Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

LADY PERCY

in 2 Henry the Fourth — Shakespeare, William

Metadata

Play2 Henry the Fourth
AuthorShakespeare, William
Year (catalogued)1600
First performance1597
Decade1600s
GenreHistory
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyLord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
Speech prefix(es)Wife | Kate
Words238
Characters1203
Typicality0.42 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA11974
BritDrama no.1083
ClusterCluster 10 — Mourners, mothers & doleful voices

Important excerpts

No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).

Full speech

I have given over, I will speak no more, Do what you will, your wisdom be your guide. Oh fly to Scotland, Till that the nobles and the armed commons, Have of their puissance made a little taste. Oh yet for Gods sake go not to these wars, The time was father, that you broke your word, When you were more endear to it then now, When your own Percy, when my hearts deer Harry, Threw many a Northward look, to see his father Bring up his powers, but he did long in vain. Who then persuaded you to stay at home? There were two honours lost, yours and your sons, For yours, the God of heaven brighten it, For his, it stuck upon him as the sun In the gray vault of heaven, and by his light Did all the Chivalry of England move To do brave acts, he was indeed the glass Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves. If they get ground and vantage of the King, Then join you with them Like a rib of steel, To make strength stronger: but for all our loves, First let them try themselves, so did your son, He was so suffered, so came I a widow, And never shall have length of life enough, To rain upon remembrance with mine eyes, That it may grow and sprout as high as heaven, For recordation to my noble husband.

Plot summary

Plot — 2 Henry the Fourth
After the battle of Shrewsbury, there are contradictory rumours abroad as to the outcome: some say that the King and his son have vanquished Lord Hotspur of Lancaster, whereas in fact they won. Now Lord John of Lancaster is travelling north with a power, including Sir John Falstaff, to crush the regrouping remnants of the Percy rebellion. Mistress Quickly tries to have Falstaff arrested for debt, while threatens to prevent him setting out for London, but he talks his way out of it. Back from a military expedition in Wales, Prince Henry and Poins disguise themselves as drawers and eavesdrop on Falstaff’s conversation: he says uncomplimentary things about them, but Falstaff excuses himself inventively when confronted. Northumberland’s family persuade him to flee to Scotland rather than join the other northern rebels. Falstaff musters troops in Gloucestershire, but the best men bribe their way out, leaving him with the least suitable soldiers. Prince John sees the rebels and agrees to redress their grievances if they disband their army; but when they do so, he has them arrested for treason. Falstaff arrives in the north late, but meets the rebel Sir John Colville, who promptly surrenders without a fight, having heard Falstaff’s reputation. Prince John returns to court, but Falstaff goes via Gloucestershire to visit Justice Shallow. The sickly King prepares for death, and worries about the kingdom’s future in the hands of his eldest son. News arrives of the defeat of all the rebels. Prince Henry finds his father asleep with the crown beside him, and, thinking him dead, tries it on. The King wakes to find his crown gone. Brought back, the Prince excuses himself, and the King gives deathbed advice: he should pursue an aggressive foreign policy to distract from internal dissent. He dies in the Jerusalem chamber, fulfilling a prophecy that he will die in Jerusalem. Henry V is not the King everyone expected the Prince to be. He confirms in office the Lord Chief Justice, who had imprisoned him for his misdemeanours. Pistol brings to Gloucestershire news of his accession, and Falstaff anticipates power for himself and his associates. He is disappointed: when he accosts the King at his coronation, Henry refuses to acknowledge him, and banishes him — though with a pension to ensure that poverty does not lead him back into crime. Falstaff is convinced that this is only a public show of rejection, which will later be countermanded in private; but in fact he and his crew…