Prince Hal
Prince Hal appreciates his youth by living a life of stealing and spending much time with his companion of robbers. He also knows that he must become the responsible leader that his father wants him to be. He plans to be mature and impress those who did not believe he can be a responsible king. After he has a conversation with his father, the King he makes a goal to prove it to his father that he can be that mature responsible leader his father wishes to see by promises to kill the leader or the rebellion Hotspur. Hal changes throughout the play not with the help of other people but through other people.
Prince Hal and King Henry make repeated remarks about comparing themselves to celestial bodies. Prince Hal says to the audience in his first soliloquy that he is the sun and permits his lower life friends to shroud him covering him, then when he can, break through and amaze the entire kingdom. Instead of comparing himself to the sun like his son King Henry instead says he’s a comet, saying he was so successful “By being seldom seen, I could not stir But like a comet I was wondered at; that men would tell their children ‘this is he ;’”( III. ii. 2). They are both trying to create an image in the eyes of the kingdom. A predominant family relationship between a father and his son is a continuous element in the play. This relationship exists between Northumberland and Hotspur as well as in King Henry IV and Prince Hal. It is interesting to think that Shakespeare shaped a parallel between the two opposing relationships. It becomes clear that Northumberland has the same regards for Hotspur as Henry does for Hal, despite the fact that Hotspur and Prince Hal are complete opposites of each other, it may even be possible that each father wants the other's son. King Henry refers to Hotspur as, “A son who is the theme of Honor’s tongue” (I.i.80). King Henry is humiliated by Prince Hal's affair with the tavern crew as well as his lack of noble stature. Northumberland is
Prince Hal and King Henry make repeated remarks about comparing themselves to celestial bodies. Prince Hal says to the audience in his first soliloquy that he is the sun and permits his lower life friends to shroud him covering him, then when he can, break through and amaze the entire kingdom. Instead of comparing himself to the sun like his son King Henry instead says he’s a comet, saying he was so successful “By being seldom seen, I could not stir But like a comet I was wondered at; that men would tell their children ‘this is he ;’”( III. ii. 2). They are both trying to create an image in the eyes of the kingdom. A predominant family relationship between a father and his son is a continuous element in the play. This relationship exists between Northumberland and Hotspur as well as in King Henry IV and Prince Hal. It is interesting to think that Shakespeare shaped a parallel between the two opposing relationships. It becomes clear that Northumberland has the same regards for Hotspur as Henry does for Hal, despite the fact that Hotspur and Prince Hal are complete opposites of each other, it may even be possible that each father wants the other's son. King Henry refers to Hotspur as, “A son who is the theme of Honor’s tongue” (I.i.80). King Henry is humiliated by Prince Hal's affair with the tavern crew as well as his lack of noble stature. Northumberland is