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SHAKESPEARE'S Henry IV, Pt.1

Act IV - Guided Worksheet

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1) For what two reasons have Northumberland’s forces failed to arrive at the rebel camp?

2) How does Hotspur think that the absence of Northumberland can be turned to the advantage of the rebels? Does Worcester agree?

3) Hotspur comments, “Where is his son,/The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales,/And his comrades, that daffed the world aside/ And bit it pass?’ Is this a change of opinion on Hotspur’s part? Why?

4) Hotspur says, “This praise doth nourish agues." To what is he referring, and why is his comment appropriate?

5) What news comes regarding Glendower?

6) What does Shakespeare want us to think of Hotspur’s statement, “Doomsday is near. Die all, die merrily.“ ?

7) What sort of men did Falstaff impress into the army and why?

8) Does Falstaff’s line,”Tut, tut, good enough to toss; food for powder, food for powder, they’ll fill a pit as better. Tush, man, mortal men, mortal men.”, remind you of any line delivered by any other character? Hint: look up and think!

9) What bad news does Vernon bring to the rebel camp?

10) Characterize Sir Walter Blunt as you see him lV iii.

11) When Sir Walter Blunt as Hotspur to “name your griefs,” what does Hotspur list as the grievances of the rebels?

12) What reply is Blunt to take to the King (132)? Read carefully

A CRITICAL NOTE

Herschel Baker of Harvard University writes of Falstaff, “An example of the way that Shakespeare forces us to trade our routine, clear-cut misconceptions for the interlocking ambiguities of knowledge, he is both wholesome and malign: he amuses and instructs us by exposing fraud and folly, but he appalls us by annihilating all sense of order. He flouts not merely civilities, but man’s most rooted need--that responsible commitment to his own ideals which gives shape and purpose to existence.” (The Riverside Shakespeare, p 846)