Falstaff's Rise and Rejection

Henry IV, Part 2

This thread follows Falstaff's expectation that old intimacy will secure him advancement, and the new king's final refusal to restore their former relationship.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Familiar Boast A Familiar Boast from "Henry IV, Part 2". Service and Self-Promotion Claiming Credit Falstaff presents himself as a man whose reputation makes him indispensable, even while he jokes about the danger of…

A Familiar Boast from "Henry IV, Part 2". Service and Self-Promotion Claiming Credit Falstaff presents himself as a man whose reputation makes him indispensable, even while he jokes about the danger of…

Service and Self-Promotion Claiming Credit Falstaff presents himself as a man whose reputation makes him indispensable, even while he jokes about the danger of renewed service. He turns military duty into a story about his own importance. The Gap in Merit His appetite for money and comfort sits beside his claims of courage. That tension prepares the difference between how he understands his service and how the court may judge it.

A Debt at Eastcheap A Debt at Eastcheap from "Henry IV, Part 2". Credit and Dependence The Hostess's Claim Mistress Quickly arrests Falstaff for debt and recounts his promises of marriage and repayment.

A Debt at Eastcheap from "Henry IV, Part 2". Credit and Dependence The Hostess's Claim Mistress Quickly arrests Falstaff for debt and recounts his promises of marriage and repayment.

Credit and Dependence The Hostess's Claim Mistress Quickly arrests Falstaff for debt and recounts his promises of marriage and repayment. Her grievance reveals how his household charm has depended on other people's money. A Temporary Reprieve The Lord Chief-Justice orders Falstaff to satisfy her, but Falstaff turns the encounter into another delay and makes no convincing reform. His personal debts mirror his habit of escaping consequences.

A Friend's Expectations A Friend's Expectations from "Henry IV, Part 2". Intimacy on Borrowed Time Familiar Company Falstaff spends the evening with Doll Tearsheet and Mistress Quickly, mocking absent companions and enjoying the…

A Friend's Expectations from "Henry IV, Part 2". Intimacy on Borrowed Time Familiar Company Falstaff spends the evening with Doll Tearsheet and Mistress Quickly, mocking absent companions and enjoying the…

Intimacy on Borrowed Time Familiar Company Falstaff spends the evening with Doll Tearsheet and Mistress Quickly, mocking absent companions and enjoying the world that Prince Henry may soon leave behind. The Call to Duty News summons Prince Henry away from the tavern. Falstaff is left to imagine that service and affection will continue to bring him access to the prince.

A Sudden Hope A Sudden Hope from "Henry IV, Part 2". Fortune Imagined The News Arrives Pistol tells Falstaff that the old king is dead and that his companion is now king.

A Sudden Hope from "Henry IV, Part 2". Fortune Imagined The News Arrives Pistol tells Falstaff that the old king is dead and that his companion is now king.

Fortune Imagined The News Arrives Pistol tells Falstaff that the old king is dead and that his companion is now king. Falstaff immediately predicts offices, money, and royal favor for himself and his friends. Hope Becomes Presumption He treats past familiarity as a binding promise of future reward. The confidence of this moment makes the later rejection sharper, because his imagined access has never been tested against royal responsibility.

The Public Rejection The Public Rejection from "Henry IV, Part 2". A Friendship Ends A Changed Address Falstaff calls out to the newly crowned king as though their private intimacy still governs their relationship.

The Public Rejection from "Henry IV, Part 2". A Friendship Ends A Changed Address Falstaff calls out to the newly crowned king as though their private intimacy still governs their relationship.

A Friendship Ends A Changed Address Falstaff calls out to the newly crowned king as though their private intimacy still governs their relationship. The king answers that he does not know the old man and orders him away. A Boundary Set The king provides for Falstaff's basic needs but banishes him and his companions from the royal presence. Falstaff's hopes of advancement collapse under the new ruler's public performance of reform.

After the Battle of Shrewsbury, before the next campaign

Before Prince Henry leaves London for the campaign

At the Boar's Head Tavern before Prince Henry's departure

When news of the king's death reaches Gloucestershire

At the new king's coronation in Westminster