Henry IV is one of history's great plays on war and the way in which war can inflict its torment on a nation and a family. For aside being a play about war, it is also play about human relationships. Henry IV, part one in many respects is a play which demonstrates the bonds and difficulty between fathers and sons and fellow soldiers. Within this meditation of these complex characters, each character still undergoes a complete and nuanced trajectory. For example, Prince Hal is one such character who has a definitive trajectory. One could easily argue that by the end of the play, Prince Hal has engaged in a full and true redemption.

Part of allowing a character to engage in any type of redemption means setting that character up to become bettered, to even become heroic: this generally means that they have to start from a low place in...
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