Book contents
- Frontmatter
- The Ancient World in Shakespeare: Authenticity or Anachronism? A Retrospect
- ‘A Piece of Skilful Painting’ in Shakespeare’s Lucrece
- Philomel in Titus Andronicus and Cymbeline
- Apuleius and the Bradleian Tragedies
- ‘The Choice of Hercules’ in Antony and Cleopatra
- Structure, Inversion, and Game in Shakespeare’s Classical World
- Truth and utterance in The Winter’s Tale
- Adumbrations of The Tempest in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- The Old Honor and the New Courtesy: 1 Henry IV
- Henry V: the Chorus and The Audience
- ‘The Devil’s Party’: Virtues and Vices in Measure for Measure
- Shakespeare and the Healing Power of Deceit
- Shakespeare’s Man Descending a Staircase: Sonnets 126 to 154
- A New View of Bankside
- Comedies and Histories at Two Stratfords, 1977
- Tamburlaine the Great Re-discovered
- The Year's Contributions to Shakespearian Study 1 Critical Studies
- 2 Shakespeare’s Life, Times, and Stage
- 3 Textual Studies
- General Index to Surveys 22–30
- Index
- Plate Section
The Old Honor and the New Courtesy: 1 Henry IV
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2007
- Frontmatter
- The Ancient World in Shakespeare: Authenticity or Anachronism? A Retrospect
- ‘A Piece of Skilful Painting’ in Shakespeare’s Lucrece
- Philomel in Titus Andronicus and Cymbeline
- Apuleius and the Bradleian Tragedies
- ‘The Choice of Hercules’ in Antony and Cleopatra
- Structure, Inversion, and Game in Shakespeare’s Classical World
- Truth and utterance in The Winter’s Tale
- Adumbrations of The Tempest in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- The Old Honor and the New Courtesy: 1 Henry IV
- Henry V: the Chorus and The Audience
- ‘The Devil’s Party’: Virtues and Vices in Measure for Measure
- Shakespeare and the Healing Power of Deceit
- Shakespeare’s Man Descending a Staircase: Sonnets 126 to 154
- A New View of Bankside
- Comedies and Histories at Two Stratfords, 1977
- Tamburlaine the Great Re-discovered
- The Year's Contributions to Shakespearian Study 1 Critical Studies
- 2 Shakespeare’s Life, Times, and Stage
- 3 Textual Studies
- General Index to Surveys 22–30
- Index
- Plate Section
Summary
Central to any reading of 1 Henry IV is the dramatic opposition of the Prince of Wales with his arch-rival Henry Percy: the seriousness, energy, and courage of Hotspur are held up against the frivolous, bored, and irresponsible behavior of Hal. In large measure, the two young men, whom Shakespeare has intentionally portrayed as comparable in age, behave differently because they value differing codes of conduct. For Hotspur honor is of over-riding concern; by contrast, Hal acts as chief spokesman of another virtue, one especially appropriate for a Renaissance prince: courtesy. By analyzing the actions of both men according to the two most influential Elizabethan handbooks on courtly manners, we may arrive at a more precise evaluation of these two virtues and of those qualities that, it seems, ultimately mark Hal superior to Hotspur.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Shakespeare Survey , pp. 85 - 92Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1979