Act 5, Scene 5 — Henry IV, Part 2

The argument Near Westminster Abbey. Grooms strew rushes for the coronation procession. Falstaff has ridden through the night from Gloucestershire and arrives with Shallow, Pistol, and Bardolph to watch the new King pass. Falstaff is confident — even boastful — that Hal will signal his favour. When the King passes, Falstaff shouts his greeting. The King does not even speak to him; he tells the Chief Justice to deal with 'that vain man.' When Falstaff insists, the King delivers the rejection: 'I know thee not, old man.' He banishes Falstaff on pain of death from within ten miles of the royal person, with a small allowance for subsistence. The Chief Justice then sends Falstaff and all his company to the Fleet Prison. The play ends with Lancaster predicting war with France. The Epilogue promises Falstaff in Henry V — a promise Shakespeare will not keep.

Enter two Grooms, strewing rushes.

FIRST GROOM dialogue

More rushes, more rushes.

more rushes, more rushes.

SECOND GROOM dialogue

The trumpets have sounded twice.

the trumpets have sounded twice.

FIRST GROOM dialogue

’Twill be two o’clock ere they come from the coronation. Dispatch,

dispatch.

’Twill be two o’clock ere they come from the coronation. Dispatch, dispatch.

’twill two o’clock ere

[_Exeunt._]

Trumpets sound, and the King and his train pass over the stage. Enter

Falstaff, Shallow, Pistol, Bardolph and Page.

FALSTAFF dialogue

Stand here by me, Master Robert Shallow. I will make the King do you

grace. I will leer upon him as he comes by, and do but mark the

countenance that he will give me.

Stand here by me, Master Robert Shallow. I will make the King do you grace. I will leer upon him as he comes by, and do but mark the countenance that he will give me.

Stand here by me, Master Robert Shallow. I will make the King do you grace. I will leer upon him as he comes by, and do but mark the counten...

stand here me, master

Why it matters Falstaff's confidence is complete and heartbreaking. He is not only expecting recognition — he is planning to use it to benefit Shallow. He has not understood anything that has happened in scenes 5-2 through 5-4.

PISTOL dialogue

God bless thy lungs, good knight!

God bless your lungs, good knight!

god bless thy lungs, good

FALSTAFF dialogue

Come here, Pistol, stand behind me. O, if I had had time to have made

new liveries, I would have bestowed the thousand pound I borrowed of

you. But ’tis no matter, this poor show doth better. This doth infer

the zeal I had to see him.

Come here, Pistol, stand behind me. O, if I had had time to have made new liveries, I would have bestowed the thousand pound I borrowed of you. But ’tis no matter, this poor show does better. This does infer the zeal I had to see him.

Come here, Pistol, stand behind me. O, if I had had time to have made new liveries, I would have bestowed the thousand pound I borrowed of y...

come here, pistol, stand behind

SHALLOW dialogue

It doth so.

It does so.

doth so.

FALSTAFF dialogue

It shows my earnestness of affection—

shows earnestness

SHALLOW dialogue

It doth so.

It does so.

doth so.

FALSTAFF dialogue

My devotion—

devotion—

SHALLOW dialogue

It doth, it doth, it doth.

It does, it does, it does.

doth, doth,

FALSTAFF dialogue

As it were, to ride day and night, and not to deliberate, not to

remember, not to have patience to shift me—

As it were, to ride day and night, and not to deliberate, not to remember, not to have patience to shift me—

were, ride

SHALLOW dialogue

It is best, certain.

best, certain.

FALSTAFF dialogue

But to stand stained with travel, and sweating with desire to see him,

thinking of nothing else, putting all affairs else in oblivion, as if

there were nothing else to be done but to see him.

But to stand stained with travel, and sweating with desire to see him, thinking of nothing else, putting all affairs else in oblivion, as if there were nothing else to be done but to see him.

But to stand stained with travel, and sweating with desire to see him, thinking of nothing else, putting all affairs else in oblivion, as if...

but stand stained with

Why it matters There is genuine feeling here underneath the performance. Falstaff's love for Hal — whatever else it is — is real. The tragedy of the scene is not that a schemer is punished but that someone who genuinely loves the king is about to be told he is not known.

