So...Hotspur goes into battle with far fewer forces than King Henry. The most awful betrayal, though, probably makes the most profound difference. Hotspur sends his uncle Thomas Percy, the Earl of Worcester, to talk to King Henry and see if any peaceable solutions are even suggested. King Henry immediately suggests that they can work things out peacefully...that everyone will be forgiven. He knows they all helped him get where he was. And, in particular, he holds no animosity towards Hotspur, but has immense respect. He says there will be no repercussions, "No, good Worcester, no. We love our people well, even those we love that are misled upon your cousin's part. And, will they take the offer of our grace, both he, and they, and you, yea every man shall be my friend again, and I'll be his. So tell your cousin, and bring me word what he will do". Instead of taking that message back to Hotspur, Thomas Percy decides that King Henry may spare Hotspur due to his youth, but he thinks the king will most definitely punish himself and the other "older" former counsel members. So, in an awful betrayal (in my opinion) Thomas Percy goes back and tells Hotspur that King Henry said no to peace, "I told him gently of our grievances, of his oath-breaking, which he mended thus, by now forswearing that he is forsworn. He calls us rebels, traitors, and will scourge with haughty arms this hateful name in us".

So, sadly the battle begins. Hotspur and Prince Henry end up in a hand to hand, or sword to sword, battle to the death. Hotspur fights valiantly, but is slain by Prince Henry. :-( The book ends with Prince Henry and his brother, Prince John, joining back up with their father and heading off to fight the rest of the rebels in other locations.

Some of my favorite passages follow. When Hotspur first realizes that King Henry IV will not ransom for his brother-in-law's life, he goes on a rant to his father and his uncle about possibly going up against the king:

Hotspur: Shall it for shame be spoken in these days,
Or fill up chronicles in time to come,
That men of your nobility and power
Did gage them both in an unjust behalf
(As both of you, God pardon it, have done)
To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose,
And plant this thorn, this canker Bolingbroke?
And shall it in more shame be further spoken, 
That you are fool'd, discarded, and shook off
By him, for whom these shames ye underwent?
No. Yet time serves wherein you may redeem
Your banish'd honors and restore yourselves
Into the good thoughts of the world again.
Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt
Of this proud king, who studies day and night 
To answer all the debt he owes to you,
Even with the bloody payment of your deaths.
Therefore I say ---

Worcester: Peace, cousin say no more.
And now I will unclasp a secret book,
And to your quick-conceiving discontents
I'll read you a matter deep and dangerous,
As full of peril and adventurous spirit
As to o'er-walk a current roaring loud
On the unsteadfast footing of a spear.

Hotspur: If he fall in, good night. Or sink, or swim!
Send danger from the east unto the west,
So honor cross it, from the north to south,
And let them grapple! O the blood more stirs
To rouse a lion than to start a hare.

When Hotspur rants on and on and won't listen to reason, his father chides him:

Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool 
Art thou, to break into this woman's mood,
Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own!

I love that line! Probably all of us could be told that some time or another, lol.

When Hotspur's wife wants to know what's going on and where he's headed after he decides to do battle, he tells her:

Come, wilt thou see me ride?
And when I am o' horseback I will swear
I love thee infinitely. But hark you Kate,
I must not have you henceforth question me
Wither I go, nor reason whereabout.
Wither I must, I must. And to conclude,
This evening must I leave you, gentle Kate.
I know you wise, but yet no farther wise
Thank Harry Percy's wife. Constant you are,
But yet a woman; and for secrecy
No lady closer, for I well believe
Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know,
And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate.

Oh, there are too many scenes to write down! I love it when the wives are telling their husbands goodbye before the big battle....Hotspur's wife not knowing that she'll never see him again. It's all very lighthearted and  loving, yet heartbreaking. And, I love the scene where Hotspur asks if Prince Henry acted with contempt when he spoke to his uncle and the other messenger, Sir Richard Vernun, of how Prince Henry would call Hotspur out in man to man battle. Vernun answered Hotspur:

No, by my soul, I never in my life
Did hear a challenge urg'd more modestly,
Unless a brother should a brother dare
To gentle exercise and proof of arms.
He gave you all the duties of a man,
Trimm'd up your praises with a princely tongue, 
Spoke your deservings like a chronicle
Making you ever better than his praise,
By still dispraising praise valu'd with you:
And, which became him like a prince indeed,
He made a blushing cital of himself,
And chid his truant youth with such a grace
As if he master'd there a double spirit
Of teaching and of learning instantly.
There did he pause. But let me tell the world,
If he outlive the envy of this day,
England did never owe so sweet a hope,
So much misconstru'd in his wantonness.

I could keep going, but I think that's enough for now. As much as I loved Hotspur and so many of the passages, I'm not sure I can call this one of my favorite books. I'll have to ponder over that for awhile. Now...am I going to continue with Shakespeare? Hmmm