King Henry Iv Part One – Falstaff Notes

Falstaff J. Dover Wilson Riot and the Prodigal Prince (1943) No on croup have missed the resemblance between Riot and Falstaff Falstaff serves 2 main roles in William Shakespeares King Henry IV Part One Alternative draw figure to Hal The criminality (comedic representation) As a father figure to Hal, Falstaffs influence is juxtaposed against that of Hals biological father King Henry IV. He influences Hal to steal and behave most inappropriately for a prince.This influence offers comedic championship to the audience from the court aspect of the play and likewise put ups a starting point/lifestyle from which Hal can develop. -Falstaff holds himself much above his setting, considering himself to truly be much greater than he really is he achieves this by such actions as partaking in witty banter with the prince while in the tavern as sanitary as telling lies about heroic deeds he presumably achieved. Act 3 guesswork 3 line 10-15 Comic representation of Falstaffs virtues -defen ds himself and by doing so highlights his misdeeds -swore little gambled no much than 7 days a week -went to a prostitute house not more frequently than every 15 mins -paid off his debts that he keeps burrowing -lived in a good moral compass Falstaff is associated with the nonplus of the miracle play and the Vice of the morality play and misleads Hal in such a way as to provide amusement and to lower Hals standing to provide contrast to his rising and in such a way as to allow for sympathy to his character but is also obvious to the audience that the reign over of this marvellous Lord of Misrule must have an end, that Falstaff mu be rejected by the Prodigal Prince, (J.Dover Wilson) Shakespeare also uses Falstaff in order to explain and palliate the Princes love of rioting and wantonness a reprimand in the likeness of an old fat man a very different kind of poet, who imagined a very different kind of satin. J. Dover Wilson Falstaff symbolizes, on the one hand, all the feasting a nd good sunshine for which Eastcheap stood, and reflects, on the other, the shifts, subterfuges, and shady tricks that decayed gentlemen and soldiers were put to if they wished to keep afloat and gratify their appetites in the London the pits of the late sixteenth century.