| ACT V SCENE IV | Another part of the field. |
| [
Alarum. Excursions. Enter PRINCE HENRY, LORD JOHN
OF LANCASTER, and EARL OF WESTMORELAND
] |
| KING HENRY IV | I prithee, |
| Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much. |
| Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him. |
| LANCASTER | Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too. |
| PRINCE HENRY | I beseech your majesty, make up, | 5 |
| Lest your retirement do amaze your friends. |
| KING HENRY IV | I will do so. |
| My Lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent. |
| WESTMORELAND | Come, my lord, I'll lead you to your tent. |
| PRINCE HENRY | Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help: | 10 |
| And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive |
| The Prince of Wales from such a field as this, |
| Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on, |
| and rebels' arms triumph in massacres! |
| LANCASTER | We breathe too long: come, cousin Westmoreland, | 15 |
| Our duty this way lies; for God's sake come. |
| [Exeunt LANCASTER and WESTMORELAND] |
| PRINCE HENRY | By God, thou hast deceived me, Lancaster; |
| I did not think thee lord of such a spirit: |
| Before, I loved thee as a brother, John; |
| But now, I do respect thee as my soul. | 20 |
| KING HENRY IV | I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point |
| With lustier maintenance than I did look for |
| Of such an ungrown warrior. |
| PRINCE HENRY | O, this boy |
| Lends mettle to us all! | 25 |
| [Exit] |
| [Enter DOUGLAS] |
| EARL OF DOUGLAS | Another king! they grow like Hydra's heads: |
| I am the Douglas, fatal to all those |
| That wear those colours on them: what art thou, |
| That counterfeit'st the person of a king? |
| KING HENRY IV | The king himself; who, Douglas, grieves at heart | 30 |
| So many of his shadows thou hast met |
| And not the very king. I have two boys |
| Seek Percy and thyself about the field: |
| But, seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily, |
| I will assay thee: so, defend thyself. | 35 |
| EARL OF DOUGLAS | I fear thou art another counterfeit; |
| And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king: |
| But mine I am sure thou art, whoe'er thou be, |
| And thus I win thee. |
| [
They fight. KING HENRY being in danger, PRINCE
HENRY enters
] |
| PRINCE HENRY | Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like | 40 |
| Never to hold it up again! the spirits |
| Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms: |
| It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee; |
| Who never promiseth but he means to pay. |
[They fight: DOUGLAS flies] |
| Cheerly, my lord how fares your grace? | 45 |
| Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succor sent, |
| And so hath Clifton: I'll to Clifton straight. |
| KING HENRY IV | Stay, and breathe awhile: |
| Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion, |
| And show'd thou makest some tender of my life, | 50 |
| In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me. |
| PRINCE HENRY | O God! they did me too much injury |
| That ever said I hearken'd for your death. |
| If it were so, I might have let alone |
| The insulting hand of Douglas over you, | 55 |
| Which would have been as speedy in your end |
| As all the poisonous potions in the world |
| And saved the treacherous labour of your son. |
| KING HENRY IV | Make up to Clifton: I'll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey. |
| [Exit] |
| [Enter HOTSPUR] |
| HOTSPUR | If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth. | 60 |
| PRINCE HENRY | Thou speak'st as if I would deny my name. |
| HOTSPUR | My name is Harry Percy. |
| PRINCE HENRY | Why, then I see |
| A very valiant rebel of the name. |
| I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy, | 65 |
| To share with me in glory any more: |
| Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere;
|
| Nor can one England brook a double reign, |
| Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales. |
| HOTSPUR | Nor shall it, Harry; for the hour is come | 70 |
| To end the one of us; and would to God |
| Thy name in arms were now as great as mine! |
| PRINCE HENRY | I'll make it greater ere I part from thee; |
| And all the budding honours on thy crest |
| I'll crop, to make a garland for my head. | 75 |
| HOTSPUR | I can no longer brook thy vanities. |
| [They fight] |
| [Enter FALSTAFF] |
| FALSTAFF | Well said, Hal! to it Hal! Nay, you shall find no |
| boy's play here, I can tell you. |
| [
Re-enter DOUGLAS; he fights with FALSTAFF,
who falls down as if he were dead, and exit
DOUGLAS. HOTSPUR is wounded, and falls
] |
| HOTSPUR | O, Harry, thou hast robb'd me of my youth! |
| I better brook the loss of brittle life | 80 |
| Than those proud titles thou hast won of me; |
| They wound my thoughts worse than sword my flesh: |
| But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool; |