PISTOL dialogue

’Tis _semper idem_, for _obsque hoc nihil est;_ ’tis all in every part.

’tis _semper idem_, for _obsque

SHALLOW dialogue

’Tis so, indeed.

’tis so, indeed.

PISTOL ≋ verse dialogue

My knight, I will inflame thy noble liver,

And make thee rage.

Thy Doll, and Helen of thy noble thoughts,

Is in base durance and contagious prison,

Haled thither

By most mechanical and dirty hand.

Rouse up revenge from ebon den with fell Alecto’s snake,

For Doll is in. Pistol speaks nought but truth.

My knight, I will inflame your noble liver, And make you rage. your Doll, and Helen of your noble thoughts, Is in base durance and contagious prison, Haled thither By most mechanical and dirty hand. Rouse up revenge from ebon den with fell Alecto’s snake, For Doll is in. Pistol speaks nought but truth.

My knight, I will inflame your noble liver, And make you rage. your Doll, and Helen of your noble thoughts, Is in base durance and contagiou...

knight, will inflame

FALSTAFF dialogue

I will deliver her.

will deliver her.

[_Shouts within. The trumpets sound._]

PISTOL dialogue

There roar’d the sea, and trumpet-clangor sounds.

there roar’d the sea, and

Enter the King and his train, the Lord Chief Justice among them.

FALSTAFF dialogue

God save thy Grace, King Hal, my royal Hal!

God save your Grace, King Hal, my royal Hal!

god save thy grace, king

Why it matters The name 'Hal' — the private name, the tavern name — is the first thing that marks Falstaff's fatal misunderstanding. The king is not 'Hal' anymore. He hasn't been for several scenes. Falstaff is calling to a person who no longer exists.

PISTOL dialogue

The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal imp of fame!

The heavens you guard and keep, most royal imp of fame!

the heavens thee guard and

FALSTAFF dialogue

God save thee, my sweet boy!

God save you, my sweet boy!

god save thee, sweet

Why it matters This phrase — 'my sweet boy' — is the most intimate and revealing thing Falstaff says in the scene. It is what a parent says to a child, or what someone says to a person they have watched grow. It also exposes the presumption: this is not a relationship of equals.

KING dialogue

My Lord Chief Justice, speak to that vain man.

lord chief justice, speak

"" The King does not use Falstaff's name or title. 'That vain man' — a vain man is both self-regarding and empty, without substance. It is a category judgment, not a personal address.

Why it matters The King refusing to address Falstaff directly is the first blow. He turns Falstaff over to the Chief Justice — the man Falstaff has mocked throughout the play — as if delegating a minor administrative problem.

CHIEF JUSTICE dialogue

Have you your wits? Know you what ’tis you speak?

have you your wits? know

FALSTAFF dialogue

My King! My Jove! I speak to thee, my heart!

My King! My Jove! I speak to you, my heart!

king! jove!

Why it matters Falstaff pushing past the Chief Justice to address the King directly is a breach of protocol so spectacular it forces the King to respond. 'My heart!' is the key word — Falstaff is telling the King: you are the centre of my world.

KING ≋ verse dialogue

I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers.

How ill white hairs becomes a fool and jester!

I have long dreamt of such a kind of man,

So surfeit-swell’d, so old, and so profane;

But, being awaked, I do despise my dream.

Make less thy body hence, and more thy grace;

Leave gormandizing; know the grave doth gape

For thee thrice wider than for other men.

Reply not to me with a fool-born jest.

Presume not that I am the thing I was;

For God doth know, so shall the world perceive,

That I have turn’d away my former self;

So will I those that kept me company.

When thou dost hear I am as I have been,

Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou wast,

The tutor and the feeder of my riots.

Till then I banish thee, on pain of death,

As I have done the rest of my misleaders,

Not to come near our person by ten mile.

For competence of life I will allow you,

That lack of means enforce you not to evils.

And, as we hear you do reform yourselves,

We will, according to your strengths and qualities,

Give you advancement. Be it your charge, my lord,

To see perform’d the tenor of our word.

Set on.

