l looks dubious in the eyes of his public and in the eyes of his father. However, Hal himself is aware of his demeanor and public persona. In fact, he tells us that his present company and actions are part of a methodical plan to partly debase himself so that when he is ready to assume the duties of the crown he will shine all the more: “I know you all, and will awhile uphold/the unyoked humor of your idleness./Yet herein will I imitate the sun,/Who doth permit the base contagious clouds/To smother up his beauty from the world,/That, when he please again to be himself,/Being wanted, he may be more wond’red at/By breaking through the foul and ugly mists/Of vapors that did seem to strangle him” (I. i. 199-207).
While Hal may profess that his common actions are part of an overall development plan, we fail to see this plan come to fulfillment even as late as II Henry IV when Hal is temporarily jailed for hitting the Lord Chief Justice. Where Falstaff is concerned, Hal enjoys the comedic bombast and rotund physique of his friend, especially when it comes time to lambast Sir John. In fact, one of the funniest scenes in the play is when Hal and Falstaff have an extemporaneous play with Falstaff acting as Prince Hal and Prince Hal taking on the role of his father Henry IV. In this scene we not only see Shakespeare reverse the relationship between Falstaff and Hal but we see a foreshadowing of a scene later in the play wherein the actual King Henry will chastise his errant son.
Prince: The complaints I hear of thee are grievous.
Falstaff: S’blood, my lord, they are false! Nay, I’ll tickle ye for a young prince, i’
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