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Essay Archive - Falstaff's Role in Henry IV, Part One
Falstaff's Role in Henry IV, Part One
Henry IV, Part One, has always been one of the most popular of
Shakespeare's plays, maybe because of Falstaff. Much of the early criticism
I found concentrated on Falstaff and so will I. This may begin in the
eighteenth century with Samuel Johnson. For Johnson, the Prince is a "young
man of great abilities and violent passions," and Hotspur is a "rugged
soldier," but "Falstaff, unimitated, unimitable Falstaff, how shall I
describe thee? Thou compound of sense and vice . . . a character loaded
with faults, and with faults which produce contempt . .....
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