Help Received: Syllabus, Classmate Joe Gummo, and COL Miller. Davis Rowady
Government response to rebellion and the views of English early modern of civic order and rebellion in King Henry IV, Part 1
Part 1: God and the king were at the center of world during Shakespeare’s time and each held a lot of power. Medieval law believed that there was a distinction between God’s will and ruling and the ruling from the king. (Hodgdon, 170) Through the years in England, this idea had changed because kings and queens would take on more power themselves and delegated less power to the nobles. This is where problems began within the Kingdom because King Henry IV wanted to take on more power to himself and the Earl of Northumberland, his son Hotspur, etc. did not want this to happen. They wanted the king to have the responsibilities like in Medieval times and separate God’s law and the law from the king. The rebellion of 1569, for example, was a time in England’s history when this took place. King Henry IV does not payoff Mortimer while the Percies demand for him and will not give back their prisoners until the king does so. The idea of King taking on all the tasks of the church was not what people wanted, causing the rebellions throughout British history.
In 1571, Queen Elizabeth I issued a “homily” that be read in all the churches. (Hodgdon, 172) The people did not respond well to this either because it was another step in the thrown taking on more responsibilities that it did not previously have in Medieval times. Nobles felt this was a strategy to take away more of their power. The “Homily” was meant to shed light on the fact that there had previously been rebellions within the kingdom before, what power the state has, as well as the rights of the people.
Part 2: Act I Scene III reflects this cultural attitude from Part 1. The King is upset that Hotspur will not give all the prisoners that are rightfully the kings, while Hotspur is pissed off that King Henry IV will not release Mortimer, Hotspur’s brother-in-law. Hotspur is a Percy and the son of the Earl of Northumberland, who helped King Henry IV achieve his position as the king, so they felt betrayed when the king did not act accordingly. King Henry questions Hotspur saying “Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners.” (I, iii, 32) The king has a right to his prisoners and wants them back, regardless if Hotspur captured them or not. Hotspur realizes that King Henry IV is not going to give up Mortimer, so he leaves in anger from the castle. Hotspur then connects with his father, Earl of Northumberland, and Worcester to discuss their reaction from the king’s decision.
“He will forsooth have all my prisoners;
And when I urged the ransom once again
Of my wife’s brother, then his cheek looked pale,
And on my face, he turned an eye of death,
Trembling even at the name Mortimer.” (I, iii, 34)
They discuss how this is not very king-like because they helped him to get to the throne and they did not want to lose their authority that comes with being a noblemen. The conversation escalates quickly from the rage of Hotspur and now is directed towards rebelling against King Henry IV. “He said he would not ransom Mortimer, forbade my tongue to speak Mortimer, but I will find him when he lies asleep, and in his ear, I’ll holler Mortimer!” (I, iii, 34) Hotspur’s cousins Worcester understands the rage and wants to revolt. The king is taking powers that he is not entitled to have, and they want to kill him so this injustice cannot be done on the thrown anymore. They know the king is at war with the Scots and Glendower, so they want to team up with them because they know it will be easy to convince him and his people to rebel against the king. Those within the government interact with the king daily and realize how the king is accepting more and more tasks that are not required of the king and are given less and less responsibilities themselves, and they have had enough of it. Hotspur, Earl of Northumberland, and Worcester want to make sure the kingdom goes back to how it was ran in Medieval times. King Henry IV will have to focus on fighting back the rebellion from within his own government and people to ensure the kingdom is stable.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. The First Part of King Henry The Fourth. Edited by Barbara Hodgdon, 1997.
Hodgdon, ,Barbara. The First Part of King Henry the Fourth: Civic Order and Rebellion, William Shakespeare. Boston, 1997.