Words and actions Essay Example for Free

Words and actions Essay Hal and Hotspur have what is probably the strongest rivalry in this play. The word attractive can have many meanings but I will interpret it as being the person who comes across as being the one who really appeals to the audience through their strong and weak points. In real life Hal and Hotspur were not even of the same generation, let alone the same age. Shakespeare has changed the age of Hotspur to make him the same age as Hal. This allows him to compare the two characters and to build up a strong rivalry between them. Shakespeare also uses Hotspur to make Hals character appear more attractive and to show that he is actually very suited to the throne. Prince Hal is a character who, at the start of the play, appears to be riotous and disobedient. However, Hal does possess many appealing qualities and as the play goes on, we start to see that the time Hal spends in the tavern is part of his learning experience and he is learning to be able to function at any level to help him become an effective and successful king. We learn this from Hals soliloquy when he says, He may be more wondered at, by breaking through the foul and ugly mists (by which he means the world of the tavern and in particular, Falstaff). By this Hal means that when he decides to throw off Falstaff and Poins and become a righteous Prince, it will be a shock to people and he will look like a much better person. Another strong quality that Hals soliloquy shows us he has is that he has a plan to his life and he knows what he is going to do and when he is going to do it. This is shown by Hals statement of how he is going to be Redeeming time when men think least I will and also by the level of planning that has gone into his soliloquy. It is obvious that he hasnt just thought it up on the spot but that he has thought it all through previously. Hal appears in both the tavern and the court but it is when he is in the world of the tavern that he really emerges as a humorous character and he uses his intelligence to mock Falstaff through puns like, come, roundly, roundly amongst others. This humor makes Hal an attractive character because audiences like comics and humor and will always like a humorous character even if one of his jokes seems to be cruel and pointless (shown when Hal mocks Francis who has done him no wrong). Prince Hal also has unattractive qualities which make him less of an attractive character. In one instance he uses his royalty and status to ridicule a simple person in what appears to be a pointless and un-humorous joke. He carries the joke out on a bartender, Francis, who doesnt have any way of mocking him back, which puts Hals sense of humor in question. This is shown when Poins says, What cunning match have you made with this jest of the drawer? Another of Hals weaknesses is the fact that he actually leads such a criminal lifestyle. He steals from people and even the fact that he is planning to reform cannot hide this fact. He give his family a bad name through being involved in the criminal underworld and neglecting his princely duties. When he says Where shall we take a purse tomorrow, Jack? he shows that he isnt just being led into crime by Falstaff but he is actually wanting to be involved. Some qualities which Hal has are seen as unattractive but are actually necessary for him to become a successful king. One example of this is Hals hard headedness when it comes to politics. Hal appears to be using Falstaff for his own gain and even though he seems to enjoy having a laugh with him, when it comes to throwing him off he doesnt show any remorse. It is possible that Hal didnt like Falstaff in the first place but this seems to be unlikely due to the amount of time he spends joking with him. The way in which Hal discards Falstaff doesnt reflect well on his personality but it is necessary if he is to become successful in his kingship. Hotspur also has attractive and unattractive qualities. The first we hear of him in the play is when he is being praised by the king. The king even goes so far as to say That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged in cradle clothes our children meaning that he wishes that he could prove that a fairy had exchanged his son with Hotspur when they were babies. This makes us think that if the king wishes Hotspur was his son then he must be a much better person than Hal and thus be the obvious choice for the most attractive character. The king says that Hotspur is The theme of honours tongue which is obviously a very high title to be given and Hotspur probably does deserve this mention for his skill as a warrior. Hotspur is a very brave character whose main aim in life is to gain honour for himself and Without corrival or without having to share it with others. A suitable example of Hotspurs search for honour is when he says O the blood more stirs, to rouse a lion than to start a hare! meaning that you will look a lot braver if you attack a lion than you will if you attack a hare. When Hotspur mentions the lion here he could be referring to the king as at another point in the play Falstaff compares the king to being a lion. Although wanting to gain honour is a clever and acceptable thing the lengths that Hotspur is willing to go to to gain honour is too extreme. When he finds out that his fathers army wont be present at the battle his reaction is very rash. He says that with the scales tipped against them winning the battle would be a larger dare to our great enterprise meaning that their smaller army will gain more honour if they defeat the kings army. It is with this attitude that Hotspur goes into battle and eventually gets defeated and killed. Hotspur gets his nickname from his hot headedness and from not being able to control his temper which is obviously an unattractive quality. We see this quite early on in the play when Hotspur loses his temper in front of the king and shouts Revolted Mortimer! when the king is accusing Mortimer of joining forces with Glendower and he refuses to pay the ransom for Mortimer. This hot headedness makes Hotspur look less attractive as he cannot properly control his temper but at the same time standing up to the king could be seen as an attractive point. As well as being hot headed, Hotspur is also forgetful. When the rebels hold an important meeting Hotspur is given the job of bringing the map be he manages to forget this simple task as the line A plague upon it! I have forgot the map! shows. As Hotspur is supposed to have a claim to being future king even a small problem like this could prove fatal should he become king and forget something important. When these two very important characters are being compared together we can get a clearer idea as to who stands out as being the most attractive character. Hotspurs greatest attribute is his skill in battle and he often shows off how good a warrior he is but when they actually meet in battle Hal comes out on top and he kills Hotspur. At the start of the play Henry IV says that he wishes Hotspur was prince instead of Hal but as the play does on we start to see Hotspurs less attractive qualities come to light as we see Hals attractive qualities. Then, by the end of the play we discover that actually Hal will be a better prince than Hotspur could be. Although, at the start of the play it is Hotspur who comes across as being the most attractive character, a combination of strong and weak qualities which both Hal and Hotspur possess make us change our minds as the play goes on and at the end of the play it is Hal who stands out as being the most attractive character.