King Henry IV PART ONE - Act 2 Scene 4 - part 2

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

I am always astonished how much the Henry IV plays and Henry V do lose by the including of these rascal scenes! Compared to the other historical plays of Shakespeare (like Richard II, the Wars of the Roses plays or King John) they are an unpleasant interruption between the lofty scenes of mighty classes in the state and their epic verses; so Shakespeare should have merged the two parts of Henry IV into one play and cut the scenes with Falstaff’s crew out of Henry V!

[vinteui1]

@FireEyedMaidOfWar: wow...could you be more wrong? 1 Henry IV II. iv. is the single greatest bit of high comedy in the whole history of the English language - or, arguably, any language, and Falstaff is the single greatest comic character. He simply dwarfs his surroundings.

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@vinteui1: I suppose you watch or read the verses of Henry IV and his son Henry Monmouth ere saying so; and they you might agree with me that Falstaff should have been left out and Henry IV moulded into one play; as the Falstaff scenes are an ill contrast to the high matters of state and the conversion of the wild Prince Henry Monmouth to the grave King Henry V; only the scene when he does banish Falstaff makes some sense but few of the others in any case.

[vinteui1]

@FireEyedMaidOfWar

I think maybe you don't speak English as a first language. In which case it's understandable that you just don't *get* Falstaff.

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@vinteui1: There is no avail with this argument, as Falstaff is misplaced in the play he belongs to The Merry Wives of Windsor but not to Henry IV!

[vinteui1]

Oh, c'mon FEMOW - surely you're aware that the consensus of 400 years is that Falstaff is misplaced, not in 1 & 2 Henry IV, but in The Merry Wives of Windsor - where he's sadly reduced from the single greatest comical character of all time to a sorry old lecher...

?

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@vinteui1: Nope, he fits into the Merry Wives of Windsor to prove that tragic playwrights cannot write comedies (though I like plays like Much Ado about Nothing or the Merchant of Venice, but they are not comical); read/watch the Roman plays (as they concern matters of state as well) and the other histories plays (like King John or Richard II) to see how much that vanity in years, that white bearded Satan, that misleader of youth Falstaff does harm the Henry IV plays.

[vinteui1]

FEMOW: well, whatever.

"tragic playwrights cannot write comedies."

You've got a provocative thesis, you want to run with it, and you don't want to think too hard.

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@vinteui1: Name any tragedian who wrote at least one decent comedy!