Prince Harry Character Analysis

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Honor is very prominent throughout Shakespeare, but not everyone is trustworthy and honorable. There are some that keep their word and there are others that can’t be trusted at all. Prince Harry is a prime example of a honorable young prince because he has to make difficult personal choices that an aspiring king needs to make in order to rule a nation. Then there is Falstaff and King Henry IV who weren’t as honorable. They are all on different notions of honor with Prince Harry being at the top of the three. Falstaff has no chance at being the most honorable because he is lazy, selfish, dishonest, and manipulative. These characteristics are not in any way shape or form honorable and he wouldn’t be trustworthy enough to be noble and honorable. Falstaff thinks that he is honorable but he is nowhere near honorable. Then King Henry IV lacks the moral legitimacy that he needs to truly be a leader and honorable. He is very capable of arranging things and he is very energetic so that makes him able to obtain the throne and be qualified as “honorable.” Prince Harry is an honorable man but he has to win back his honor from King Henry IV. Harry shows his honor through his “noble behavior” by sneakly giving up his own honor to fool the people of the town to achieve their trust and Campbell 2 friendship, so when he does take the throne the people will like him better. He is a very complicated character in this play and he wastes a lot of his time with Falstaff earning the pleasure of both his father and England. He comes out of no where and surprises England by declaring that his dissolute lifestyle is all an act, and that he is just trying to lower the people around him expectations so that he can unfold his true heroic knowledge and t... ... middle of paper ... ...the whole play. The characters all have their own different values and goals and this is why Falstaff can be lazy and dishonest, but he can still be considered honorable in his own way. This also goes along with King Henry IV and also his son Prince Harry. King Henry arranges a murder for Richard II just so that he can seize the throne for himself, yet he still is considered honorable and people view him as a great leader and look up to him. Then there is Prince Harry, he has to earn back his honor from the King and through out the whole play he shows how he is transforming himself form a low-life bum, that he pretends to be to become a honorable and noble leader. Each character shows their honor in different ways in the paly. Shakespeare does this purposely to get the reader to further engage with the characters in his story and understand them all a little better.

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