Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Hotspur to Prick the Sides (1 Henry IV, 1.1)

Not unlike, say, Priam in the face of Achilles, does King Henry highly respect the drive of Young Henry Percy; aka, Hotspur.  He calls Hotspur "Fortune's minion," in light of the fact that his own Harry (or Hal) is out there running with the "minions of the moon," "Diana's foresters."  Hotspur is prodigious; Harry, prodigal:

               Yea, there thou makest me sad and makest me sin
               In envy that my Lord Northumberland
               Should be the father to so blest a son,
               A son who is the theme of honour's tongue;
               Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant;
               Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride:
               Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him,
               See riot and dishonour 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,
               And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet!
               Then would I have his Harry, and he mine.

It is sad, but King Henry seems to see a reflection of his younger self in Young Percy than he does in his own son.  No wonder.  Look at how Percy responds to the exile of Mortimer (1.3), then go back to Richard II and see how Bullingbrooke (now King Henry) responds to his own exile.  The fiery quality of the Earl's son is a bit reminiscent, then, and is intense enough to lead the King to exit as soon as he is through demanding that the Percy's turn over their prisoners of war.

The theme of honor's tongue.  Of course, another man with a very large presence will have something to say to that later on....

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