Summary: Act II, Prologue
The Chorus introduces the second act, telling us that
all of England is fired up and arming for the war, and King Henry
is almost ready to invade France. But French agents have found some
corrupt noblemen within the English ranks, and they have bribed
them into acting as secret agents. These noblemen are Richard, earl
of Cambridge; Henry Lord Scrope of Masham; and Sir Thomas Grey of
Northumberland. This trio has agreed to kill King Henry in Southampton, just
before he sets sail for France.
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Act II, Prologue →
Summary: Act II, scene i
The scene shifts to London, near a tavern in Eastcheap,
a seedy part of town. Lieutenant Bardolph and Corporal Nim appear,
preparing to head off for the war. Both of these men are commoners,
and Bardolph was once a criminal. Nim has a quarrel with a fellow
soldier, Ancient Pistol. Pistol has married Mistress Quickly, the
hostess of the Boar’s Head Tavern in London, who had previously
promised to marry Nim. Pistol and Nim draw their swords to attack
each other and must be quieted several times by the hostess and
Bardolph.
A boy, the page of a knight named Sir John Falstaff,
appears. Falstaff, a close friend of everyone present, is old and
very sick in bed, and the boy reports that he is getting worse.
The hostess goes to see Falstaff and comes back to tell the others
that he is dying. The men put aside their quarrel to go to visit
him. Nim and Pistol speak darkly of something that King Henry has
done to Falstaff; apparently, it is in some way the king’s fault
that Falstaff is on his deathbed.
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Act II, scene i →
Summary: Act II, scene ii
In the port of Southampton, King Henry prepares his armies
to sail for France. The conversation between Gloucester, Exeter,
and Westmorland reveals that Henry has discovered the treachery
of Cambridge, Scrope, and Grey, but the traitors don’t know it yet.
Henry enters with these same traitors, asking their advice on a
case: a drunken man was arrested the previous day for speaking against Henry
in public. Henry plans to free him, but Cambridge, Scrope, and Grey
advise him to punish the man instead.
King Henry decides to free the man anyway, and he lets
Cambridge, Scrope, and Grey know that he has discovered their intended betrayal,
handing them the incriminating evidence on paper. The three beg
for mercy, but Henry is inflexible: he asks how they can possibly
seek mercy for themselves when they think an ordinary drunkard deserves
no mercy. Henry can barely believe that they would sell his life
for money—especially Scrope, who has been a close friend—and orders
the trio to be executed. Taking the discovery of the traitors as
a sign that God is on the side of the English, Henry orders his
fleet to sail for France at last.
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Act II, scene ii →
Analysis: Act II, Prologue and scenes i–ii
The Chorus’s introductory speech, which broadens the audience’s perspective
by presenting a big-picture view of the entire country in preparation
for war, employs urgent and active language to heighten the sense
that great deeds are afoot. A picture emerges of a country of heroes,
ablaze with anticipation and activity: “Now all the youth of England
are on fire, / … / They sell the pasture now to buy the horse” (II.Prologue.1–5).
Yet the individual soldiers-to-be that we encounter in Act II, scene
i are much less awe-inspiring than those the Chorus describes. They
speak in prose rather than verse, and they seem anything but heroic.
The rhyming couplets with which Shakespeare ends important speeches
are also absent in the speech of these commoners. However, the conflicts
of the commoners often mirror those of the royals: Nim and Pistol
argue over the rights to Mistress Quickly just as the kings argue
over the rights to France.
