Hotspur reads a letter from an English noble whose aid he has solicited. Falstaff quickly beats a retreat.Īgain the action shifts to the main plot. Falstaff, forced to proceed on foot, is the leader of the robbers, who then are set upon by the disguised prince and Poins and robbed in turn. When the victims, a group of travelers, approach, Poins and the prince use an excuse to separate themselves from Falstaff and the others. Arrangements are completed for the robbery at Gadshill during the night. The comic subplot now gains center stage. Then, aided by Welsh and Scottish forces, the latter led by Douglas, they will war against the usurper, King Henry IV. They will make peace with Glendower and gain his support and that of Mortimer. The Percies, deeply resenting the fact that the man they helped to the throne now intends to enforce absolute obedience, begin to plot their revolt. He sternly scolds them and especially demands to be told why the ranking Scottish prisoners taken by Hotspur have not been turned over to the Crown. Once more at the court, King Henry confronts the Percies-Northumberland, Worcester, and Hotspur. The main plot takes precedence at this point.
Alone, Prince Hal soliloquizes, letting the audience know that, although he now chooses to enjoy himself in riotous company, he has no illusions about the character of his associates and will redeem himself publicly at the proper time. In the initial episode, Hal joins with Poins, Bardolph, and Peto in a plan to jokingly deceive Falstaff, contriving to have him participate in a robbery at Gadshill, be robbed in turn, and finally exposed as a coward and liar. The comic subplot deals most amusingly with this same Falstaff and his companions, including Prince Hal, as he is appropriately called in this setting. Yet this especially gives the harassed king reason to lament the dereliction of his son and heir, Prince Henry, who persistently has avoided the court and public responsibility and spends his time in the company of the elderly, high-spirited Sir John Falstaff, as well as the lowly patrons of the Boar's-Head Tavern in Eastcheap. But there is one piece of good news: English forces led by young Hotspur have defeated the Scots at Holmedon and have captured the renowned Earl of Douglas. He thus is unable to fulfill his earlier vow to lead a crusade to the Holy Land.
Henry is presented first as a ruler who has been beset with troubles from the start: civil unrest in England, attacks by Scottish forces moving across the northern border, and the defeat and capture of the still-loyal Mortimer by Glendower. They are joined by the Scottish Earl of Douglas, Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, claimant to the throne, and Owen Glendower, a Welsh noble. The main plot of Henry IV, Part 1 is about the rebellion of the Percies, the northern baronial family who had helped Henry depose Richard II and become king.
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