The shift from childish tavern boy to princely hero within the character of Prince Hal from Shakespeare’s King Henry IV I causes a major split in audiences’ perception of his persona. Hal can represent a cold and calculating Machiavelli archetype that plans to better himself with little to no regard of his supposed friends. This Hal uses the lower-class men of Eastcheap as pawns for his plan to obtain greater power and has no true connection with these men. Hal can also exemplify a young man who needs to reach a greater level of emotional maturity before he can become a true prince. This Hal has a real relationship with the tavern dwellers and the “plan” he discusses exists simply to excuse the childishness of his current behavior. Gregory Doran’s adaption of Shakespeare’s Henry IV I creates a pragmatic persona for Prince Hal, maintaining both his calculated nature and his genuine friendship with the men of Eastcheap because of the focus on this character’s duality with a more childish counterpart in this production.
Throughout his production, Gregory Doran’s staging choices and the tone of the actors emphasize the connection between Prince Hal and Hotspur, making Hal appear more reasonable in contrast with the emotionally charged Hotspur. The first instance that highlights this connection between the two Henry’s occurs as King Henry talks about his son and Hotspur. In the first scene of the play King Henry declares,
Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him
See riot and dishonor stain the brow
Of my young Harry. O, that it could be proved
That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged
In cradle-clothes our children where they lay (1.1.83-87).
Although this moment seems to praise Hotspur as the greater of the men, Jasper Britton who plays King Henry, pauses and chuckles as he reaches the “O” within this scene. Laughing at the emotional peak of this scene detracts from the appeal of Hotspur, creating a more light-hearted feeling towards Prince Hal’s childishness. It also makes his appeal to have Hotspur as a son feel more like a joke than an actual desire. This moment paired with the exaggerated nature of this production’s Hotspur adds to the appeal of Prince Hal over his counterpart.
Additionally, Doran emphasizes that the two men serve as a counterpart for one another by having one man linger on the stage during his exit as the other enters, so that both men remain on the stage together. Within one of these instances, Alex Hassel who plays Prince Hal acknowledges Hotspur’s character, demonstrating his character’s awareness as opposed to the self-centered, childishness of Hotspur. After Hotspur’s scene with Lady Percy he hastily runs of stage as Prince Hal enters the stage. While Hotspur continues with no regard to Prince Hal’s presence, Hal glares at Hotspur. Here Hal demonstrates he has an awareness of Hotspur that Hotspur does not have toward him, demonstrating his pragmatism as a character.
The analytical part of Hal also comes through in other moments of the play where Hal continues to reveal a greater understanding of the surrounding world and Hotspur continues to expel a child-like self-centered attitude. Throughout the play Hotspur reacts to other characters in an exaggerated and emotionally charged way. For example, he climbs on top of the throne and jumps up and down like a child having a hissy fit after things do not go his way at the start of the production. He does not consider the King’s words; rather he jumps to this extreme emotional reaction. Hotspur repeats this extremity with his responses to other characters throughout the play by running around the stage, jumping up and down, and knocking over Lady Percy. Hotspur also never breaks down the fourth wall; rather he remains concerned solely with his own feelings towards events within the play. In contrast, Hal appears much more aware of others and the crowd, Alex Hassel emphasizes this during his first soliloquy. Within this scene, Hassel pauses frequently, slowing the pace of the scene down. He also uses his hands to point as if explaining each piece of his speech to the audience. This scene helps demonstrate Hal’s awareness and calculated nature in contrast with the unaware Hotspur because of its explanatory feel, but does not make him feel manipulative due to his other extremely personal interactions within this production.
Doran has two separate scenes mirror one another to further demonstrate Hal’s pragmatic nature in relationship to this Hotspur. At two separate moments in the play both men have an extremely physical scene with their fathers. In both scenes, the man’s father grabs his ear and reprimands him. Doran has both fathers’ address the men in the same physical manner to stress the parallel between the two characters. The men then have two extremely different responses to their reprimanding to demonstrate Hal’s realistic understanding of reality and Hotspur’s emotionally out of touch reaction toward the surrounding world. After Hotspur’s father reprimands him he runs of the stage in the same manner he does before his father speaks to him. After King Henry reprimands Hal, he stands with his fingers intertwined in front of him in a respectful stance, demonstrating his understanding of the consequences of his actions. Doran also portrays the extreme difference between the two counterparts by manipulating their physical appearance. Hal has dark features and Hotspur has extremely light features, mirroring the great difference in their personas. The last scene in which Doran demonstrates the pragmatic nature of Hal occurs as he kills Hotspur. Although this represents a victorious scene for Hal, Hassel maintains a horrified expression on his face throughout the scene. This suggests that Hal not only acknowledges Hotspur as his counterpart, because part of his horrified expression derives from his understanding of their likeness, but it also shows that he sees the horror in killing. Hassel finishes Hotspur’s final words with an extremely melancholy tone to further this understanding. Throughout this production, Doran emphasizes the duality between Prince Hal and Hotspur to demonstrate the more calculated part of Hal’s persona in comparison with the extremely rash nature of his Hotspur.
In order to maintain the likeable part of Prince Hal with this more aware character, Doran shows that Hal has a genuine relationship with the men of Eastcheap by giving him a much more physical relationship to these men than that of any other character, including his counterpart Hotspur. When Doran first introduces Prince Hal to his audience he has Hal physically close to Falstaff at a very intimate moment. Hal also puts his arm around Falstaff and kisses his cheek throughout this scene. Hal demonstrates this same kind of closeness with the character Poins; at one point within the production Hal jumps into Poins’ arms. Lastly, this production’s portrayal of the “I do, I will” scene reveals the sincerity behind Hal’s relationship to this bunch of men. At the start of this scene, Hal creates an extremely jovial tone by including the entire group in the speech, also further portrayed through the addition of happy music within the scene. Just as the music stops, Hal embraces an extremely gloomy tone and pauses greatly between the words “I do” and “I will.” The stark contrast in the tone of this moment of the scene with the earlier part of the scene demonstrates that although Hal understands he must reject this group of men, he does have a genuine friendship with them.
Overall, this production’s emphasis of the parallel between Hotspur and Hal paired with the closeness of Hal to the Eastcheap characters creates a version of Prince Hal who has a calculated awareness of his situation, but also has a true friendship with the tavern men. This Hal does not fit the Machiavellian construct or the childish boy. Doran’s Hal represents a pragmatic character who demonstrates a kind of maturity throughout the production, making him a much more personable character.