Henry Iv, Part I Essay Research Paper Example For Students

Henry Iv, Part I Essay Research Paper A monologue from the play by William ShakespeareKING: God pardon thee! Yet let me wonder, Harry,At thy affections, which do hold a wingQuite from the flight of all thy ancestors. Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost,Which by thy younger brother is supplied,And art almost an alien to the heartsOf all the court and princes of my blood.The hope and expectation of thy timeIs ruined, and the soul of every manProphetically do forethink thy fall.Had I so lavish of my presence been,So common-hackneyed in the eyes of men,So stale and cheap to vulgar company,Opinion, that did help me to the crown,Had still kept loyal to possessionAnd left me in reputeless banishment,A fellow of no mark nor likelihood.By being seldom seen, I could not stirBut, like a comet, I was wondred at;That men would tell their children, This is he!Others would say, Where? Which is Bolingbrook?And then I stole all courtesy from heaven,And dressed myself in such humilityThat I did pluck allegiance from mens hearts,Loud shouts and salutations from their mouthsEven in the presence of the crowned king. Thus did I keep my person fresh and new,My presence, like a robe pontifical,Neer seen but wondred at; and so my state,Seldom but sumptuous, showed like a feastAnd wan by rareness such solemnity.The skipping king, he ambled up and downWith shallow jesters and rash bavin wits,Soon kindled and soon burnt; carded his state;Mingled his royalty with capring fools;Had his great name profaned with their scornsAnd gave his countenance, against his name,To laugh at gibing boys and stand the pushOf every beardless vain comparative;Grew a companion to the common streets,Enfeoffed himself to popularity;That, being daily swallowed by mens eyes,They surfeited with honey and beganTo loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a littleMore than a little is by much too much.So, when he had occasion to be seen,He was but as the cuckoo is in June,Heard, not regarded seen, but with such eyesAs, sick and blunted with community,Afford no extraordinary gaze,Such as is bent on sunlike majestyWhen it shines seldo m in admiring eyes;But rather drowsed and hung their eyelids down,Slept in his face, and rendred such aspectAs cloudy men use to their adversaries,Being with his presence glutted, gorged, and full.And in that very line, Harry, standest thou;For thou hast lost thy princely privilegeWith vile participation. Not an eyeBut is aweary of thy common sight,Save mine, which hath desired to see thee more;Which now doth that I would not have it doMake blind itself with foolish tenderness.