2011-10-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

TheSons Also Rise

Twoprinces, one sullen and moody, one full of youthful rebellion: Hamlet—Danish,age thirty, an introspective and solitary man. Prince Hal—English, no olderthan fifteen—an extroverted party boy. Hamlet (in Shakespeare’s play of thesame name) has had a proper upbringing, while Prince Hal (in King Henry IV, Part 1) is rebellingagainst the establishment, (his father King Henry IV). Both have come to theirposition in usurpulous circumstances, both are disinterested in the task athand—Hamlet does not show any interest in the day-to-day workings of hisfamily’s kingdom or life in the castle. Hal is not even in his castle. Hamletis alone in his shell of grief, while stepfather/ Uncle Claudius is enjoyingthe spoils of "[m]y crown, mine own ambition, and my queen" (Hamlet 3.3.59). Hal is off drinking sackwith his thieving friends for most of the play, as King Henry laments: “I … /See riot and dishonor stain [his] brow” (KingHenry IV 1.1.83, 84)

Halwas twelve when his father usurped the throne from King Richard H. Theeducation of a prince is different than that of a Duke or Lord. Not only wouldHal (had he been born heir to the throne) have an academic education, he wouldhave been instructed daily on his role as prince and future King (“As the King,you walk ten paces in front, nobody should stand taller than you," etc). Halhad already been hanging out with Falstaff before he became Prince—no one witha direct bloodline to the crown would be caught dead with him—and that"fat-kidneyed rascal" is too fun of a habit to break. For a boy todrop all of his old friends and start acting in a different manner—just toplease his father—that doesn’t happen overnight. Hal sees a moat ahead called"dignity," and he will eventually cross the drawbridge, leaving hisold cronies to be eaten by crocodiles; now he just wants to have fun. Hisfather’s not in danger—Hal’s kingship is a long way off—he thinks. Hamletspends his time in introspection (note the soliloquies; he has six versus Hal,who has only two). He fights his revenge battle on his own; the fewer peoplewho know he is not really mad, the better, and he is more introverted than Hal.

Halwants to party with his friends, exchange verbal assaults; especially with hisold friend and father figure, Sir John Falstaff, who happens to be Prince Hal’svice:

PRINCE This san-

guine coward, this bed-presser, thishorse-back-

breaker, this huge hill of flesh—

FALSTAFF‘Sblood, you starveling, you elfskin, you

dried neat’s tongue, you bull’s pizzle,you stockfish!

O, for breath to utter what is likethee!

PRINCEWell, breathe awhile, and then to it again, and

when thou hast tired thyself in basecomparisons,

hear me speak but this. (2.4.251–261)

He loves plotting apractical joke or two on his friends; “I have a jest to execute that I cannot /manage alone,” Poins announces in Act 1, scene 2 (168–169). After some detailsof the plan are made clear, Hal jumps right in; "Well, I’ll go withthee" (198).

Hamlet, on the other hand, is anintrovert who would rather read than join in his family’s festivities. While heis inclined to introversion, Hamlet naturally knows that he needs to force himselfto be more extroverted; as king he will have to interact socially with manydifferent people—his circumstances prove the contrary—“I am dead, Horatio"(Hamlet, 5.2.365).

Hal,a natural extrovert, knows that he eventually will have to grow up and be aconscientious King:

Iknow you all, and will awhile uphold

Theunyoked humor of your idleness.

Yetherein will I imitate the sun,

Whodoth permit the bass contagious clouds

Tosmother up his beauty from the world,

.. .

And,like bright metal on a sullen ground,

Myreformation, glitt’ring o’er my fault,

Shouldshow more goodly and attract more eyes,

Thanthat which hath no foil to set it off

(King Henry IV 1.2.201–206, 219–222)

He’ll need more thana simple conscience; for he’s going to pass judgment on commoners who have committedthe same petty crimes he has done, as well as deciding the fate of his formercronies:

FALSTAFF If to be old and

merrya sin, then many an old host that I know is

damned....

Jack Falstaff, banish not

himthy Harry’s company, …

Banish plump jack,and banish

allthe world.

PRINCEI do, I will.

(King Henry IV 2.4.488–489, 495–499)

Care for a littleforeshadowing, anyone?

Hamlet,aged thirty when his father is murdered, the prime age for a King—but the crowngoes to Claudius, leaving Hamlet to revert to a passive-aggressive plot toreclaim the throne:

Here,as before, never, so help you mercy,

Howstrange or odd some’er I bear myself

(AsI perchance hereafter shall think meet

Toput an antic disposition on)

(Hamlet, 1.5.189–192)

Hal, being ateenager, sees no rush to adopt princely (indeed, kingly) behavior. With noknowledge of the threat to his father’s throne; he’s living life now, before hehas all the royal responsibilities to contend with. He cannot bring himself tosay the royal "we," as his father does in Act 1, scene 1: "Weare impressed and engaged to fight—” (HenryIV, 21).

Hamlet’sonly behavior model (his father), is dead. Why would anyone choose to look upto people they refer to as a “villain" (Hamlet 1.5.13), and a "most pernicious woman" (Hamlet 1.5.12)? Is Hamlet going to go askhis parents for advice on anything? No. If he thinks of his parents that way,the only direction to go is toward solitude. “Most people experiencing . . . mourning require both permission andencouragement (verbal and nonverbal) to mourn because of the traditionallyunacceptable thoughts and feelings that become aroused and the personal andsocial discomfort such an experience brings. For many mourners experiencingdifficulties, there is less need for permission and encouragement than foractual prescription. They often require an authority figure to inform them thatthey need to mourn” (Rando 7). The court in Denmark is very business as usual,despite the fact that usurper Claudius is king, and the legitimate heir issitting at his side at the table. This is very unsettling for Hamlet, and willbecome part of his personality from then on: ““very seldom does one considerthat loss . . . [of] a [loved one] . . . is part of development and contributesto it” (Schoenberg 4).” Psychologically he is stuck at age thirty until heprocesses his grief; for Hamlet this includes fulfilling his need for retributory action against Claudius.

