Jan 1, 2010

Henry IV, Part One | Henry Percy (Character Analysis)

Also know as Hotspur

In many ways, the young Harry Percy outshines his rival counterpart Hal. His presence dominates all of the scenes in which he appears, and as his cohort, the fierce Douglas, puts it in Act IV, scene i, Hotspur is "the king of honor." It is through Hotspur, not Hal, that the poetic art of Shakespeare is most brilliantly realized 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 honor from the pale-fac'd moon,
Or...