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Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Warwick and Lord Chief Justice. WARWICK
How now, my Lord Chief Justice, whither away? CHIEF JUSTICE How doth the King? WARWICK
Exceeding well. His cares are now all ended. CHIEF JUSTICE
I hope, not dead. WARWICK He’s walked the way of nature, 5
And to our purposes he lives no more. CHIEF JUSTICE
I would his Majesty had called me with him.
The service that I truly did his life
Hath left me open to all injuries. WARWICK
Indeed, I think the young king loves you not. 10 CHIEF JUSTICE
I know he doth not, and do arm myself
To welcome the condition of the time,
Which cannot look more hideously upon me
Than I have drawn it in my fantasy. | At the palace in London, Warwick delivers news to the Lord Chief Justice (LCJ) that King Henry IV has died. The LCJ says he wishes that he would have died right along with the king. He's been so loyal to Henry IV that he's worried about what will happen to him now that the king's gone and Hal's in charge. (Remember, the LCJ once had Hal arrested for striking him.) Warwick chimes in that Prince Hal definitely is not a big fan of the LCJ. |
Enter John, Thomas, and Humphrey. WARWICK
Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry. 15
O, that the living Harry had the temper
Of he the worst of these three gentlemen!
How many nobles then should hold their places
That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort! CHIEF JUSTICE
O God, I fear all will be overturned. 20 JOHN OF LANCASTER
Good morrow, cousin Warwick, good morrow. HUMPHREY OF GLOUCESTER, THOMAS OF CLARENCE Good morrow, cousin. JOHN OF LANCASTER
We meet like men that had forgot to speak. WARWICK
We do remember, but our argument
Is all too heavy to admit much talk. 25 JOHN OF LANCASTER
Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy. CHIEF JUSTICE
Peace be with us, lest we be heavier. HUMPHREY OF GLOUCESTER
O, good my lord, you have lost a friend indeed,
And I dare swear you borrow not that face
Of seeming sorrow; it is sure your own. 30 JOHN OF LANCASTER, to the Chief Justice
Though no man be assured what grace to find,
You stand in coldest expectation.
I am the sorrier; would ’twere otherwise. THOMAS OF CLARENCE
Well, you must now speak Sir John Falstaff fair,
Which swims against your stream of quality. 35 CHIEF JUSTICE
Sweet princes, what I did I did in honor,
Led by th’ impartial conduct of my soul;
And never shall you see that I will beg
A ragged and forestalled remission.
If truth and upright innocency fail me, 40
I’ll to the king my master that is dead
And tell him who hath sent me after him. | Prince John, Gloucester, and Warwick enter and Warwick says he wishes Hal were more like his brothers. Warwick is also worried about what will happen now that Henry's dead. He especially feels sorry for the Lord Chief Justice. When Gloucester chimes in that the LCJ will probably have to be nice to Falstaff now, the Lord Chief Justice says he'd die before he would cow-tow to the likes of Falstaff. |
Enter the Prince, as Henry V, and Blunt. WARWICK Here comes the Prince. CHIEF JUSTICE
Good morrow, and God save your Majesty. PRINCE
This new and gorgeous garment majesty 45
Sits not so easy on me as you think.—
Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear.
This is the English, not the Turkish court;
Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,
But Harry Harry. Yet be sad, good brothers, 50
For, by my faith, it very well becomes you.
Sorrow so royally in you appears
That I will deeply put the fashion on
And wear it in my heart. Why then, be sad.
But entertain no more of it, good brothers, 55
Than a joint burden laid upon us all.
For me, by heaven, I bid you be assured,
I’ll be your father and your brother too.
Let me but bear your love, I’ll bear your cares.
Yet weep that Harry’s dead, and so will I, 60
But Harry lives that shall convert those tears
By number into hours of happiness. BROTHERS
We hope no otherwise from your Majesty. | Prince Hal enters—er—make that King Henry V. Prince Hal notices that his brothers look sad about their dead father and worried about what kind of a king he will be. He puts their worries to rest by promising to take care of them like a father and a brother. |
PRINCE
You all look strangely on me. To the Chief Justice.
And you most. 65
You are, I think, assured I love you not. CHIEF JUSTICE
I am assured, if I be measured rightly,
Your Majesty hath no just cause to hate me. PRINCE
No? How might a prince of my great hopes forget
So great indignities you laid upon me? 70
What, rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison
Th’ immediate heir of England? Was this easy?
