Читать реферат по английскому: "Sunrise Sunset From Henry Iv Part 1" Страница 2

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The main foils in Henry IV part 1 are Hotspur and Hal. Hotspur is the representative of the day and Hal the representative of the night. The intention of the day is to be honorable and the intention of the night is to enjoy life. If both these characters are looked at with a relative eye, then they are the same. Separately they are the same, but together they are diametric opposites. If they were compared during the day, Hal would be a fool, but if they were compared at night, Hotspur would be the fool. In Act 2, Scene 4, Hal mocks Hotspur; “I am not of Percy’s Mind, the Hotspur of the north, he that kills me some six or seven dozen Scots at a breakfast, washes his hands, and says to his wife ‘Fie upon this quiet life! I want work.’”(ln. 84-87) Meanwhile, Hotspur despises Hal as a drunkard and a fool; “And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales, but that I think that his father loves him not….I would have him poisoned with a pot of ale.”(Act 1. Scene 3. ln. 230-233) The sword-and buckle and ale are both representative of the lower class, which a prince should not be, according to Hotspur. The irony that Shakespeare creates by having Hotspur and Hal think each other fools shows that they are both fools. By picking day over night and night over day, neither can be a full man. They must fight at the end, because they represent the two contrasting ideas of the play, honor of life and love of life.

Shakespeare transforms Hal at the end of the play, to show the best example of a man. The Hal of the first acts would not be a hero in the end as he is in the end, but instead would not even show up for the war. By having Hal take responsibility for himself in the end, Shakespeare shows what he thinks of the issue of honor and fun. Hal does not become Hotspur, if he did then honor would be right. Hal does not fight the good fight and forget his past. He becomes a combination of day and night. If he forgot about the night, then Shakespeare would be saying that honor was greater. If he ran away and did not fight, then Shakespeare would be saying that enjoyment of life was greater. When Hal sees Falstaff and thinks him dead, he weeps for his friend. Hotspur would probably kill Falstaff himself. Later, when Falstaff pretends that he killed Hotspur, Hal goes along with it, because he does not have the same desire for honor as Hotspur. The setup of the play shows this combination. In the first acts, Hal and Hotspur’s story-lines were separate, but in the end they combine. This models the transformation that creates the Hal of the last acts. The new Hal that shows himself in the end is Shakespeare’s answer to his own question. By having Hal win the fight and act as he does with Falstaff, Shakespeare is saying that life is to be fought for, but it is also to be enjoyed. If life is not enjoyed, then their is nothing to fight for. If life is not fought for, then it is not worth being enjoyed. Shakespeare is saying that a sunrise or sunset is much better then the sun or the moon.

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