Hotspur and Falstaff in “Henry IV Part 1” have strikingly opposite personalities. They are two extremes in the play. Their conceptions of honor are very different, and it is surprising how much it affects their behaviors and actions, and how is affects how they stand at the end of the play. Hotspur, although considered a villain in the play by some, represents the honorable, moral and principled individual. Falstaff contrasts this as being lighthearted, lazy, and selfish and without morals.
Falstaff has a very negative view on honor. It means nothing to him. “What is honor? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died o’ Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Tis insensible then? Yea, to the dead. But will it now live with the living? No.” (page 1222, line 133). He sees no point in living for honor if you only receive it after you die, when you cannot enjoy it. “Therefore I’ll [have] none of it” he concludes (line 141). Moreover, you can actually see in his attitude throughout the play that he does “have none of it.” I found that because of his lack of honor and his unwillingness to live by it, he is very selfish and unmoral.
Hotspur, on the other hand, strives and fights for his honor. King Henry shows ingratitude towards Hotspur as a knight. He is angry that Hotspur does not hand over any of the captives that the he had won in battle, and Hotspur sees this demand as ingratitude for his duties. This is not “honoring” to Hotspur, and so he goes into a rage and rebels against the king.
The battle scene of the play shows very vividly the character of Falstaff and his views of honor. Prior to the start of the skirmish when Falstaff gathers men for the king’s army, it is apparent that he does not take the battle seriously: “I have misused the King’s press damnably. I have got, in exchange for a hundred and fifty solders, three hundred and odd pounds” (page 1212, line 12). He earned this money by purposely attempting to conscript only “good householders” (line 15) that he knew would bribe their way out of enlistment. Because of his action, he comes out with only a few soldiers that are so battered and week that they look like “scarecrows” (line 38). When Prince Hal enters and inquires of this, Falstaff jests about it unashamed: “Tut, tut, good enough to toss, food for powder, food for powder; they’ll fill a pit as well as better” (page 1213 line 65). That he would rather take people’s money than contribute to the war I think we can agree is very unmoral, and not honoring in the least.
Not only is Falstaff very selfish but he is also cowardly. You can see this in many places in the play. First, he pleads with Prince Hal to protect him in battle: “Hal, if thou see me down in the battle and bestride me, so; ‘tis a point in friendship” (page 1222, line121). Later after the battle starts, Falstaff is in a soliloquy where he mentions his fear of battle and death: “God keep lead out of me! I need no more weight than mine own bowels” (page 1226, line 33). The “lead” he refers to could only mean the sword or bullets. He is praying that he should not die. Prince Hal then enters and sees Falstaff idle while “many a nobleman lies stark and stiff under the hoofs of vaunting enemies, whose deaths are yet unreveng’d” (page 1227, line 42). His lack of will to fight for his own people and even his own friend Prince Hal I find very unmoral, and certainly not honoring. Hotspur on the other hand does not show a fear of death. Even after things seem to go badly for the rebels – for instance his father becomes sick and is not able to help, and Glyndwr is not able to assemble his troops fast enough to join in the battle – Hotspur does not lose a bit of courage. Instead he looks at the bright side and declares how much more magnificent it will be when they overthrow the king without the help of his father (page 1210). This I find this very honoring in Hotspur.
After Prince Hal finds Falstaff idle, he asks him to give him his gun. Falstaff then humorously hands Prince Hal instead a bottle of sack telling him it could “sack a city” (page 1227, line 54). This just shows how unserious he is even at critical times. Likewise, while Falstaff is quick to make fun, Hotspur on the other hand is quick to get angry. He is not one to laugh. Instead, he is very serious – the very opposite of Falstaff. This shows when King Henry demanded that Hotspur hand over the prisoners that he had captured. Not only does Hotspur refuse the king’s demand, but also he gets so furious that he jumps to the decision of rebelling against the king.
When Falstaff finally is attacked after standing around cowardly, he fakes his death. This action can be interpreted from his soliloquy earlier. He was faced with the choices of possibly dying in battle against Douglas, but doing so honorably, or faking his death, guaranteeing him life. Faking deaths, running away, or anything done to avoid combat when in a battle was considered un-honoring in those days as it still is today. Falstaff, believing that there is no real point in honor, decides to fake his death. Because of that he lived. Hotspur, on the other hand, when fighting Prince Hal, had very different feelings. Prince Hal says before the fight, “And all the budding honors on thy crest / I’ll crop to make a garland for my head” (page 1230, line 73). Prince Hal is threatening to claim Hotspur’s honor by killing him. It was a true battle of honor. Hotspur refuses to run away or fake a death as Falstaff did, and in doing so, he loses, and dies by the hand of Prince Hal. However, because of the choice he made, I think we can agree he died very honorably.
The contrasts between Falstaff and Hotspur are striking. Their conceptions of honor give them very different attitudes and it even decided each one’s fate. Falstaff lived because he faked his death dishonorably. Hotspur, however, died because he chose to be honorable in a battle of honor. If Falstaff and Hotspur had different attitudes towards honor, perhaps the story would have unfolded differently. It is interesting however, isn’t it, how their perceptions of honor decided their very fate?

Works Cited

• Last, first. “The First Part of Henry the Fourth.” Connections, Literature for Compositions. Quentin Miller and Julia Nash. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008. 1145-1234.