| And time, that takes survey of all the world, |
| Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy, | 85 |
| But that the earthy and cold hand of death |
| Lies on my tongue: no, Percy, thou art dust |
| And food for-- |
| [Dies] |
| PRINCE HENRY | For worms, brave Percy: fare thee well, great heart! |
| Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk! | 90 |
| When that this body did contain a spirit, |
| A kingdom for it was too small a bound; |
| But now two paces of the vilest earth |
| Is room enough: this earth that bears thee dead |
| Bears not alive so stout a gentleman. | 95 |
| If thou wert sensible of courtesy, |
| I should not make so dear a show of zeal: |
| But let my favours hide thy mangled face; |
| And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself |
| For doing these fair rites of tenderness. | 100 |
| Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven! |
| Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave, |
| But not remember'd in thy epitaph! |
[He spieth FALSTAFF on the ground] |
| What, old acquaintance! could not all this flesh |
| Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell! | 105 |
| I could have better spared a better man: |
| O, I should have a heavy miss of thee, |
| If I were much in love with vanity! |
| Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day, |
| Though many dearer, in this bloody fray. | 110 |
| Embowell'd will I see thee by and by: |
| Till then in blood by noble Percy lie. |
| [Exit PRINCE HENRY] |
| FALSTAFF | [Rising up] Embowelled! if thou embowel me to-day,
|
| I'll give you leave to powder me and eat me too |
| to-morrow. 'Sblood,'twas time to counterfeit, or | 115 |
| that hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too. |
| Counterfeit? I lie, I am no counterfeit: to die, |
| is to be a counterfeit; for he is but the |
| counterfeit of a man who hath not the life of a man: |
| but to counterfeit dying, when a man thereby | 120 |
| liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and |
| perfect image of life indeed. The better part of |
| valour is discretion; in the which better part I |
| have saved my life.'Zounds, I am afraid of this |
| gunpowder Percy, though he be dead: how, if he | 125 |
| should counterfeit too and rise? by my faith, I am |
| afraid he would prove the better counterfeit. |
| Therefore I'll make him sure; yea, and I'll swear I |
| killed him. Why may not he rise as well as I? |
| Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me. | 130 |
| Therefore, sirrah, |
[Stabbing him] |
| with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me. |
| [Takes up HOTSPUR on his back] |
| [Re-enter PRINCE HENRY and LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER] |
| PRINCE HENRY | Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou flesh'd |
| Thy maiden sword. |
| LANCASTER | But, soft! whom have we here? | 135 |
| Did you not tell me this fat man was dead? |
| PRINCE HENRY | I did; I saw him dead, |
| Breathless and bleeding on the ground. Art |
| thou alive? |
| Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight? | 140 |
| I prithee, speak; we will not trust our eyes |
| Without our ears: thou art not what thou seem'st. |
| FALSTAFF | No, that's certain; I am not a double man: but if I |
| be not Jack Falstaff, then am I a Jack. There is Percy: |
[Throwing the body down] |
| if your father will do me any honour, so; if not, let | 145 |
| him kill the next Percy himself. I look to be either |
| earl or duke, I can assure you. |
| PRINCE HENRY | Why, Percy I killed myself and saw thee dead. |
| FALSTAFF | Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this world is given to |
| lying! I grant you I was down and out of breath; | 150 |
| and so was he: but we rose both at an instant and |
| fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be |
| believed, so; if not, let them that should reward |
| valour bear the sin upon their own heads. I'll take |
| it upon my death, I gave him this wound in the | 155 |
| thigh: if the man were alive and would deny it, |
| 'zounds, I would make him eat a piece of my sword. |
| LANCASTER | This is the strangest tale that ever I heard. |
| PRINCE HENRY | This is the strangest fellow, brother John. |
| Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back: | 160 |
| For my part, if a lie may do thee grace, |
| I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have. |
[A retreat is sounded] |
| The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ours. |
| Come, brother, let us to the highest of the field, |
| To see what friends are living, who are dead. | 165 |
| [Exeunt PRINCE HENRY and LANCASTER] |
| FALSTAFF | I'll follow, as they say, for reward. He that |
| rewards me, God reward him! If I do grow great, |
| I'll grow less; for I'll purge, and leave sack, and |
| live cleanly as a nobleman should do. |
| [Exit] |
1 Henry IV Overview (with theme analysis)