SOURCE: Quinones, Ricardo J. “The Growth of Hal.” In William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, edited by Harold Bloom, pp. 71-95. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.

In the following essay, originally published in 1972, Quinones traces the development of Hal's character.

The shadow of Richard II hangs over the waywardness of Hal in 1 Henry IV. The young prince is threatened with the same historical isolation and discontinuity. In their critical confrontation, his father the King accuses him of straying “quite from the light of all thy ancestors.” His place on the council has been “rudely lost” to his younger brother. “The hope and expectation of thy time / Is ruined.” He then startles his son's self-possession by declaring that Percy is more like his true heir, and that he (Hal) is more like Richard.

[Percy] hath more worldly interest to the state Than thou, the shadow of succession. 

(3.2.98-99)

To be...