1 Henry IV (Act 3)

Part 1 of Henry IV – Act 3

In Act 3 of 1 Henry IV, we see a lot of arguing and questioning going on between several of the characters throughout each scene. However, what I noticed most was that most of this came in light of the questioning of morality for different characters such as Hotspur and Glyndwr, King Henry and Prince Harry, and Falstaff and Harry. In the first scene of Act 3, Hotspur and Glyndwr have an argument about whether or not Glyndwr can perform magic and control the devil in which Hotspur questions this through saying, “I think there’s no man speaketh better Welsh.” (3.1.48) It is when Hotspur speaks the latter line that we find him questioning the words coming out of Glyndwr’s own mouth and thus questioning Glyndwr’s morality by wondering whether or not he is lying or if he could be telling the truth. However, it seems to me that Hotspur certainly does not believe him and, therefore, is automatically calling him a liar and dismissing his ridiculous remarks about controlling the devil.

Scene two of Act 3 also brings about the questioning of morality as we see King Henry speak to his son Harry about his place as prince within the kingdom. Henry talks of how Harry is ultimately no better than the last king, Richard, who was overthrown by Henry himself because Harry has already gotten himself banished from the Council for which Henry says, “Thy place in Council thou hast rudely lost—“ (3.2.32) Here it is understood that Henry says Harry has dishonorably discharged himself from the government through violence, and in this moment we see the disappointment from Henry grow ever more. However, it is also here that I read this line to have an arguably angry tone in which Henry can’t help but wonder what set of morals his son actually does have, and whether or not he will live up to the rest of them.

Finally, in scene three of Act 3 Falstaff again enters the picture and is talking with the Hostess of the restaurant about who pick-pocketed him. Immediately we see Falstaff question the Hostess about lying and even tell her that she has lied to his face without any remorse. However, Prince Harry then enters into the scene and speaks with Falstaff about this incident as well, in which Harry ultimately admits that he was the one to pickpocket him. Not too far into the scene we see Falstaff openly accuse the morals of the Hostess as he says, “There’s no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune, nor no more truth in thee than in a drawn fox;…” (3.3.101-102) We also see Falstaff wonder about Harry at the end of the scene as he finds out that Harry was the thief and speculatively questions Harry’s motives, especially due to the fact that he is of royal blood. Overall, I would have to say that there are a lot of complications dealing with morality throughout Act 3, and this seems to be the connector for each scene.