May this be washed in Lethe and forgotten? | Prince Hal then turns to the LCJ and notes that the poor guy is looking a little stressed out. Hal also guesses that the LCJ thinks Hal doesn't like him. The LCJ responds in a dignified way – he says he's pretty sure Hal doesn't have any "just cause" to hate him. For a moment, Hal acts as though he does have a reason to hate the guy – the LCJ once threw him in jail, after all. Is Hal just supposed to forget that? |
CHIEF JUSTICE
I then did use the person of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me. 75
And in th’ administration of his law,
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your Highness pleasèd to forget my place,
The majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the King whom I presented, 80
And struck me in my very seat of judgment,
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority
And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland, 85
To have a son set your decrees at nought?
To pluck down justice from your awful bench?
To trip the course of law and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person?
Nay more, to spurn at your most royal image 90
And mock your workings in a second body?
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;
Be now the father and propose a son,
Hear your own dignity so much profaned,
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted, 95
Behold yourself so by a son disdained,
And then imagine me taking your part
And in your power soft silencing your son.
After this cold considerance, sentence me,
And, as you are a king, speak in your state 100
What I have done that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege’s sovereignty. | The Lord Chief Justice replies that it was his job to uphold and administer the law in the name of King Henry IV. The Lord Chief Justice is the king's representative. So, when Hal boxed him on the ears, it was as if Hal had boxed his father, the king, on the ears. Therefore, it was the LCJ's duty to punish Hal for offending the king. The LCJ insists that he would do the exact same thing if he were Hal's Lord Chief Justice. That is, he'd do everything in his power to uphold the law and the dignity of the new king. |
PRINCE
You are right, justice, and you weigh this well.
Therefore still bear the balance and the sword.
And I do wish your honors may increase 105
Till you do live to see a son of mine
Offend you and obey you as I did.
So shall I live to speak my father’s words:
“Happy am I that have a man so bold
That dares do justice on my proper son; 110
And not less happy, having such a son
That would deliver up his greatness so
Into the hands of justice.” You did commit me,
For which I do commit into your hand
Th’ unstainèd sword that you have used to bear, 115
With this remembrance: that you use the same
With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit
As you have done ’gainst me. There is my hand. They clasp hands. You shall be as a father to my youth,
My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear, 120
And I will stoop and humble my intents
To your well-practiced wise directions.—
And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you:
My father is gone wild into his grave,
For in his tomb lie my affections, 125
And with his spirits sadly I survive
To mock the expectation of the world,
To frustrate prophecies, and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my seeming. The tide of blood in me 130
Hath proudly flowed in vanity till now.
Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea,
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods
And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
Now call we our high court of parliament, 135
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank with the best-governed nation;
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us, 140
To the Chief Justice. In which you, father, shall
have foremost hand.
Our coronation done, we will accite,
As I before remembered, all our state.
And, God consigning to my good intents, 145
No prince nor peer shall have just cause to say
God shorten Harry’s happy life one day. They exit. | Then Hal shocks everyone around him when he says the LCJ is absolutely right and that he wants him to keep his job. What's more, he hopes the LCJ will live long enough to see Hal's own sons. And, if Hal has a kid that's as rotten as he was, he hopes the LCJ will put him in his place too.
Hal admires the LCJ's impartial spirit and, offering his hand, embraces the LCJ as a "father" and a most trusted advisor. Hal also promises his brothers that his "wild" behavior is a thing of the past – he's buried his wild ways along with the king's dead body. Hal also says he is now ready to defy the expectations of the world – even though everyone expects him to be a lousy king, he's going to prove them wrong, just as he promised. (Recall that, back in Henry IV Part 1, Hal told us he was just pretending to be bad so he could stage his "glittering" "reformation," which would "show more goodly and attract more eyes / Than that which [had] no foil to set it off" (Part 1, 1.2.29). In other words, Hal's coronation would be a whole lot more dramatic if it were to look like Hal had transformed from a wild child to a noble king.) Hal says he will soon call Parliament to order so he can choose his counsel and proceed to ensure that England is well governed. With the help of the Lord Chief Justice, Hal will rule in such a way that nobody will ever regret his reign. |