I know you not, old man. Fall to your prayers. How ill white hairs becomes a fool and jester! I have long dreamt of such a kind of man, So surfeit-swell’d, so old, and so profane; But, being awaked, I do despise my dream. Make less your body hence, and more your grace; Leave gormandizing; know the grave does gape For you thrice wider than for other men. Reply not to me with a fool-born jest. Presume not that I am the thing I was; For God does know, so shall the world perceive, That I have turn’d away my former self; So will I those that kept me company. When you do hear I am as I have been, Approach me, and you shall be as you wast, The tutor and the feeder of my riots. Till then I banish you, on pain of death, As I have done the rest of my misleaders, Not to come near our person by ten mile. For competence of life I will allow you, That lack of means enforce you not to evils. And, as we hear you do reform yourselves, We will, according to your strengths and qualities, Give you advancement. Be it your charge, my lord, To see perform’d the tenor of our word. Set on.

I know you not, old man. Fall to your prayers. How ill white hairs becomes a fool and jester! I have long dreamt of such a kind of man, So s...

know thee not, old

"" Not 'I will not know you' but 'I know you not' — in the present tense. The King is not announcing a future rejection; he is declaring that the person Falstaff thinks he knows has never existed. The 'old man' is a category: someone past his time, a figure of the past, not a specific beloved friend.

"" White hair (age, gravity, dignity) and fool/jester (comedy, dissolution, play) — the combination is said to be 'ill,' wrong, inappropriate. Hal is accusing Falstaff of failing to grow up alongside his grey hair.

"" This is one of the most complex lines in the speech. The King says he dreamed of 'such a kind of man' — not Falstaff specifically, but the type. He has now woken up and despises the dream. He is mourning the entire category of life Falstaff represents, not just Falstaff personally.

"" A tutor teaches; a feeder nourishes. The King is saying Falstaff was both the instructor and the sustainer of his excess. It is not a small thing to call someone that — it acknowledges Falstaff's role in Hal's formation.

"" The 'till then' clause ('when you hear I am as I have been, approach me and you shall be as you were') is technically a conditional — if Hal returns to his old ways, Falstaff's company is appropriate again. But the condition is designed to never be fulfilled. It is a humane cruelty.

Why it matters This is the most debated speech in Henry IV Part 2. The King is formally correct. He needed to make this break publicly and absolutely — private mercy would have been read as weakness. But 'I have long dreamt of such a kind of man... being awaked, I do despise my dream' is not cold; it is grief in formal language. He is telling Falstaff that the dream of their friendship was a dream — something he inhabited in sleep, something he has now woken from. That is not indifference. It is loss.

[_Exeunt King with his train._]

FALSTAFF dialogue

Master Shallow, I owe you a thousand pounds.

master shallow, owe you

Why it matters This is Falstaff's most revealing line after the rejection. He does not weep, does not rage, does not collapse — he acknowledges a debt. It is either the clearest-eyed thing he says in the play, or the beginning of the rationalization that follows.

SHALLOW dialogue

Yea, marry, Sir John, which I beseech you to let me have home with me.

yea, marry, sir john, which

FALSTAFF dialogue

That can hardly be, Master Shallow. Do not you grieve at this; I shall

be sent for in private to him. Look you, he must seem thus to the

world. Fear not your advancements; I will be the man yet that shall

make you great.

That can hardly be, Master Shallow. Do not you grieve at this; I shall be sent for in private to him. Look you, he must seem thus to the world. Fear not your advancements; I will be the man yet that shall make you great.

That can hardly be, Master Shallow. Do not you grieve at this; I shall be sent for in private to him. Look you, he must seem thus to the wor...

that can hardly be, master

Why it matters Falstaff's rationalization — 'he must seem thus to the world' — is either the saddest self-deception in the play or the last great Falstaffian improvisation. He is performing confidence he does not feel, for an audience of one who is about to lose a thousand pounds.

SHALLOW dialogue

I cannot perceive how, unless you give me your doublet and stuff me out

with straw. I beseech you, good Sir John, let me have five hundred of

my thousand.

I cannot perceive how, unless you give me your doublet and stuff me out with straw. I beseech you, good Sir John, let me have five hundred of my thousand.

I cannot perceive how, unless you give me your doublet and stuff me out with straw. I beseech you, good Sir John, let me have five hundred o...

cannot perceive how, unless

"" A stuffed doublet (jacket) would make Shallow look physically larger — as large as Falstaff. He means: the only way I'll be 'great' through you is if I literally take your body. The dark joke is perfect.

