Michael Finocchiaro's Reviews > Henry IV, Part 1

The introduction of the old, lecherous Oldcastle (later renamed Falstaff due to complaints from the real Oldcastle family) was a real pleasure here. He offered a comedic respite to the bloodshed and politic intrigues which the Bard was describing from the later years of Henry IV's reign after his coup d’etat of Richard II.

One of the interesting aspects was the conflict between Henry IV and his son Hal, the future Henry V. At one point the father wishes that Hotspur, of the rival camp, was actually his son. Meanwhile, Hal loves to mess around with Falstaff:
The thieves have bound the true men. Now could thou and I rob the thieves and go merrily to London, it would be argument for a week, laughter for a month, and a good jest forever.
Henry IV Part 1, Act 2 scene ii

However, near the end Hal saves his father's life (on his road to redemption which completes in Henry IV Part 2) and they are reconciled:
Stay and breathe awhile.
Thou hast redeemed thy lost opinion
And showed thou mak'st some tender of my life
In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me
Henry IV Part 1, Act 5, scene iv

Overall, the speeches were for me a bit less memorable than those in Shakespeare's play of Richard II, and yet the piece is full of action. Thoroughly enjoyable, but go I now onwards hence Henry IV Part II my ignoble soul awaits.

Highly recommended: The Hollow Crown, S01E02 with Tom Hiddleston as Hal and Joe Anderson as Hotspur was really good. The battle of Shrewsbury was well-shot. The Falstaff/Oldstone plot provides comic relief as Simon Russell Beale's protrayal is both pathetic and moving at times. I never had all that much affinity for the old lecher, but it sets up the drama in Henry IV Part 2 to see Hal and Falstaff imitating Henry IV and the Hal in the barroom scene.

Fino's Reviews of Shakespeare and Shakespearean Criticism
Comedies
The Comedy of Errors (1592-1593
The Taming of the Shrew (1593-1594)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594-1595)
Love's Labour's Lost (1594-1595)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-1596)
The Merchant of Venice (1596-1597)
Much Ado About Nothing (1598-1599)
As You Like It (1599-1600)
Twelfth Night (1599-1600)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1600-1601)
All's Well That Ends Well (1602-1603)
Measure for Measure (1604-1605)
Cymbeline (1609-1610)
A Winter's Tale (1610-1611)
The Tempest (1611-1612)
Two Noble Kinsmen (1612-1613)

Histories
Henry VI Part I (1589-1590)
Henry VI Part II (1590-1591)
Henry VI Part III (1590-1591)
Richard III (1593-1594)
Richard II (1595-1596)
King John (1596-1597)
Edward III (1596-1597)
Henry IV Part I (1597-1598)
Henry IV Part II (1597-1598)
Henry V (1598-1599)
Henry VIII (1612-1612)

Tragedies
Titus Andronicus (1592-1593)
Romeo and Juliet (1594-1595)
Julius Caesar (1599-1600)
Hamlet (1600-1601)
Troilus and Cressida (1601-1602)
Othello (1604-1605)
King Lear (1605-1606)
Macbeth (1605-1606)
Anthony and Cleopatra (1606-1607)
Coriolanus (1607-1608)
Timon of Athens (1607-1608)
Pericles (1608-1609)

Shakespearean Criticism
The Wheel of Fire by Wilson Knight
A Natural Perspective by Northrop Frye
Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber
Shakespeare's Roman Plays and Their Background by M W MacCallum
Shakespearean Criticism 1919-1935 compiled by Anne Ridler
Shakespearean Tragedy by A.C. Bradley
Shakespeare's Sexual Comedy by Hugh M. Richmond
Shakespeare: The Comedies by R.P. Draper
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt
1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro

Collections of Shakespeare
Venus and Adonis, the Rape of Lucrece and Other Poems
Shakespeare's Sonnets and a Lover's Complaint
The Complete Oxford Shakespeare