and thus is taking his time before becoming the serious man he will one day have to be. In this sense, he is a mixture of present and future--present in his behavior specifically because he is the future of England and is holding back rather than taking his place in that future world.
Sir John Falstaff is very much a man of the present, giving himself over to all the pleasures of the moment--strong drink, good food, and women. He is a knight of the realm, but he does not act like one and is looked down upon by others of the peerage, with the exception of Hal. Indeed, Falstaff takes great delight in the fact that the future king spends his time with him, and this is so in spite of the way Hal treats him most of the time. As a sort of wayward knight, wayward in the sense that he does not care for custom or the expectations of society, Falstaff is in effect rejecting the past that produced those conceptions of how the peerage should behave and is instead dedicating himself only to the moment, with little concern for past or future.
Hotspur, or Henry Percy, is the leader of the northern rebels and serves very much as a contrast to young Hal, for the role Hotspur plays in leading the English troops and in being the hero of the hour is the role that the king would have for his son, if his son showed any interest. As it is, Hotspur is the embodiment of English tradition and is dedicated to battle. He is also somewhat impetuous in his actions, yet he is courageous, loyal, and always honorable. He is the bridge between past and future, embodying
...