Why it matters Shallow's joke is his most perceptive moment in the play — and possibly in both Henry IV plays. He sees exactly what has happened and reduces it to one precise image.

FALSTAFF dialogue

Sir, I will be as good as my word. This that you heard was but a

colour.

Sir, I will be as good as my word. This that you heard was but a colour.

sir, will

"" A 'colour' is a pretence or false appearance — but also the military term for a flag or standard. Falstaff means 'pretence.' What follows plays on both meanings.

SHALLOW dialogue

A colour that I fear you will die in, Sir John.

colour that fear

"" To 'die in a colour' means to die in a livery — to die in the service of whoever's flag you carry. Shallow is saying: this pretence, this show of Falstaff's loyalty to the king, will be the lie he dies believing. It is the most precise dark joke in the scene.

Why it matters Shallow's line is the play's last great moment of unexpected insight from a seemingly foolish character. He is exactly right: Falstaff's 'colour' — his insistence that the rejection was performance — is the self-deception he will carry to his death (referenced in Henry V: 'The King has killed his heart').

FALSTAFF dialogue

Fear no colours. Go with me to dinner. Come, Lieutenant Pistol; come,

Bardolph. I shall be sent for soon at night.

Fear no colours. Go with me to dinner. Come, Lieutenant Pistol; come, Bardolph. I shall be sent for soon at night.

fear colours. with

Enter the Lord Chief Justice and Prince John, Officers with them.

CHIEF JUSTICE ≋ verse dialogue

Go, carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet.

Take all his company along with him.

Go, carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet. Take all his company along with him.

go, carry sir john falstaff

Why it matters The Chief Justice executing the order with absolute composure is the structural completion of 5-2. He was given the sword. Now he uses it. The man Falstaff has mocked and conspired against throughout both plays is the one who locks the door.

FALSTAFF dialogue

My lord, my lord,—

lord, lord,—

Why it matters The sentence is incomplete — Shakespeare gives Falstaff no final speech, no great last words. He trails off. 'My lord, my lord' is all that is left.

CHIEF JUSTICE ≋ verse dialogue

I cannot now speak. I will hear you soon.

Take them away.

I cannot now speak. I will hear you soon. Take them away.

cannot now speak.

Why it matters The Chief Justice's 'I will hear you soon' is either a genuine intention to give Falstaff due process or a formal courtesy with no substance. Either way, the last word is 'take them away.'

PISTOL dialogue

_Si fortuna me tormenta, spero me contenta._

_si fortuna tormenta, spero

[_Exeunt all but Prince John and the Lord Chief Justice._]

LANCASTER ≋ verse dialogue

I like this fair proceeding of the King’s.

He hath intent his wonted followers

Shall all be very well provided for,

But all are banish’d till their conversations

Appear more wise and modest to the world.

I like this fair proceeding of the King’s. He has intent his wonted followers Shall all be very well provided for, But all are banish’d till their conversations Appear more wise and modest to the world.

I like this fair proceeding of the King’s. He has intent his wonted followers Shall all be very well provided for, But all are banish’d till...

like this fair proceeding

Why it matters Lancaster's comfortable approval of the 'fair proceeding' is a quiet reminder that he was the man who entrapped the rebels at Gaultree Forest in 4-2. He sees political order; he does not see human beings.

CHIEF JUSTICE dialogue

And so they are.

and they are.

LANCASTER dialogue

The King hath call’d his parliament, my lord.

The King has call’d his parliament, my lord.

the king hath call’d his

CHIEF JUSTICE dialogue

He hath.

He has.

hath.

LANCASTER ≋ verse dialogue

I will lay odds that, ere this year expire,

We bear our civil swords and native fire

As far as France. I heard a bird so sing,

Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the King.

Come, will you hence?

I will lay odds that, ere this year expire, We bear our civil swords and native fire As far as France. I heard a bird so sing, Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the King. Come, will you hence?

I will lay odds that, ere this year expire, We bear our civil swords and native fire As far as France. I heard a bird so sing, Whose music, ...

will lay odds that,

"" An old phrase for a whispered rumour or private intelligence — 'a little bird told me.' Lancaster signals that the decision for war with France has already been privately made.