Onemight say these men are as different as night and day. Looking at theirpersonalities, yes they are. Circumstantially, however, they are a lot alike.How these two princes become the people they are is due to circumstances beyondtheir control. Hamlet, reeling from the murder of his father and subsequentmarriage of his mother to his uncle, whereas Hal spends twelve years growing upto the manor born, yet ends up to the kingdom born, as his father, Henry usurpsthe crown from his cousin, Richard II. Both Princes are disinterested in TheRoyal Life. Hal shows youthful disinterest and rebellion, whereas Hamlet useshis to hide his plot of revenge. The truth comes out in each character’ssoliloquies: “Now I might do it now he is a-praying, / And nowI’ll do ‘t {He draws his sword}"(Hamlet 3.3.77–78). Hamlet is not alltalk; he does have the guts to killClaudius—maybe.

Hal,however, schemes a less life-threatening plan, as he delivers an impromptueulogy for the “dead” Falstaff:

What,old acquaintance, could not all this flesh

Keepin a little life? Poor jack, farewell.

Icould have better spared a better man.

O,I should have a heavy miss of thee

IfI were much in love with vanity.

(KingHenry IV 5.4.104–108)

Hal transformed from playboy to prince. Hewill not "miss" Falstaff as much as he would have, had this happened,say, in a tavern. The boy moved on. A prince needs to learn how to be king.

Interestingly, when Hal is speaking tothe audience, he uses verse, a technique Shakespeare employs to distinguishroyal characters from others — though he talks to his friends in a casual way. “Brian Vickers writes that when Halchanges to Henry, changing from prose to verse, he is "stepping up to verse,’ and ‘a change of mediumwhich always corresponds to his reclamation of dignity’ (emphasis added, 99).Characters step up as does language” (Tate 91). Using this technique,Shakespeare lets the audience know that Hal changed perspectives;he knows that he must grow up and be King; this fact is unavoidable.

Hamletalso speaks in verse when talking to the King and Queen, “But I have thatwithin me passes show, / These but the trappings and the suits of woe" (Hamlet,1.2.88439). Yet he talks to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in prose:

Owonderful son that can so ’stonish a moth-

er.But is there no sequel at the heels of this

mother’sadmiration? Impart. (Hamlet 3.2.356-357)

Hamlet, schooled inthe ways of royalty from birth, also knows how to speak correctly. Etiquette dissipateswhen young noblemen converse with friends.

Inthe end, Hamlet and Prince Hal are self-fulfilling prophesies of what theirfathers say they are. King Henry IV laments that Prince Hal (rather thanHotspur) is his son, he wishes that

… it could be proved

Thatsome night-tripping fairy had exchanged

Incradle-clothes our children where they lay,

Andcalled mine “Percy,” his “Plantagenet”!

ThenI would have his Harry, and he mine.

(King Henry IV 1.2.85–89)

For most of the play,Hal is fighting an uphill battle against his father’s notion that his son isthe perpetual ingrate who will always have "dishonor stain[ed] [on his]brow" (1.1.84). Prince Hal throws up his hands in a “What the Hell, I’lljust do what I want" fashion; which ends only when he realizes that hisfamily is under siege. Claudius’ view of Hamlet isn’t desirable, either. Atfirst he seems confused as to why “the clouds still hang on thee” (Hamlet1.2.68). Hamlet responds, "Not so, my lord; I am too muchin the sun" (Hamlet 1.2.69).

Thesepuns on son/ sun and knight/ night come up in King Henry IV too; as when Falstaff describes a thief’s lifestyle in Act 1, scene 2:

. . . we

thattake purses go by the moon and the seven

stars,and not by Phebus, he, that wand’ring

knightso far. (King Henry IV 14-17)

And as Hal revealslater,

hereinI will imitate the sun,

Whodoth permit the base contagious clouds

Tosmother up his beauty from the world,

(King Henry IV 1.2.204–206)

He knows that hisreputation will precede him when he becomes king, but he will have put thislife in a little locked box—to be opened only in a nostalgia emergency. So whathappens to our two princes? Do they ever come out from behind their respective cloudsto shine? Unfortunately for Hamlet, the answer is no. But Fortinbras letsDenmark have a wonderful speculation of his “most royal” (Hamlet5.2.444) outcome, had he lived. And Hal? Well that'sanother whole paper.

WorksCited

Schoenberg,Bernard, Irwin Gerber, Alfred Wiener, Austin H. Kutscher, David Peretz, andArthur C. Carr, Ed. Bereavement, Its Psychosocial Aspects. Columbia University Press. NY, NY. 1975. Web.23 Oct. 2011.

Shakespeare,William. Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine, ed., The New Folger Library: Hamlet; New York, New York: WashingtonSquare Press, 1992.

Shakespeare,William. Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine, ed., The New Folger Library: Henry IV, Part; New York, New York:Washington Square Press, 1994.

Shakespeare,William. Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine, ed., The New Folger Library: The History of Henry IV Part 1. NewYork, New York: Washington Square Press, 1994.

Tate, Joseph, Shakespeare,Prose and Verse: Unreadable Forms, Universityof Washington, 2005.

Questions, comments, concerns?