Ambivalence Toward Leadership In Shakespeare's Henry IV

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Henry IV examines our ambivalence toward leadership by showing us a few characters who personify the different kinds of ambivalence toward leadership. Prince Hal, the man who could be the most powerful man in England, runs from his duty to lead, only to be forced into a position of leadership. Falstaff is the unofficial leader among the common men, yet he lives his life by his own terms, instead of the rules of honor that men like Hotspur choose to live by. Hotspur, much like the current king, King Henry IV, who used the Percy family to overthrow the previous king, rebels against leadership by attempting to overthrow it. The ambivalence towards leadership in Shakespeare’s Henry IV is personified through his characters. At the beginning of