This play seriously changed the way I view Henry the Fourth Part 1, and I don’t know if I like it. In Part 1 Hal was a fun prince, giving the audience the back and forth banter we want from a Shakespearian play, and I loved him and Falstaff’s relationship. Now in Part 2 all characters are at once both stressed and conniving, Falstaff and the boys’ banter becomes overdone and frustrating, and the traditional history play themes of power and personal duality dominate over the comedy-like dialogue that made me enjoy Part 1 in the first place.
Attempting to cling to the comedy in these plays has spurned me; I must learn to accept that the English history plays are just inherently depressing.