#35 Henry IV Part II

A lot of what I said for Part I holds true for this one, with the exception of Hotspur, who is dead.  Falstaff is still here, and has his funny moments. His best moment is at the coronation where he shows up dressed as a peasant, sweating, and covered in grime and interprets his poor dress as his devotion to Henry V.  It was a fairly comic moment.  But as a play I felt it did not equal the first part in action or comedy.  It was a disappointing sequel.  There was even an apology at the end, it could have been some faux humility, but it also may have been sincere.  Shakespeare wrote a less than amazing play here.  It seems the message in Part II was the moral growth of Henry V and how he was leaving his riotous childhood behind him when he became the king.  Its a nice peaceful message.  There was no onstage fighting.  But the play ends with someone saying that the future has swords in France.  Hooray for the patriotic propaganda that is the play Henry V.