Study Questions

1. Why does Worcester go to King Henry?

2. What challenge does Hal present to Worcester?

3. Why does Worcester lie to Hotspur about the King’s message?

4. What does Vernon say about Hal’s challenge to Hotspur?

5. Explain what happens to Sir Walter Blunt on the battlefield.

6. What comic relief provided by Falstaff appears at the end of Scene iii?

7. What happens when Douglas encounters King Henry on the battlefield?

8. How does Hal live up to his vow to King Henry?

9. What is the outcome of Hal’s challenge to Hotspur?

10. What immediate arrangements does Henry make to put an end to rebellion in England?

Answers

1. Worcester goes to King Henry to inform him of the rebels’ response to the offer of pardon. Henry takes this opportunity to tell Worcester “’Tis not well / That you and I should meet upon such terms / As we meet now,” suggesting the inevitable defeat of the Percys.

2. After hearing Worcester’s excuses for justifying the rebellion, Prince Henry challenges Hotspur to do battle “in a single fight” to determine the outcome of the rebellion.

3. When Worcester returns to the Percy camp, he tells Hotspur that the “King will bid you battle presently,” in order to stir him to battle since the rebels are weakened and have reached the point of no return. He fears that if Hotspur were to accept the offer, King Henry would pardon “a harebrained Hotspur, governed by spleen,” but would not deal so favorably with the other Percys.

4. In telling Hotspur about Hal’s challenge, Vernon explains how he never “did hear a challenge urged more modestly” and that Hal “trimmed up [Hotspur’s] praises with a princely tongue.” This observation causes Hotspur to stir to arms even more enthusiastically.

5. Sir Walter Blunt appears on the battlefield disguised as King Henry. When he confronts Douglas, the two men fight, and Douglas kills Blunt. Hotspur enters and tells him that the “King” was actually Blunt “semblably furnished like the King himself” and that there are “many marching in his coats.”

6. When Falstaff stumbles upon the dead Blunt, he has the opportunity to expound upon the value of honor and justify his own cowardice. By nature, Falstaff is quick to run from danger as seen in the robbery scene. Now, on the battlefield he has more at stake as he “fear[s] the shot here.” Blunt’s corpse is proof enough to Falstaff that life is preferable to “such grinning honor as Sir Walter hath.”

7. When Douglas meets King Henry on the battlefield, Douglas believes he has encountered another who “counterfeits the person of the King” and challenges him. They fight when the King identifies himself, and Hal steps in to defend his father.

8. Henry proves to be the kind of son he promised to be when he defends his father from Douglas’ attack. He also proves himself in the encounter with Hotspur.

9. When Hotspur and Hal finally meet face to face, they valiantly challenge each other. Hal addresses Hotspur as “a very valiant rebel” and Hotspur responds with “Thy name in arms were not as great as mine!” After they fight, Hal kills Hotspur who has “lost those proud titles” of honor for which he fought so unrelentlessly.

10. First, King Henry sentences Worcester and Vernon to death for their treason. Second, Henry grants Hal’s request to dispose of Douglas, which Hal in turn offers to John. Then
he sends John and Westmoreland to York to meet with Northumberland and Scroop so as to suppress them. Finally, he and Hal will go to Wales to fight with Glendower and Mortimer, the Earl of March.