Why it matters Lancaster's war prediction is the structural bridge to Henry V. The 'busy giddy minds with foreign quarrels' advice from Henry IV to Hal (4-5) is already being implemented. The play ends looking forward, not backward — but Falstaff is already in the Fleet.

[_Exeunt._]

EPILOGUE dialogue

First my fear; then my curtsy; last my speech. My fear is your

displeasure; my curtsy, my duty; and my speech, to beg your pardons. If

you look for a good speech now, you undo me, for what I have to say is

of mine own making; and what indeed I should say will, I doubt, prove

mine own marring. But to the purpose, and so to the venture. Be it

known to you, as it is very well, I was lately here in the end of a

displeasing play, to pray your patience for it and to promise you a

better. I meant indeed to pay you with this; which, if like an ill

venture it come unluckily home, I break, and you, my gentle creditors,

lose. Here I promised you I would be, and here I commit my body to your

mercies. Bate me some, and I will pay you some, and, as most debtors

do, promise you infinitely.

If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me, will you command me to

use my legs? And yet that were but light payment, to dance out of your

debt. But a good conscience will make any possible satisfaction, and so

would I. All the gentlewomen here have forgiven me; if the gentlemen

will not, then the gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen, which

was never seen before in such an assembly.

One word more, I beseech you. If you be not too much cloyed with fat

meat, our humble author will continue the story, with Sir John in it,

and make you merry with fair Katharine of France; where, for anything I

know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already he be killed with

your hard opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the

man. My tongue is weary; when my legs are too, I will bid you good

night.

First my fear; then my curtsy; last my speech. My fear is your displeasure; my curtsy, my duty; and my speech, to beg your pardons. If you look for a good speech now, you undo me, for what I have to say is of mine own making; and what indeed I should say will, I doubt, prove mine own marring. But to the purpose, and so to the venture. Be it known to you, as it is very well, I was lately here in the end of a displeasing play, to pray your patience for it and to promise you a better. I meant indeed to pay you with this; which, if like an ill venture it come unluckily home, I break, and you, my gentle creditors, lose. Here I promised you I would be, and here I commit my body to your mercies. Bate me some, and I will pay you some, and, as most debtors do, promise you infinitely. If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me, will you command me to use my legs? And yet that were but light payment, to dance out of your debt. But a good conscience will make any possible satisfaction, and so would I. All the gentlewomen here have forgiven me; if the gentlemen will not, then the gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen, which was never seen before in such an assembly. One word more, I beseech you. If you be not too much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will continue the story, with Sir John in it, and make you merry with fair Katharine of France; where, for anything I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already he be killed with your hard opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man. My tongue is weary; when my legs are too, I will bid you good night.

First my fear; then my curtsy; last my speech. My fear is your displeasure; my curtsy, my duty; and my speech, to beg your pardons. If you l...

first fear; then

Why it matters The Epilogue promises Falstaff in Henry V — 'our humble author will continue the story, with Sir John in it.' Shakespeare did not keep this promise. Falstaff never appears in Henry V — he dies offstage, his death reported by Quickly. Whether this was a change of plan, a deliberate artistic choice, or the result of the actor's departure is unknown. The promise is there; the play does not deliver it.

The Reckoning

The rejection scene is one of the most argued-over moments in all of Shakespeare. Is Hal right? Is he cruel? Does he have a choice? The scene itself refuses easy answers. Hal's speech is public — it is performed for the court, for England, for history. It is therefore partly political theatre. But the grief in it ('I have long dreamt of such a kind of man... being awaked, I do despise my dream') suggests he is also genuinely mourning what Falstaff represented. Falstaff's response — insisting to Shallow that it was just a performance, that he will be sent for privately — is either tragic self-deception or the last joke of a man who simply cannot accept that the play is over.

If this happened today…

A man who spent years cultivating a friendship with someone now important arrives at the CEO's first public appearance, dressed in old travel clothes, shouting the new CEO's nickname across a formal corporate reception. The CEO turns to his general counsel and says 'Will you deal with that.' Later the CEO stops, faces his old friend directly, and says formally and on record: 'I don't know you. You taught me everything I shouldn't be. You're banned from our offices.' The old friend pulls aside a junior colleague: 'It was just for show. He'll call me tonight.'