Henry IV, Act V, scene 2
Courtiers and Pub-Crawlers: Post a comment about this scene. See the Act V scene 1 post for detailed instructions
posted by Cheryl Makovsky at 10:15 AM
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Previous Posts
- Henry IV, Act V, scene 5
- Henry IV, Act IV, Scene 1 and Instructions
- Henry IV, Act IV, scene 2
- Henry IV, Act IV, scene 3
- Henry IV, Act III, scene 1, lines 1-197 and Instru...
- Henry IV, Act III, scene 1, lines 198-276 and scene 2
- Henry IV, Act III, scene 3
- Henry IV, Act II, scene 3
- Henry IV, Act II, scene 4, beginning-line 337.
- Henry IV, Act II, scene 4, line 338-end
3 Comments:
7. Yes! I finally have the opportunity to do this. It always looked like a really fun option to blog. Hope I do it well; it seems difficult.
Worcester:
"By the grace of God, Hotspur is a tremendous fool. A fool to listen to my explanation and concocted account of my dealings with the king, but also in his naiveté; to think that we might survive against the king's men and he, alone, against Harry. That boy is as young and fleet, but not so driven by madness as my own nephew. Can he not see that we are doomed in this enterprise? We are old. I am old. I have no desire to align myself any further with his trivialities. When he falls, I will not fall with him and may, as of yet, live my days in the easy robes the King mentioned in our passing.
"In my agedness, honour matters little for the great amount it means to so many others. I cannot for the life of me understand why. They all want to win so why in this way to they pursue their ambitions? They shall lie upon the earth bleeding their precious veins empty of their body's rich wine. I shall not be buried in the pits along with all the others. I am not so hot as they or so cowardly to not deceive for my own priorities. Let them fall. I shall live...at least a few days more than they."
3. I don't fully understand Worcester's reasoning in not telling Hotspur about the King's proposal. First off, Hotspur already heard the King's proposal from Sir Blunt anyway. He would not be surprised in the least bit about what the King had to say. Secondly, this is Hotspur we're talking about. What could possibly coax him from his chosen course? He already wants to attack the King against tremendous odds; he isn't afraid whatsoever. I can't grasp why Worcester won't tell Hotspur. There must a different reason other than the fact that he's afraid Hotspur will accept the offer. What other motive could Worcester have?
Hotspur:
"O gentlemen, the time of life is short!
To spend that shortness basely were too long
If life did ride upon a dial's point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour" (5.2.81-84).
I really like this quotation. He is basically saying that life is too short and if life was measured by a clock ending after an hour then that would still be too long if that time was spent basely. And I'm not totally sure what he means by basely but I'm guessing he means wasting life with trivial matters.
I also like it because Hotspur isn't so "hot" now. He's starting to worry and lose his ego. And he's starting to appreciate life.
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