In second scene of the play, our first glimpse of Falstaff has of him asking the hour of day. To this inquiry, Hal replies "Thou are so fat-witted with drinking of old sack, and unbottoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of day?” Falstaff is frankly a “bag of guts,” a man ruled by his appetites. While Hotspur readily shoulders the duties of his role as a military hero, Falstaff shuns and distorts all responsibilities and accountings.
Falstaff is both the butt and the source of humour. In the first of these roles, Falstaff serves as a target for the low comedy of Hal, as when the Prince asks the middle-aged glutton how long has it been since Falstaff was able to see his own knees. As often, Falstaff is the source of humorous remarks that revolve around his own faults. In his story of fighting with a group of bandits, he says “I am a rogue if I were not at half-sword with a dozen of them two hours together”. Here, as elsewhere, Falstaff engages in comic irony that is true to its word, for Falstaff is plainly a rogue. At the same time, we see a soft-hearted side to “that old white-bearded Satan” when simulating Hal in a “play extempore”, as he imparts with a real undertone of sincerity that for Hal to “Banish plump Jack” would be to “banish all the world.” There is something kindly about old Sir Jack that endears the reader. Not only is Falstaff aware of his own self-inflation, he assumes a nearly paternal (or at least avuncular) regard for the young prince Hal.
In Worcester, Hotspur's uncle, we see the political villain of the play. Worcester is willing to sell out the interests of all, including Hotspur, for the sake of his own safety. In Worcester, rather than in Hotspur, Shakespeare presents us with an example of a traitorous subject who is very much in step with political means. He, much like Hal, represents a shrewd and truly scheming persona, which differs greatly to either Bolingbroke or Falstaff who both seem self-involved and oblivious to possible dangers.
The complex Prince Hal is at the centre of events in this play. As the only character to shift between the grave, serious world of the Court and the mad, comical world of Boar's Head Tavern, Hal serves as a bridge uniting the play's two major plotlines. An initially disgraceful prince who eventually wins back his honour and his place in the king's esteem, Hal undergoes the greatest dramatic development in the play, deliberately transforming himself from the scoundrel he pretends to be into a noble leader. Hal is, at least by suggestion, the moral focus of the play. Toward the start of the play, Falstaff refers to Hal as "the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young prince". To be sure, Hal sheds his "rascal" self in the course of the play, but he remains a "sweet" prince. Hal's association with the world of the tavern provides him with a humane, tolerant, and sensitive quality that his father does not possess. Hal is nevertheless a complicated character and one whose real nature is very difficult to pin down. As the play opens, Harry is seen as idling away his time with Falstaff and earning the displeasure of both his father and England as a whole. He then surprises everyone by declaring that his degenerate lifestyle is all an act: he is simply trying to lower the expectations that surround him so that, when he must, he can emerge as his true, heroic self, shock the whole country, and win the people's love and his father's admiration. Harry is clearly intelligent and already capable of the psychological manoeuvrings required of kings. He represents the emergence of a renaissance prince with a Machiavellian mindset.
In many ways, the young Hotspur outshines his rival counterpart Hal. His presence dominates all of the scenes in which he appears, and as his follower, the fierce Douglas, puts it in Act IV, scene I, Hotspur is "the king of honour." It is through Hotspur, not Hal, that the poetic art of Shakespeare is most brilliantly realised in this play. An example of this surfaces in the very first scene in which Hotspur takes part, as he declares:
By heavens, methinks it were an easy leap, To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon,
Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,
And pluck up drowned honour by the locks.
At the same time and as his name implies, Hotspur is rash, so much so that his uncle Worcester refers to him as “hare-brained.” By his own account, Hotspur is prone to imbalance, adopting an intensity of concentration that blinds him to the realities that block his ambitions. Turning against Bolingbroke, Hotspur proclaims: "All studies here I solemnly defy, Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke". Hotspur is of such single-mindedness that he is willing to change the course of rivers to accomplish his ends as is shown in Act III, scene I. In fact, his determination sets him against natural forces that are beyond his reach but that he nevertheless either tries to control or to deny.
But there is even more to Hotspur than his volatile drive can capture. For one thing, Hotspur's complaints against Bolingbroke seem justifiable, while his refusal to hand Mortimer over for execution is plainly admirable. As a rebel against the king, Hotspur is necessarily wrong in the eyes of Shakespeare and his audiences, but he is a rebel with a cause. He represents the rare Medieval, chivalrous knight of honour. Shakespeare presents several scenes in which Hotspur acts in a totally different light as Lady Percy's "sweet lord" who enjoys the show that Lady Mortimer and her husband provide.
In conclusion, I find that there is very little difference between the young and the old in this play as certain young characters seem to mirror certain old characters in nature. For example, Bolingbroke communicates an equally explosive disposition as Hotspur, which is possibly due to the constant attachment to courtly life. They both represent an utter blindness to a world outside of “sun-like majesty” and therefore are highly unlikely to reason in a worldlier manner. The same comparison can be made for Hal and Worcester. They both share astute and calculating mentalities that provide them the means to achieve their ends, whether that is through the manipulation of others. Hal has certainly seen a distinct side to life through his association with the Tavern, and because of that, he emerges a far knowledgeable person. He embodies the expectations of the renaissance sovereign, whereas in contrast Hotspur is too large for his times. He is a more fully-rounded, complex figure that his name connotes but his heroic stature is too big for the world of the court and too relentlessly noble for the world of the tavern. Falstaff is a classification upon himself. He is both, and yet neither young nor old. He is a child trapped in the body of an ageing man, who seeks endless coddling. His unique relationship with Hal demonstrates his need for love distinct to his loveless lifestyle of petty-crime and tomfoolery. Though in his actions he is decadent and clearly manifests the seven deadly sins, he is also shown as naïve, through his idolatry and affections for Hal.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOUNG AND OLD IN HENRY IV (i)