Shakespeare

Shakespeare is considered to be one of the greatest in all of history . His various plays , sonnets , and poems have continually resonated with all that read them , as they often touch on subjects that every human being can relate to . This aspect is extremely evident in the history plays of 1 Henry IV and Richard III . In both plays , the reader /audience watches the transformation of pivotal characters - Prince Hal and Richard , respectively . They each go through a crucial change , one that is intricately tied to the acquisition of power . In the

br end , the acquisition of that power leads to different endings for both men . This , then , is the focus : to demonstrate how each man went through their respective transformations

1 Henry IV , written around 1596-97 , presents the story of King Henry IV and his struggle to maintain control over the English throne , which he usurped from the previous king , Richard II . However , another more important of the play is the gradual transformation of Prince Hal . The first inkling that a transformation is actually necessary becomes evident in the first scene of the first act . King Henry is in a meeting with his advisors , and during which he begins to do what all parents do at one time or another - he compares his wastrel son to the son of Lord Northumberland

Yea , there thou mak 'st me sad , and mak 'st me sin / In envy that my Lord Northumberland / Should be the father to so blest a son / A son who is the theme of Honor 's tongue / Whilst I , by looking on the praise of him / See riot and dishonor 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 called mine Percy ' his Plantagenet / Then would I have his Harry , and he mine (1 .1 .76-80 83-89

The next inkling appears when Prince Hal is introduced in the second scene of the first act . Rather than be off fighting against enemies of his father , Hal is spending time with a group of lower-class men and women , drinking and carousing . Yet , it is soon evident that Hal is aware his actions are not becoming of a prince . Shakespeare has him speak his inner thoughts via a long soliloquy , in which Hal states the following

I know you all , and will awhile uphold / The unyoked humor of your idleness / Yet herein will I imitate the sun / Who doth permit the base contagious clouds / To smother up his beauty from the world That , when he again to be himself / Being wanted , he may be more wondered at / By breaking through the foul and ugly mist / Of vapors that did seem to strangle him / So when this loose behavior I throw off , like bright metal on a sullen ground / My reformation glitt 'ring o 'er my fault / Shall show more good and attract more eyes / Redeeming time when men think least I will...