Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Father Figures in 1 Henry IV
In William Shakespeare’s 1 Henry IV, Falstaff and King Henry IV share father-figure relationships with Henry “Hal,” Prince of Wales. The former, a drunk and cavalier knight, acts as a surrogate father to the prince, while the latter, a determined and distanced monarch, is his blood. Yet, who is the better father-figure to Hal? Although Falstaff and Prince Henry share a strong, quasi father-son relationship, the former’s manifestation of the tavern atmosphere, venality and dishonor are obstacles to the Prince’s goals; King Henry IV, on the other hand, is the better father-figure because he motivates his son to realize his ambitions, and embodies the setting of the court and the monarchy in which the Prince belongs and will one day inherit.
According to Professor David Ball, “A play’s conflict is between what someone wants and what hinders the want: the obstacle” and “an obstacle is any resistance to [one] having what [one] wants” (28). Prince Henry has three main and interrelated “wants” in the play: to restore his image, kill Hotspur and become King. He tells us from the beginning that he wishes to avenge his wanton behavior in the tavern:
So, when this loose behavior I throw off / And pay the debt I never promisèd, / By how much better than my word I am, / By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes (Shakespeare 14).

This early declaration in soliloquy establishes the prodigal son’s primary goal and the overall trajectory for the story: to return home from his wayward departure of responsibility. Related to that objective is killing Hotspur, who has organized a rebellion against the King. After being rebuked by his father in Act III, Hal seizes the opportunity to begin his reformation with a rousing o...

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...som,” cannot be a proper father to Hal because he is a corrupt, fat and cowardly knight who acts as one of the major burdens to the prodigal son’s return (Shakespeare 79, 115). The Prince’s actions, which Professor Ball argues “[explain] ... what the character ... is willing to do to satisfy the want,” show that he desires to follow the royal example of his real father: he fights and kills Hotspur, remains at the King’s side and plans to march to Wales to eliminate Glendower and the rest of the rebels (63). The Prince no longer imitates, but embodies the royal sun bursting from the “contagious clouds.”

Works Cited
Ball, David. Backwards and Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1983. Print.

Shakespeare, William, and Claire McEachern. The First Part of King Henry the Fourth. New York: Penguin, 2000. Print.