Transformation Of Prince Hal

9 Pages 2163 Words

ass was all an act, and when the need arises, he will cast off the act and reveal his true noble self. Hal tells the departed Falstaff the he “[will] uphold/ The unyoked humour of [his] idleness” (1.3.173-174), but that, just as the sun permits itself to be covered by clouds so that the people who miss its light will be all the happier when it reappears, he too will eventually emerge from the cloud cover of his lower class friends. Hal, for the first time is separating himself from his friends and the reader begin to understand his devious nature. Hal is just using his friends to make him look better in the future: “And like bright metal on a sullen ground,/ My reformation, glitt’ring o’er my fault,/ Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes” (1.3.190-192). Hal may look like he is a disgrace to his father, but when Hal transforms he will shine brighter than Hotspur.
Part I Henry IV takes a turn in Act 2 Scene 5 with regards to Hal’s commoner behavior. Hal’s transformation begins when he is summoned to see his father, but this does not begin until Act 3 Scene 2, when Prince Hal finally returns to the palace. As Hal and his father are face to face, King Henry delivers a lengthy speech of how he is very disappointed in Hal and his “vulgar company” (3.2. 41), and by spending time with thieves he “hast lost thy princely privilege” (3.2.86). Prince Hal responds with, “I shall hereafter, my thrice-gracious lord,/ be more myself” (3.2.92-93). Hal admits to his father that he wasn’t being his true self and from now on he will be the noble son he wants and is willing to redeem himself:
This, in the name of God,
I promise her, The which if he be pleased I shall perform,
I do beseech your majesty my salve
The long-grown wo...