Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
|
Alarm, excursions. Enter the King, the Prince, Lord John
of Lancaster, and the Earl of Westmoreland. KING
I prithee, Harry, withdraw thyself. Thou bleedest
too much.
Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him. LANCASTER
Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too. PRINCE
I beseech your Majesty, make up, 5
Lest your retirement do amaze your friends. KING
I will do so.—My Lord of Westmoreland,
Lead him to his tent. WESTMORELAND
Come, my lord, I’ll lead you to your tent. PRINCE
Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help, 10
And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive
The Prince of Wales from such a field as this,
Where stained nobility lies trodden on,
And rebels’ arms triumph in massacres. LANCASTER
We breathe too long. Come, cousin Westmoreland, 15
Our duty this way lies. For God’s sake, come. Lancaster and Westmoreland exit. | The next time we see Prince Hal, he's bleeding from battle wounds. His dad tells him to take a break. Hal refuses. |
PRINCE
By God, thou hast deceived me, Lancaster.
I did not think thee lord of such a spirit.
Before, I loved thee as a brother, John,
But now I do respect thee as my soul. 20 KING
I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point
With lustier maintenance than I did look for
Of such an ungrown warrior. PRINCE
O, this boy lends mettle to us all. He exits. | Alone with the king, Prince Hal remarks that his little brother, Prince John, has fought bravely. He's proud of him. |
Enter Douglas. DOUGLAS
Another king! They grow like Hydra’s heads.— 25
I am the Douglas, fatal to all those
That wear those colors on them. What art thou
That counterfeit’st the person of a king? KING
The King himself, who, Douglas, grieves at heart,
So many of his shadows thou hast met 30
And not the very king. I have two boys
Seek Percy and thyself about the field,
But, seeing thou fall’st on me so luckily,
I will assay thee. And defend thyself. DOUGLAS
I fear thou art another counterfeit, 35
And yet, in faith, thou bearest thee like a king.
But mine I am sure thou art, whoe’er thou be,
And thus I win thee. They fight. The King being in danger,
enter Prince of Wales. PRINCE
Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like
Never to hold it up again. The spirits 40
Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt are in my arms.
It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee,
Who never promiseth but he means to pay. They fight. Douglas flieth. | Then, Douglas enters and sees Henry. Douglas says he can't tell if Henry is another fake and Henry assures him that, yep, he's the king all right and he's about to whoop up on Douglas. They fight and it's not looking good for Henry. Prince Hal runs over and saves his dad's life. Douglas runs off. |
To King. Cheerly, my lord. How fares your Grace?
Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succor sent, 45
And so hath Clifton. I’ll to Clifton straight. KING Stay and breathe awhile.
Thou hast redeemed thy lost opinion
And showed thou mak’st some tender of my life
In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me. 50 PRINCE
O God, they did me too much injury
That ever said I hearkened for your death.
If it were so, I might have let alone
The insulting hand of Douglas over you,
Which would have been as speedy in your end 55
As all the poisonous potions in the world,
And saved the treacherous labor of your son. KING
Make up to Clifton. I’ll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey. King exits. | King Henry says he's glad to see that Prince Hal values his life.
A tender father-son moment ensues. Hal has redeemed himself in his father's eyes.
King Henry exits the stage. |
Enter Hotspur. HOTSPUR
If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth. PRINCE
Thou speak’st as if I would deny my name. 60 HOTSPUR
My name is Harry Percy. PRINCE Why then I see
A very valiant rebel of the name.
I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy,
To share with me in glory any more. 65
Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere,
Nor can one England brook a double reign
Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales. HOTSPUR
Nor shall it, Harry, for the hour is come
To end the one of us, and would to God 70
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine. PRINCE
I’ll make it greater ere I part from thee,
And all the budding honors on thy crest
I’ll crop to make a garland for my head. HOTSPUR
I can no longer brook thy vanities. They fight. 75 | Hotspur enters then and challenges Prince Hal. They talk a round of trash and Hal says he's going to cut the ribbons from Hotspur's helmet and make a hat out of them. They fight. |
Enter Falstaff. FALSTAFF Well said, Hal! To it, Hal! Nay, you shall find
no boys’ play here, I can tell you. Enter Douglas. He fighteth with Falstaff, who falls
down as if he were dead. Douglas exits. The Prince
killeth Percy. HOTSPUR
O Harry, thou hast robbed me of my youth.
I better brook the loss of brittle life
Than those proud titles thou hast won of me. 80
They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword my
flesh.
But thoughts, the slaves of life, and life, time’s fool,
And time, that takes survey of all the world,
Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy, 85
But that the earthy and cold hand of death
Lies on my tongue. No, Percy, thou art dust,
And food for— He dies. PRINCE
For worms, brave Percy. Fare thee well, great heart.
Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk! 90
When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound,
But now two paces of the vilest earth
Is room enough. This earth that bears thee dead
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman. 95
If thou wert sensible of courtesy,
I should not make so dear a show of zeal.
But let my favors hide thy mangled face;
He covers Hotspur’s face.
And even in thy behalf I’ll thank myself
For doing these fair rites of tenderness. 100
Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven.
Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,
But not remembered in thy epitaph.
| Downstage, Falstaff fights with Douglas. Douglas has the upper hand so Falstaff falls down and plays dead. Meanwhile, Prince Hal mortally wounds Hotspur.
Hotspur says he's less upset about dying than he is about Hal taking away all of Hotspur's "proud titles." Just as Percy begins to say he is "food for worms," he dies and Hal must finish the sentence for him. Hal stands over Hotspur's body and gives him major props for being such an honorable warrior. |
He spieth Falstaff on the ground.
What, old acquaintance, could not all this flesh
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell. 105
I could have better spared a better man.
O, I should have a heavy miss of thee
If I were much in love with vanity.
Death hath not struck so fat a deer today,
Though many dearer in this bloody fray. 110
Emboweled will I see thee by and by;
Till then in blood by noble Percy lie. He exits. | Just then, Hal sees Falstaff lying on the ground nearby. He says something like "bummer" and leaves his old friend in a bloody heap before exiting the stage. |
Falstaff riseth up. FALSTAFF Emboweled? If thou embowel me today, I’ll
give you leave to powder me and eat me too
tomorrow. ’Sblood, ’twas time to counterfeit, or 115
that hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot
too. Counterfeit? I lie. I am no counterfeit. To die is
to be a counterfeit, for he is but the counterfeit of a
man who hath not the life of a man; but to counterfeit
dying when a man thereby liveth is to be no 120
counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life
indeed. The better part of valor is discretion, in the
which better part I have saved my life. Zounds, I am
afraid of this gunpowder Percy, though he be dead.
How if he should counterfeit too, and rise? By my 125
faith, I am afraid he would prove the better counterfeit.
Therefore I’ll make him sure, yea, and I’ll swear
I killed him. Why may not he rise as well as I?
Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me.
Therefore, sirrah, stabbing him with a new wound 130
in your thigh, come you along with me. He takes up Hotspur on his back. | Falstaff then rises, seemingly, from the dead. Falstaff sees Hotspur's corpse nearby and worries the young Percy could still be alive. Falstaff stabs Hotspur's thigh and slings the corpse over his back to drag back to the king's camp. |
Enter Prince and John of Lancaster. PRINCE
Come, brother John. Full bravely hast thou fleshed
Thy maiden sword. LANCASTER But soft, whom have we here?
Did you not tell me this fat man was dead? 135 PRINCE I did; I saw him dead,
Breathless and bleeding on the ground.—Art thou
alive?
Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight?
I prithee, speak. We will not trust our eyes 140
Without our ears. Thou art not what thou seem’st. | Prince Hal and Prince John enter and see Falstaff. Hal says something like, "Hey, I thought you were dead." |
FALSTAFF No, that’s certain. I am not a double man.
But if I be not Jack Falstaff, then am I a jack. There
is Percy. If your father will do me any honor, so; if
not, let him kill the next Percy himself. I look to be 145
either earl or duke, I can assure you. PRINCE
Why, Percy I killed myself, and saw thee dead. | Falstaff brags about killing Percy and Hal says, "What are you talking about? I just killed Percy." |
FALSTAFF Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this world is
given to lying. I grant you, I was down and out of
breath, and so was he, but we rose both at an instant 150
and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I
may be believed, so; if not, let them that should
reward valor bear the sin upon their own heads. I’ll
take it upon my death, I gave him this wound in
the thigh. If the man were alive and would deny 155
it, zounds, I would make him eat a piece of my
sword. LANCASTER
This is the strangest tale that ever I heard. PRINCE
This is the strangest fellow, brother John.—
Come bring your luggage nobly on your back. 160
For my part, if a lie may do thee grace,
I’ll gild it with the happiest terms I have. A retreat is sounded. The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ours.
Come, brother, let us to the highest of the field
To see what friends are living, who are dead. 165 They exit. FALSTAFF I’ll follow, as they say, for reward. He that
rewards me, God reward him. If I do grow great,
I’ll grow less, for I’ll purge and leave sack and live
cleanly as a nobleman should do. He exits carrying Hotspur’s body. | Falstaff tells Hal to stop fibbing and claims that Hotspur only appeared to be dead when Hal left him. Falstaff delivered the mortal wound. Hal knows Falstaff's lying, but the old man is so pathetic that Hal lets it go. |