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History Shakespeare Style: King Henry IV, Part One

© Susan Keeping

Henry IV, part 1 is part of four history plays (Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1,"Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V) known as the "second tetralogy". It concerns the power struggle between the houses of Lancaster and York.

Here is a synopsis from Encyclopedia Britannica:

As Part 1 begins, Henry IV, tired of the strife that has accompanied his accession to the throne, is renewing his earlier vow to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He learns that Owen Glendower, the Welsh chieftain, has captured Edmund Mortimer, the earl of March, and that Henry Percy, known as Hotspur, son of the earl of Northumberland, has refused to release his Scottish prisoners until the king ransoms Mortimer. Henry laments that his own son is not like the fearless Hotspur. As the war escalates, Glendower, Mortimer (now married to Glendower's daughter), and Hotspur (now allied with the Welsh) conspire to divide Henry's kingdom into three equal parts. Meanwhile, Prince Hal and his cronies, including the fat, boisterous Falstaff and his red-nosed sidekick, Bardolph, have been drinking and playing childish pranks at Mistress Quickly's inn at Eastcheap. Hal, who admits in an aside that he is only consorting with these thieving rogues temporarily, is called to his father's aid in the war, and the two make peace between them. Hal proves his valour in battle, where he chides Falstaff for malingering and drunkenness and then kills Hotspur in personal combat during the Battle of Shrewsbury. Hal laments the wasteful death of his noble opponent and of Falstaff, on the ground nearby. But Falstaff was only feigning death, and when he claims to have killed Hotspur, Hal agrees to support the lie. At the play's end, the war against Glendower rages on.

This is another of Shakespeare's plays that has not been filmed that often. I have found two of the play itself and another two that contain parts of the play.

The earliest version of Henry IV can be found in a BBC television mini-series called An Age of Kings from 1960. It is a 15 part series in which parts 3 and 4 deal with Henry IV, pt. 1. It was directed by Michael Hayes. Stars of the film included Tom Fleming as Henry IV, Sean Connery as Hotspur, and Robert Hardy as The Prince.

In 1965, Orson Welles made the film Chimes at Midnight, also known as Falstaff. It starred Welles as Falstaff and contains scenes from various Shakespeare plays including Henry IV, pt. 1 and Henry V. It is mainly about the relationship between Falstaff and Prince Hal. Other stars of the film were Jeanne Moreau, Margaret Rutherford, John Gielgud (as Henry IV), and Ralph Richardson was the narrator.

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