Hal in the Tavern
Hannah Epstein
The first reference made in Shakespeare’s second Henriad to the man who would become King Henry V comes near the end of King Richard II. Henry Bolingbrook, or King Henry IV, says,
Can no man tell me of my unthrifty son?
‘Tis full three months since I did see him last.
If any plague hang over us, ‘tis he.
I would to God, my lords, he might be found.
Inquire at London, ‘mongst the taverns there… (V.iii.1-5)
Is it any wonder that Hal can be found more frequently in taverns than at home? In her article, “Not Home: Alehouses, Ballads, and the Vagrant Husband in Early Modern England,” Patricia Fumerton suggests a plausible reason Hal would have been drawn to taverns. "In a very rudimentary way, alehouses provided the vagrant and poor…with a kind of homey community" (494). As was the manner of the nobility, Hal would have had little contact with his parents. Though Hal was neither vagrant nor poor, he may have been seeking the anonymity and community a tavern could provide. Fumerton also comments that, because taverns were often run by a whole family, "the alehouse…offered its guests a touch of community and family- a sense of having 'come home'" (495). Hal could feel like he was part of a family, rather than being judged wanting in so many ways by his father. He may well have been looking for the warmth and companionship, the sense of belonging that was absent from his life as heir to the throne of England.
By placing Hal in the tavern, Shakespeare equates him to the common man, and elicits audience sympathy. By spending time in common pursuits, Hal gains support from his future subjects and the audience. This serves him well when he is campaigning in France. Because he can vanish into the crowd, he can don the mask of the commoner and mingle with his soldiers to assess how they perceived him. His “tavern training”, allowed him speak to the men as a brother, and get them to do his will with love, and not coercion. In Henry IV Part 1, Hal professes, “…I / am so good a proficient in one quarter of an hour / that I can drink with any tinker in his own language / during my life”(II.iv.17-20).
Another skill of relating to people Hal learned in the tavern is the use of comedy. “His humor gives Plump Jack the ability to which Hal aspires – the ability to move among all men, all classes, and to create community…Hal needs this ability in order to facilitate his political plans for a relatively stable kingship”(Ruiter 89). Hal would not have had access to the type of humor that would have facilitated this type of mobility at court, but it is displayed clearly in the tavern setting.
Once concern Hal might have had about spending his time in a tavern could have been that, "friends and family that can be bought are often not solidly aligned with the buyer" (Fumerton 496). This could have been the genesis of Hals habit of presenting himself as a commoner, to allow him to more accurately determine who was friend in fact, or only friend in name. The skills Hal gathered in the tavern make him a more effective ruler, particularly when trying to lead his army into battle. When Hal goes among his subjects dressed as a commoner none recognize him by his speech.
In his article “Digesting Falstaff,” Fisher comments, “Prince Hal’s own trajectory toward kingship places him squarely within the gustatory space of the tavern as he digests and then purges Falstaff" (13). Throughout the plays, Prince Hal uses food language to refer to Falstaff, except, notably in his rejection of Falstaff in Henry IV Part 2 (V.v.45-70). The only food language use in this speech is to say that Falstaff was, “…the tutor and feeder of my riots” (V.v.63). At this point, by removing the references to Falstaff as food, Shakespeare makes it clear to the audience that Hal has had his fill of Falstaff, and Falstaff is now waste to him.
By placing Hal in the tavern, Shakespeare equates him to the common man, and elicits audience sympathy. By spending time in common pursuits, Hal gains support from his future subjects and the audience. This serves him well when he is campaigning in France. Because he can vanish into the crowd, he can don the mask of the commoner and mingle with his soldiers to assess how they perceived him. His “tavern training”, allowed him speak to the men as a brother, and get them to do his will with love, and not coercion. In Henry IV Part 1, Hal professes, “…I / am so good a proficient in one quarter of an hour / that I can drink with any tinker in his own language / during my life”(II.iv.17-20).
Another skill of relating to people Hal learned in the tavern is the use of comedy. “His humor gives Plump Jack the ability to which Hal aspires – the ability to move among all men, all classes, and to create community…Hal needs this ability in order to facilitate his political plans for a relatively stable kingship”(Ruiter 89). Hal would not have had access to the type of humor that would have facilitated this type of mobility at court, but it is displayed clearly in the tavern setting.
Once concern Hal might have had about spending his time in a tavern could have been that, "friends and family that can be bought are often not solidly aligned with the buyer" (Fumerton 496). This could have been the genesis of Hals habit of presenting himself as a commoner, to allow him to more accurately determine who was friend in fact, or only friend in name. The skills Hal gathered in the tavern make him a more effective ruler, particularly when trying to lead his army into battle. When Hal goes among his subjects dressed as a commoner none recognize him by his speech.
In his article “Digesting Falstaff,” Fisher comments, “Prince Hal’s own trajectory toward kingship places him squarely within the gustatory space of the tavern as he digests and then purges Falstaff" (13). Throughout the plays, Prince Hal uses food language to refer to Falstaff, except, notably in his rejection of Falstaff in Henry IV Part 2 (V.v.45-70). The only food language use in this speech is to say that Falstaff was, “…the tutor and feeder of my riots” (V.v.63). At this point, by removing the references to Falstaff as food, Shakespeare makes it clear to the audience that Hal has had his fill of Falstaff, and Falstaff is now waste to him.