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Theme Of Honor In Henry IV

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Honor in Shakespeare’s Play Henry IV, Act One
(The View of Honor in the Eyes of Falstaff and Hotspur in Shakespeare’s Play Henry IV, Act One)
In Shakespeare’s play, Henry IV, Part One, two characters define what honor is to them. Hotspur and Falstaff are two different characters completely, one is a son of a nobleman and the other is a thief. Hotspur is son to Earl of Northumberland, making him the heir as well, the nephew of Earl of Worcester, and a good warrior too. The real name of Hotspur is Harry Percy, a member of the Percy family, which helped King Henry IV gain his power. Hotspur is short-tempered and impatient man who is always concerned about honor. Falstaff on the other hand, is a fat, thieving old man that lives on the nasty side of England who doesn’t put much thought towards honor. These two characters are play two different roles and are quite different, like their views of honor, in Shakespeare’s play, Henry IV, Part One.
Hotspur is committed to honor, and to him honor is something to seek out, to have and use. In King Henry IV, when Hotspur speaks of honor he says, “By heaven methinks it were an easy leap, To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon, Or …show more content…

Hotspur and Falstaff are two different characters completely, one is a son of a nobleman and the other is a thief. Hotspur is committed to honor, and to him honor is something to seek out, to have and use. Honor, to Hotspur is something to be earned, not given away freely. Falstaff is a fat old man, a thief even though he is a close mentor of Prince Henry, and he does not see a fit meaning in honor. He does not think honor is something to seek, he does not believe it exists, and if it does it has a worthless pay off. Honor in today’s society holds close to the same meaning as it did when Shakespeare wrote the play in the sixteenth century, and it is a closer definition to Hotspur’s than Falstaff’s by

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