SOURCE: "Henry IV: Counterfeit Kings and Creative Succession," in Metadrama in Shakespeare's Henriad: Richard II to Henry V, University of California Press, 1979, pp. 47-67.

In the following essay, Calderwood assesses Shakespeare 's use of metaphoric language to explore the nature of kingship in Henry IV, concluding that Shakespeare emphasizes the redemptive value of lineal succession through Hal, and that Prince Hal's restoration of English royal succession similarly re-establishes verbal creativity in the English language.

At the battle of Shrewsbury Field the ferocious but somewhat befuddled Douglas discovers a superabundance of kings, or at least of kingly clothes, for "The King," as Hotspur informs him, "hath many marching in his coats" (5.3.25). Not gifted with Falstaff s unerring instinct for registering the presence of the true prince, Douglas must resort to trial-and-error empiricism:

Now, by my sword, I will kill all his coats.
 I'll murder all his wardrobe, piece by...